If you are here, chances are you have come across this term called SEO.
More so with the sudden shift to the online world due to the pandemic, SEO is catching up even more.
So if you are here to get an idea of what these three letters mean and how they rule the online world, here's a brief guide to help you out!
If you have a website or plan to make a new one or simply need to revive the one sitting on the old dusty shelf, it might be time to learn a few things about SEO.
What is SEO?
To put it simply, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
A Search Engine is a software system that helps you to carry out searches on the internet.
It takes your queries, finds the relevant information, and assists in sorting the number of content on the internet.
You're probably thinking Google, which is true. Google is the biggest search engine, and most people work to optimize their website according to its algorithms.
However, other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, and DuckDuckGo also exist.
There you have it, SEO is optimizing for search engines. You increase your reach, make your business more visible to everyone sitting behind the screen.
Once you garner enough attention, you will have a better chance at gaining leads, retaining customers, attracting prospective customers, and building a trustworthy brand image.
The positioning of your website on the search engine is more important than ever today.
You can either use organic strategies like content marketing, keyword research to get your website to rank or simply use the paid ad features to come first on the results.
SEO is associated with organic traffic, which is the traffic you get without spending any money.
Whereas, traffic that comes through Paid Search is referred to as Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-per-click (PPC).
As most of us use search engines for anything and everything we want to search, SEO is an integral part of marketing.
A good SEO strategy not only increases traffic but also leads to more quality leads and conversions.
SEO - How does it work?
You know that Search Engines rank your website, but how do they do it? And why has it become so important?
Google, Bing and other search engines make use of bots/spiders to crawl all the pages on the website. This essentially means they go to each website on the internet, gather information about what the page is all about, and submit them to an index.
The crawler initiates from a web page and then goes through all the internal and external links, to pages on other websites as well. It records the content, context, and any other element which might help to decipher what the page is all about.
The index is a collection of all the possible information available. Think about it as a vast library that can pull out anything that you are searching for. The algorithm analyzes the pages collected in the index database and sorts them as per the various ranking factors into the different positions on the search engine.
When you put your search in the box, the algorithms work to ensure that the most accurate results show up. The algorithms keep updating and with that, the behaviour and ranking factors keep evolving as well.
SEO success depends on a number of factors like user experience, content quality, keyword research implementation, loading speed, crawlability, site architecture, etc.
Let's take a look at some of the Ranking Factors for SEO.
Ranking Factors for SEO
- Content Freshness, Uniqueness, & Quality
- Crawlability of the Pages
- Mobile Optimization
- Backlinks
- Domain Authority
- Search Intent
- Anchor Text
- Loading Speed
- Keyword Implementation
- Trustworthiness
SEO is understanding the ranking factors to devise search marketing strategies with a combination of technical, on-page, and off-page practices.
It is essential to use non-manipulative ranking tactics, keep up with the evolving behaviour, and understand user search intent to maintain a high ranking.
SEO & Marketing - How is it important?
The importance of SEO has manifold in the previous years, and more so with the up and coming age of digital marketing.
People have been searching more, which means the competition to rank is greater than ever. And it makes sense too.
Higher ranking leads to greater visibility which gives your business an edge and marks it higher than the competition.
Moreover, search is an essential source of digital traffic and impacts all the other social channels as well.
SEO is the foundation of a holistic marketing ecosystem.
The better you can understand the needs of your website visitors, the better you can implement campaigns across all platforms.
On-Page and Off-Page SEO
Search Engine Optimization can be divided into two broad categories; On-page SEO and Off-Page SEO.
On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO is a type of optimizing web pages to rank higher in search engines.
It is mainly used to optimize content and HTML source code. These are ranking factors that are easy to adjust and optimize.
Some of the on-page SEO factors:
- Title tags
- URLs
- Meta descriptions
- Keywords
- Header tags (H1, H2s, H3s, etc.)
- Internal linking
- Duplicate content
- Crawlability
- Page loading speed
- Mobile user experience
- Content length
- Readability
- Videos
- Images
- Social media share buttons
- Markups
Off-Page SEO
Off-Page is, as I like to describe, what lies outside your website. It is all the actions taken to impact and improve the ranking.
These include promoting the website through influencers, third-party websites, and more.
Off-Page tactics include:
- Public relations (PR)
- Link building
- Content marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Frequenting forums
- Guest posting
Search Engine Optimization Techniques
Here are a few Search Engine Optimization techniques that help a site improve its ranking:
Keyword Research
Keyword Research is an extremely integral part of SEO.
It basically involves looking for keywords that are industry-specific with a number of people searching for them.
Identifying the terms provides the correct direction in which you can optimize your content and even decide the content strategy.
Keyword Research also includes competitor research, so you can make your content rank better.
Content Marketing
Keyword Research is the first step - then comes the OG - Content Marketing.
It involves updating content, curating new pieces, and including various types of content.
Make sure your content adds value to the customer experience, 'cause that's how you can climb the ranks on Search Engines.
Moreover, content that adds value is also more shared and attracts a larger audience.
Link Building
If you have quality and relevant links that redirect people to your website, it increases the chances of ranking.
That is precisely why backlinking is one of the core ranking factors, and people work very hard to obtain high-quality backlinks.
You can reach out to other websites, make relationships with webmasters, submit the website to suitable web directories, and release press releases.
On-Page Optimization
We have already had a look at the On-Page SEO and what it entails.
These are essential factors that improve the structure of the page and can greatly enhance the website ranking.
For example, updating title tags & meta tags, optimizing URLs, using alt attributes to describe the images, etc.
On-Page Optimization is excessively essential to come in the 'good books' of the search engine and make it easier for them to find you.
Site Architecture Optimization
If you're working on making the external links as authentic as possible, internal links shouldn't be left on seen.
Optimizing the site architecture is exactly what it says it is - it optimizes your site's design.
For instance, it makes sure the internal pages are correctly linked, relevant anchor texts are used, and creates a sitemap.
Semantic Markup
A good SEO Strategy should include semantic markup. It helps to briefly explain the meaning behind the content, thereby, making it easier to identify the topic or the type of content.
For instance, when you search for a specific query, you often get a snippet on the first search page that almost immediately answers it.
It can greatly assist in increasing organic traffic and improve CTR from search.
That’s pretty much what SEO is all about!
It gets more interesting to decipher and dissect how a search engine works and behaves.
If you have more questions, take a look at my other marketing and SEO related articles!
To get a head-start on your 6 month SEO strategy, refer to this really cool piece of advice by Roberto Digital here - Get me the 6 months SEO strategy!
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