Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page on the search engine results page (SERP) and the web. By using various methods, webmasters are able to optimize their web pages and websites so that search engines can easily find and display them in their SERPs. SEO is a constantly evolving field, and SEO professionals and marketers must stay abreast of the ever-changing algorithms and practices that search engine companies use to determine the ranking of websites and web content.
SEO Basics
SEO is comprised of a variety of different aspects, from the words on your page to the way other websites link to yours. Sometimes SEO is simply a matter of making sure your website is structured in a way that search engines understand. Other times it involves the recurrence of certain keywords, either in the body of your text or HTML coding of the page.
In its most basic form, SEO is all about finding ways to make your website more visible to search engine crawlers. This can be as simple as making sure your webpage contains relevant words and phrases, filling out meta-tags appropriately, checking broken links, and optimizing site architecture.
Optimizing Page Performance
Improving the overall performance of your web pages is one of the most fundamental aspects of SEO. Page performance is a key factor that search engine companies use to determine how to rank your pages.
Optimizing page performance involves making sure that those pages load quickly, display correctly on all devices, and contain effectively written and descriptive content. Coding and design best practices need to be followed in order to generate pages that search engine crawlers are able to easily find and understand.
Optimizing Content
Content is one of the most important parts of SEO. When it comes to content, search engines are looking for keyword relevance and fresh, interesting content that is well-written and beneficial to the user. Content should be both informative and engaging.
By combining high-quality content and interesting visuals, you can increase your chances of ranking highly in search engine results. This includes making sure your content is long enough to thoroughly cover a topic and include keywords that potential customers might be searching for.
Link Building
In addition to optimizing content and page performance, SEO professionals focus on link building, which is the process of getting other websites to link to your site. This helps to boost your credibility in the eyes of search engine companies, resulting in better SERP rankings.
Link building can involve a variety of things, such as participating in online forums and social media, blog commenting, writing and submitting guest posts to other websites, creating a press list, and getting other websites to link to yours. All of these practices can help increase your SERP rankings.
Local SEO
When someone is searching for a product or service in their local area, they’re likely entering the same search query, with the addition of a location. For example, “San Francisco plumber” rather than just “plumber”. This is where Local SEO practices come into play.
Local SEO is essentially the same as SEO but with an emphasis on local businesses and services. Google and other search engines look for local business directories, the information provided in business listings, and content that mentions specific locales when displaying results. Optimizing the content and citations of your business website will help ensure it appears ahead of its competition in local search results.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to the process of ensuring that a website is properly optimized and accessible to search engines. If your website doesn’t meet the requirements of search engine algorithms, it can suffer from poor SERP rankings.
There are a variety of technical SEO practices, including optimizing a website’s URLs, setting up redirects, and using mobile-friendly design. In addition, certain coding practices and web structure best practices should also be employed to make sure that search engine crawlers are able to access and understand your website.
Analytics & Reporting
Analytics and reporting are key for ensuring that your SEO efforts are effective. There are many analytics programs available that can be used to track the performance of a website. You can track things such as SERP rankings, traffic sources, page views, and links.
Analytics programs can also be used to understand the behavior of your visitors, such as which pages they are landing on, which links they are clicking, and the total number of conversions. Using the data obtained from analytics, you can then find patterns that can be used to improve the content of your website, improve page performance and make necessary changes.
