Are you just getting started with SEO? Do you think your business needs an online strategy to boost your search engine visibility to attract potential consumers? Maybe it is time to include SEO in your marketing plan to build a strong online presence in relevant searches in popular search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others.
Perhaps you’ve heard that SEO can boost your website’s ranks in search results and increase traffic, but you’re not entirely sure how it works or how your business can benefit from it. If you don’t know about SEO and where to start or what areas to focus on in your SEO strategy, here is a quick step-by-step guide to take you through your SEO learning. Every digital marketer must learn SEO and its strategies to take their online advertising to the next level.
First, we will start with a brief idea about search marketing for a better understanding of what you are going to learn. When you search for something online using a phrase or keyword in any search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, search results appear instantly that are exactly match pr relevant to your search query. This doesn’t seem unusual to the typical internet user. However, for many businesses, getting in front of customers each time they search goods or services similar to them can result in more website traffic, customers, and significant revenue gains.
This is all because of SEO, so we will learn first, what is SEO.
What is SEO?
Well, SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization, which is the technique of online traffic to your website or other landing pages from search engines for relevant searches. It is a step-by-step process that helps you rank web pages and websites higher for specified keywords, so increasing their visibility and quality to users on search engines. Simply put, SEO aims to improve your website’s ranking and visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through various practices as part of a well-planned SEO strategy. The higher the ranking of your website in search queries, the more users will see it.
The main distinction between SEO and paid marketing is that SEO focuses on “organic” ranking, which means you don’t have to pay to be there. Search engine optimization, to put it simply, is the process of making online content more appealing to search engines like Google in order to have it appear near the top of the results page when a user searches for something.
An effective SEO strategy involves numerous activities, such as:
- Identifying relevant keywords
- Creating relevant, unique, useful, and high-quality content
- Including relevant links
- Technical SEO
- Measuring and monitoring results
Today, SEO is an essential marketing strategy to keep your business at the top of search engine result pages to drive website traffic, resulting in qualified leads and sales. Let’s break it down further and learn how SEO works to make a good start with your SEO marketing. You must first understand how search engines work in order to be able to rank your website or content higher on search engine result pages.
How exactly do search engines work?
Search engines utilize algorithms to determine how worthy a page is to a related search query searched by a user. Search engine algorithms are computer programs that crawl through available data to provide users with the precise results they are searching for. There are hundreds of ranking factors used to calculate the webpage authority to decide page ranking.
Search engines rely on algorithms to identify websites and choose which ones to rank higher for a particular keyword. There are three primary stages in which search engines work: crawling, indexing, and ranking.
Crawling
Search engines use web crawlers, also known as bots or “spiders”, to identify new pages and collect data on them. Their goal is to crawl the billions of pages that make up the internet and to periodically review previously viewed pages to determine if the material has changed or been updated.
Indexing
Search engines then add the data they have gathered to their index. The process of indexing web pages comes next for the ranking purpose. During the process, search engines determine whether or not to use the web page it has crawled for showing in relevant searches. A search engine will include a crawled web page in its index if it determines it is worthy, and the indexed data will be used at the final ranking stage.
Ranking
When a user enters a search query, a search engine explores its index for sites that match the user’s search query, organizes the results, and then shows the most relevant ones to the user. Ranking can only take place after the crawling and indexing are successfully finished for a web page. Therefore, your website can only be ranked after being crawled and indexed by a search engine.
Your website must perform better than every other site that is qualified to appear for a relevant search query in order to rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). Search engine algorithms take into consideration hundreds of ranking factors to determine the order in which the pages are ranked and displayed in search results. Finally, a ranking score is assigned to each page. The following are some ranking signals that search engines consider when ranking web pages:
- Presence of keywords in the title tag and content
- Page load speed
- Website authority
- Content quality
- Linking to your site
More than 200 ranking factors are used by search engines to identify, sort, and rank web pages, and they all fall under one of the three SEO elements: technical, on-page, or off-page SEO. Let’s discuss more about them.
Core Elements of SEO
Digital marketers should have a fundamental understanding of how to optimize their websites for search engines, and being up-to-date with SEO changes can help them succeed. Although SEO is always evolving and constantly changing in some ways, its core principles never change. There are three main components of SEO that you should be familiar with and practice on a regular basis:
Technical SEO: Technical SEO is the process of making a website comply with the technical standards of current search engines’ requirements and algorithms in order to achieve higher organic ranks. The goal of technical SEO is to improve a website’s technical standing so that search engines will rank its pages higher. The three main goals of technical SEO include optimizing page load speed, making your website easier to crawl, and more accessible for search engines. These actions on your website have nothing to do with content yet are intended to boost SEO.
On-Page SEO: On-page SEO, sometimes referred to as on-site SEO, is the process of optimizing web pages to improve the ranking of a website in search results and attract organic visitors through searches. In addition to creating and publishing high-quality content, on-page SEO also involves optimizing HTML tags (title, header, and meta) and images on your website to improve your search ranking. Examples of some on-page SEO activities include:
- Optimizing your title tags
- Optimizing your meta descriptions
- Writing quality content
- Cleaning up your site’s architecture and code
The HTML code of your website is a crucial aspect of SEO marketing. An essential component of SEO marketing is the HTML code of your website. Search engine crawlers will have a hard time understanding your content and why it ought to rank higher than your competitor without the right tags, headers, and meta descriptions for the same keywords.
Off-Page SEO: Off-page SEO, often known as “off-site SEO,” refers to activities carried out outside your website that have an impact on your search rankings. These include a number of the fundamental SEO variables that support on-page SEO and help in website ranking. Off-page SEO helps in building and improving a website’s domain authority and recognition on the internet.
Links are likely the most important off-page signals, yet they are not the only ones that Google’s algorithm uses to rank a site. Obtain backlinks from websites that are authoritative in the field and relevant. Building up favorable ratings and positive reviews sends a clear message to search engines about your authority and trustworthiness in your field.
How to Set Your SEO Objectives
Now you know where you need to focus more when implementing SEO, it is time to learn how to do SEO. Understanding it is one thing, but SEO calls for a significant amount of effort and time for the best outcomes in form of higher search ranking. And setting your SEO objectives is an essential component of your SEO strategy.
Setting objectives may seem like a tedious process, but over the long run, tracking your progress will be quite beneficial for your SEO. You should measure the following items or elements when setting SEO objectives to rank your website in relevant search results:
- Keywords
- Content
- Traffic
- Lead Generation
- Site Reputation or Authority
- Competition
SEO objectives could be different for different businesses, depending on their type, size, market competition, and how old they are in the field. Some of the most common SEO objectives may include:
- Moving your top keywords to the first page of search engines
- Increasing your organic traffic
- Growing your market share
- Generating successful leads and sales
Finally, your SEO objectives will also vary depending on whether your business is informational or transactional. Set your targets around tracking and measuring sales and lead conversions if you have an e-commerce business. But, if your website is a business non-eCommerce one, you should focus on lead generation. For informational businesses, you should focus on developing goals that prioritize website traffic or brand awareness.
Your site architecture has a significant impact on your search ranking
Your site architecture and design directly influence the user experience, which is crucial for SEO marketing. Good website architecture is essential to provide a great user experience to your visitors. It emphasizes elements like quick load times, secure connections, and responsive designs.
As crawling your website by search engine bots or spiders is essential for indexing and ranking in SEO, your goal should make your website easy to navigate and crawl as part of your SEO strategy. Web crawlers analyze your website to try to determine what it is. You’ll have a harder time ranking if Google has trouble understanding your website because the AI won’t recognize all the keywords you’re employing to rank your content.
Security and safety certifications of your website are crucial ranking signals, and you must make sure they are properly installed while working on your site architecture. You won’t be ranked on the first page if Google believes your website to be spammy or untrustworthy. The use of SSL certificates and HTTPS has been one method for separating good websites from bad ones on the internet.
Conclusion
Finally, keep in mind that SEO is not a one-time effort, it requires ongoing work even after your SEO strategies have been fully executed. Google updates its search algorithms many times every year. The search giant occasionally releases a major algorithm update, and when it does, many sites see their ranks decline while many others see their rankings rise. Keep yourself up-to-date with Google major algorithm updates and make necessary changes and updates accordingly to retain your search ranking.
You might have to modify your SEO approach in the middle of the process and wait to see what happens. However, with a strong SEO foundation in place and some patience, you will greatly benefit from your strategy, which will lead to a better user experience and more conversions in the long run.