What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the visibility of a website to meet the requirements needed to top organic search results of major/ frequently used search engines.

Examples include the infamous Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Yandex, Ask.com, DuckDuckGo, etc.

It is interesting to note that pre-Google days, way before SEOs came to be as it was, keyword usage was the easiest way to rank pages, i.e., the more a keyword/ phrase or keyword phrase was used on a webpage, that was what it would pop out on the internet for, basically being what the page was really about.

SEO is a dynamic field, it goes beyond creating content, adding keywords that improve search rankings, and building brand visibility. It focuses more on the end-user, understanding their needs and preferences because search engines work in their favor by using algorithms improved by artificial intelligence to provide quality search results.

It is ever-changing, especially with the advent of technology. Take this instance, if one were to use old tactics to create content for an emerging trend, the website would rank lower and likely stay out of users’ reach.

To get SEO visibility, it is important to know;

The type of content needed by end-users and search engines.

How search engines work to discover and serve content on search engine result pages.

The right way to promote/optimize your website so that search engines can access it.

Other important things to note also include:

Keeping track of trends. For example, there is use of voice search these days. Articles and web pages that incorporate this into their modules would deem more user-friendly for end-users with disabilities.

Following up with the audience, keeping track of what they want, and understanding the intent of the user.

Learning and incorporating technological advancements. A good instance of this is machine learning.

Increasing Search Engine Optimization

Some search engines offer outright starter guides on SEO, Google serving as an excellent example. This can be found by simply searching for Google SEO starter guide and voila! There you have it.

Other courses do justice to this, free and paid alike, a few being available on Udemy, Coursera, and HubSpot.

However, there are rules that have to be followed to achieve the needed results.

They include the following:

Links

Links are clickable objects on a webpage that lead from one page to another. They are often found on web pages as buttons, text, or images.

There are three types of links; inbound, internal, and outbound links. These must be used in the most natural ways possible to ease the end-user experience. If the links do not appear natural to the search engine, users would see it that way too.

Keywords

Keywords have been and will remain the foundation of a web page.

They are represented as single words or complex phrases, and when optimized effectively, serve as a passage for the target audience to assess the website with ease.

This is because they are the words most likely used by the users when searching for something like, or related to your brand.

It is important to know the various kinds of keywords, where to add them on a webpage, and integration tips for the best user experience.

Content

As everything found on the internet is vaguely referred to as “content”, it is necessary to give it a distinct definition.

In the words of Derek Halpern, the founder of Social Triggers:

“Content comes in any form (audio, text, video), and it informs, entertains, enlightens, or teaches the people who consume it.”

For content to have optimal SEO value, it should be of high quality thereby compensating readers for their time and money. It should stick to the intended topic and target keywords.

It should also be visually appealing as it aids proper comprehension; properly punctuated sentences and short paragraphs to maximize reading time retention.

Conclusion

Assuredly using these methods, and others that readily come to mind via intuition and tact, you can effectively make your website/webpage do numbers in search engine results.

Comment below and let me know what you think about the wonders of search engine optimization.