The world of SEO is complex and developing, but a basic understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can make a big difference. So let’s start with the very basic question.
What is Search Engine Optimization or SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a process of optimizing your online content so you will be on the top organic result when someone searches for that particular keyword.
Let’s take an example: If you have written an article about how to make cold coffee, it will appear on the top search result if you have used the keyword “cold coffee” in your article.
Why is it Important?
The majority of online traffic is driven to the website by search engines. There’s a term SERP (search engine results pages) that shows both advertisements and organic results. Featured snippets (answer boxes) is how you’ll identify the SERP result. But what is the benefit of being shown in a Featured Snippet? Well, it helps the website to receive more clicks than paid advertisements.
What drives online traffic to the website from Search Engines?
Google’s algorithm is a bit complicated but it needs our help. To do so we have to provide unique, high-quality content with relevant information so that it can crawl and evaluate whether that content is what the user is looking for or not.
Types of SEO: On-Page and Off-Page
On-Page SEO: It depends on three things: Content, Keyword Selection, HTML.
Content: If you provide exact content that the searcher is looking out, Google will provide your article at top of the search result. It’s not just about publishing your content, you have to keep it up to date and rewrite it by adding some more information.
Keyword Selection: Keyword Selection is a step for your content to get recognized. Searching the right keyword and implementing it in the right place of the content is one of the tactics. Constantly searching for relevant keywords and implementing them and not ignoring the competitor’s keyword search is a smart move to be on top.
HTML: Even if you have done your best with the content and keyword research but without knowing the basics of HTML would be the same as driving a car without any steering wheel. HTML covers Title Tags, Meta description, Subheads (H1, H2, and so on).
Off-Page SEO: It doesn’t work as On-Page search engine optimization and isn’t directly linked with the website. It depends on other factors like link building, social media, forums, influencer outreach, and content marketing. Getting quality links from external websites will help to improve the ranking.
What is Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO? Is there a term Gray Hat SEO?
Black Hat SEO will help you earn more in less time but it is for a short period of time only and there will be a lot of consequences also it might affect your business very badly. Duplicate content, stuffed keywords, redirecting users to another irrelevant page or site, bad quality backlinking will only worsen the ranking of the site.
White Hat SEO is done by the long-term business person. Relevant content, well-labeled images, good quality links, unique and relevant page titles help in improving the ranking of the site.
Have you heard about Gray Hat SEO? Well yes, there is Gray Hat SEO and it isn’t like more white less black or vice versa. It isn’t about cheating or manipulating Google it’s just a loophole. Creating own private blog networks is one of the tactics of Gray Hat SEO.
Also Read: 12 Digital Marketing Trends You Must Know About
Other factors that play important roles in Search Engine Optimization:
Bounce Rate: Bounce rate simply defines how many people view only one page and immediately left. But this will create a negative impact that’s why there is a term called click-through rate. The click-through rate implies how many impressions and clicks have been made.
User Experience: Does the site take more time to load? Is it mobile-friendly? Is it a user-friendly website? That plays an important role for your user to stick to your article.
Anchor text: It directly links with the page. Anchor text should be descriptive and relevant without being spammy. Every backlink should have a unique anchor text so that Google can understand what that page is about and which user can benefit from it.
Link Building: Backlinks or external links help to point from one site to another. There are two types of links: Do Follow or No Follow. Do-Follow links tell the search engine to follow the link and allow it to be bound with the original page. No-Follow links tell the search engine not to follow the link but some engines still follow them simply to discover new pages.
It is important to have a balance between no-followed and followed links. A no-follow link might not be considered, but it could send valuable traffic to your website.
Domain Age, URL, and Authority: About Domain Age, the top 10 Google search ranking sites are more than 3 years old. A very few sites achieve in the top 10 rankings in less than a year. About URL, focus on a URL that reflects your business and boosts your rank. Domain Authority receives a value and this predicts how well your site is doing in the search engines. You can use Aherf or Moz for this.
I hope you get the basic idea of SEO. Well SEO is vast and never to cover topics because of its ever-changing nature. Comment below your thoughts and a few points which you get to learn while implementing the above.
Amazing Article! Thanks you for giving us helpful information and guidance to now what is seo. I have learned a lot. Appreciable post!