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PLUGGED IN 76 DAYSPA | MARCH 2016 In the Know on SEO Learn how leveraging the right keywords can boost your spa's website to the top of search engine results. By Claire Swinarski Potential spa clients are increasingly turning to the Internet's search engines to help them fi nd services. In 2014, there were over 20,000 functioning spas in the U.S. according to statistics portal Statista, and chances are, most of those spas have websites. So when in- dividuals search for a spa online, they're immediately confronted with thousands of results, displayed on hundreds of pages. Needless to say, on the loud, noisy streets of the Internet, ensuring your website gets no- ticed can be quite the challenge. A 2013 survey from online ad network Chitika found that 92% of Google searchers don't navigate past the fi rst page of search results. In other words, getting your spa's website on that front page can be critical, and should be a major part of your online mar- keting strategy. The key to gaining those prime search result spots is by leveraging Search Engine Optimi- zation, or SEO. In a nutshell, SEO means augmenting your website so that it will win a higher position in search results. "SEO is crucial to a business owner because it in- creases their enterprise's visibility, traffi c and credibility," says Chris Hornak, director of operations at Clear Sky SEO, a company in Pittsburgh that specializes in help- ing businesses become searchable on the web. "This is extremely important, because 80% of Internet users perform an online search before making a purchase." "SEO represents the absolute best return on invest- ment compared to any other marketing strategy," agrees Alexis Ufl and, owner of New York City-based spa consultancy fi rm Lexi Design. "Optimizing your website gives your spa the opportunity to be in front of thousands of clients who are actively searching for your services—all at the same time." THE KEY TO KEYWORDS Major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing have "robots" that are constantly "crawling" the Inter net's millions of pages with the aim of provid- ing the most relevant results. The algorithm used by search engines—and the degree to which your site meets those criteria—is what determines where your site falls in search results. "The more content you use to educate these robots, the better," explains Ufl and. © GETTY IMAGES