Search Engine Optimization

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization—it’s the process of improving your website so it shows up higher on Google and other search engines when people search for your services.

The higher your site ranks, the more people will find you—and the more chances you have to turn those visitors into paying customers.

What’s involved in SEO?

There are a lot of ways to improve your website for better rankings. Here are some of the most common things we look at:

• Making your website load faster
• Using newer image formats (like WebP)
• Adding ALT text to your images
• Linking between pages on your site
• Improving your page titles and meta descriptions
• Organizing your content with proper headings (H1, H2, etc.)
• Adding structured data (Schema Markup)
• Writing better content on key pages
• Creating blog posts to target more search terms
• Building your site’s authority with links

The goal of SEO is simple: get more traffic to your website.
That traffic can turn into leads, sales, or even ad revenue—depending on how you make money online.

On-page SEO is everything you can control directly on your website to help it rank better on Google. We’re talking about stuff like your page content, headlines, title tags, and even the images you use. Things like alt text, meta descriptions, structured data, and how fast your site loads — yep, that all counts too.

Basically, if it lives on your site and affects how users (and search engines) experience it, it falls under on-page SEO. And getting this part right is a huge step toward showing up in search results.

Off-page SEO is all the stuff that helps your site rank outside of your website — things you don’t always have direct control over. Think backlinks, domain authority, trust signals, and even social mentions.

The big player in off-page SEO? Backlinks.
These are links from other websites that point back to yours, and they send a strong message to Google that your content is trustworthy and worth ranking.

There are a few types of backlinks to know about:

• Natural links
  These happen without you lifting a finger. Say someone writes a blog post about healthy dog treats and includes a link to your article — that’s a natural link. It just happens because your content is genuinely useful.
• Manually built links
  These come from outreach or partnerships. Maybe you wrote a guest blog for another site, or asked a client to link back to you. Pro tip: if someone’s talking about your area of expertise but not linking to you, reach out and share your content — they might just add that link.
• Self-created links
  These are links you add yourself, like listing your site in online directories or forums. These can be helpful, but don’t overdo it. Starting a bunch of fake websites just to link back to your main one? That’s black hat SEO, and search engines do not play nice with that.

At the end of the day, off-page SEO is all about building credibility and trust online. The more high-quality sites that vouch for you with a backlink, the better your site will perform.

We get this question a lot — and the honest answer is: it depends.

SEO isn’t a magic switch you flip and boom — traffic. It’s more like planting a garden. If you’re in a competitive industry, it can take a few months before you start seeing real movement in your rankings and traffic. But if you’re consistently creating helpful, relevant content and building strong backlinks, Google will start to notice.

The key? Stay consistent. SEO is a long game, but the payoff is worth it.

Absolutely. Even in a mid-sized market like Little Rock, SEO is critical if you want potential customers to consistently find your business online. Ranking #1 on Google can drive a steady stream of leads—regardless of your industry.

As of 2022, there are over 6,202 businesses in the Little Rock area and 268,244 in the state as a whole. You’re not trying to outrank all of them—but if there are even 10 to 20 companies offering similar services, the top 3 ranking businesses are likely capturing 90% of the organic search traffic for those keywords.

You might be thinking, “That’s great, but I get most of my customers through Facebook, Instagram, or paid ads. Why bother with SEO?”

Here’s why:

• What worked before may not work tomorrow. Social media algorithms change. Ad costs go up. Platforms fade.
• Putting all your eggs in one marketing basket is risky. SEO adds balance and stability to your strategy.
• People use Google to search with intent—they’re actively looking for a service or product. On social media, they’re just browsing.
• If your competitors are showing up on the first page of Google and you’re not, they’re likely gaining loyal customers you never had a chance to reach.
• Relying solely on paid ads means you’re renting your visibility. Once you stop paying, your leads stop too. SEO builds long-term equity.

At Hawp Media, we help Little Rock businesses rise in the search results—so you’re found by the people already looking for what you offer.

We have plenty of resources on our site! Here are some pages you might find helpful:

• What is Local SEO with a Local SEO Checklist