Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of strategically improving your website to rank higher in the many different organic search results Google, Bing and other search engines display to internet users. And it’s critical for companies that want their sites to rank highly because 39% of people don’t click past the first page of search engine listings, meaning if you’re not on this first page (and ranked high enough), it’s challenging to be found.
How does SEO work?
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) process involves several specific on-page and off-page optimization tactics that, when properly implemented, add up to better SEO. The main factors that search engines such as Google consider important include:
- Quality and relevance of the content your page is delivering
- Uniqueness and usefulness of the information on your site
- The loading speed of the pages on your site (quickness)
- User-friendliness and ease of navigation
The amount and quality of inbound (and internal) links to each page on your website, which signals how “important” Google’s Search Quality algorithm considers that page to be — Google uses the number of links as an indication of quality.
How to create an effective SEO strategy
To create an effective Search Engine Optimization (SOE) strategy, it’s essential to understand how Google and other search engines rank websites. Here are three steps that will help you know what’s critical for great SEO:
Step 1: Get a firm grasp on the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (i.e., the main factors that search engines such as Google use to rank sites).
The more you understand SEO, the better you will be able to tweak your website. Google provides a ton of information about its algorithms on their Webmaster Central blog, including details about its most recent update, Penguin 2.0.
Step 2: Build links to your site that are relevant and helpful for users in order to boost page rankings in search engine results.
As you work to build links, be sure to keep the following in mind:
- Match content that is already ranking well with your keyword phrases;
- Use anchor text carefully (keywords should make up only about 20% of the total text); and
- Target long-tail keywords that are more targeted to your industry.
Step 3: Optimize the actual content on your site so that search engines can find it, crawl it, and index it. Among the many things you need to do for this purpose are:
- Make sure each page has a clear topic, is useful, and provides fresh information;
- Make your website mobile-friendly;
- Avoid keyword stuffing and make sure you don’t have too many keywords on any one page; and
- Ensure that each page contains an internal link to other relevant pages on your site.
Learn the top factors that Google and other search engines use to rank websites, and keep your site at the top of the rankings
The truth is, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a lot more complex and confusing in recent years. It’s taken many twists and turns; we’ve had chances to algorithms with Panda and Penguin, there have been penalties such as the Google Sandbox and your content needs to be mobile optimized if it’s going to rank at all! Successful search engine optimization is all about meeting the users’ needs, so these technological changes only make our jobs as marketers even tougher.
But is it all in vain? SEO is moving in a direction that emphasizes more on end-user satisfaction and, at the same time, rewards you for providing high-quality content. Google ranked your site based on your user experience, which means you need to make sure you are using techniques that will help users find what they are looking for when they’re on your site, and also to help search engines find what they are looking for when they come crawling around.
Final Thoughts
Understanding the SEO process won’t make you a search engine marketing expert overnight, but it will give you a very easy-to-understand explanation of how SEO works and what you need to know in order to do it successfully. I hope this article has given you insights into the world of SEO.
