SEO is stated as Search Engine Optimization, which is a common abbreviation. It is the set of practices that are performed to improve the quality of a website and increase organic traffic. It can be done by using techniques that increase the website visibility on Search Engines.
Furthermore, it might take some time to improve and maintain the overall health of a website and generate organic traffic at the start. Over time, website optimization gives you valuable results that will be long-lasting and grow exponentially.
In simple words, SEO is a digital marketing technique that focuses on improving your website presence in Search Engine Results. It is very vital to understand how Search Engines Optimization (SEO) works to improve website traffic and visibility in Search Engine Results.
How does Search Engine Optimization work?
When it comes to learning SEO, it is very important to have an idea about how Search Engine Optimization work. Let’s have an example to clearly understand the working of SEO. So, consider you have two websites: Website A and Website B.
Website A is user-friendly and responsive, which means it quickly loads on tablets, smartphone users can navigate easily. On the other hand, Website B isn’t responsive and takes time to load on the tablet, smartphone, or desktop.
It is very easy for a search engine to decide which website is more user-friendly: Website A. Currently, Search Engines use more than 200 different ranking factors to generate search results.
It simply means that there are more than 200 factors that decide your ranking and position in SERPs. SEO includes the strategies that improve overall website health while following rules and regulations of Search Engine.
Types of Common SEO Methods:
It is the art of improving website visibility and position in Search Engine Result Pages. SEO specialists implement the best SEO strategies to effectively optimize your website.
SEO is classified into many types based on the strategies and techniques used. Here we’ve listed four main types of SEO.
1. On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO is also termed on-site SEO, and it includes the practices you perform to optimize the content on your website. It can consist of Keywords, body content, meta description, headers, meta tags, images, and more.
Once a search engine categorizes your webpage content, it can display your website in relevant search queries. Consequently, you can generate more business leads.
Some key On-Page practices include:
Keyword Research:
Before writing content for your website, determine specific words or terms that you want to rank on SERPs. Perform some keyword research and select the terms with high search volume but having less competition. It will increase your chances to get ranked on search engine result pages. After selecting of right keyword, ensure to use it naturally in your site content.
Build Internal Links:
Internal links are URLs that link your website pages with each other. You can build an internal link by connecting URLs with anchored text. Insert URLs in targeted keywords of your page content and link it with high-authority pages. It will be helpful for Search Engines to crawl your website and make it more user-friendly.
Optimize Metadata:
Metadata tells the Search Engine about the content of your webpage. Ensure to include relevant keywords and content in your meta description and meta titles. It will increase your chances to get ranked on a specific keyword. Remember, sometimes Google rephrases our metadata with other page content. So, always make sure to completely optimize your web page.
2. Off-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO is all about the SEO practices that do not happen on your website. It includes strategies that are performed to build the trust and authenticity of your website. Eventually, it results in more organic traffic and increased business leads.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say Off-Page SEO focus on building links. Link building is an SEO practice that involves getting links for your website from authorized and reputable websites. It helps the Search Engines to check the authenticity of your website.
Some main Off-Page practices include:
Competitors Research:
Ensure to check the backlink profile of your website competitor. It will let you know where they are getting backlinks. It also helps you to find websites that allow hyperlinks.
Guest Posts:
Many online blogs or websites accept and publish guest posts. It might be free or paid. Make sure to publish your post on a site relevant to your niche and include a link back to your website.
Helping Journalists:
You can find several online services where people request insight from a niche expert. It includes many platforms like HARO. You can offer a request in your area of service. As a result, most of the time, they link back to your website in the article.
3. Technical SEO
As its name indicates, it involves technical SEO practices. It involves the actions that are helpful for the search engine to crawl your website and improve user experience (UX). The algorithm of a search engine is very complex, and its ranking factors always keep changing.
All these things make it clear that this type of SEO is always evolving. You need to ensure smooth spider crawling and a better user experience to index your website in the Search Engine algorithm.
You can practice these technical SEO strategies to improve your website visibility:
Site Structure:
Site structure matters a lot in smooth search engine crawling. Try to use a user-friendly and short URL, HTTPS hypertext, internal links, and a clear site hierarchy.
Website Speed:
The loading speed of your business website is also an important SEO factor. In a recent Google algorithm update, website load time variables are also listed as a ranking factor. Make sure to use a simple website template, optimize your images, and restrict redirects on your webpage.
Mobile Adaptive:
Nowadays, most internet users are switching to android mobiles than desktop or PCs. Make sure to use a mobile-friendly website template. Check your website on a mobile phone to ensure it loads quickly and navigates easily.
4. Local SEO
Local SEO is a common type of SEO that targets the audience of a specific local area rather than a nation or a country. It is all about local businesses that want to improve their online presence and promote their services and products in a specific area.
Your business ranking on Google SERPs depends on how well you’ve created your Google My Business profile. It includes all details about the address, business hours, description, reviews, and photos.
When a user searches a query on Google, it SERPs look for the nearest relevant business in its database. If your Google My Business Profile complies with Search Engine requirements, it selects your business to show for the result.
You can improve your local SEO by writing customized local landing pages, optimizing your local business profile, building local links, submitting your location on Google Maps, and more.
The advantages of using local SEO are:
- It is free of cost
- It is effective to target a specific audience
- There are high chances to rank on Google as a local business since only 44% of businesses create their GMB profile.
Popular and Useful SEO Tools to Consider:
It wouldn’t be wrong to say SEO is a fairly technical field. Below, we’ve listed some popular free and paid SEO tools.
Google Keyword Planner:
It is a free SEO tool provided by Google Ads product. However, it is designed for paid keyword search, but it can be a great tool for SEO. It gives you keyword search volume and keyword suggestions that can be a great help in keyword research for a website.
Google Search Console:
It is another free tool provided by Google in Google Webmaster Tools. It is considered a standard SEO tool. It provides you with an insight into website ranking and traffic through reports. These reports can be helpful to fix any on-site technical issues.
Backlinking Tools:
Several backlink analysis tools are available online. AHREFs and Majestic are the two most popular backlink analysis tools. These can be helpful to get an idea about website links with other sites and which websites are linking to their competitor’s website.
Social Media:
Most social media platforms don’t involve directly in SEO. But as you know, social media platforms are a great way of networking with other experts. You can also find leads for link building and guest posting through social media networking.
SEO Platforms:
Many SEO platforms bring together all the necessary tools and software that you need to optimize your website. Some popular SEO platforms are Moz, Searchmetrics, BrightEdge, and Linkdex. These platforms help in on-page and off-page SEO opportunities, keyword research, and other SEO techniques.
Is SEO Useful for Online Marketing or E-commerce Business?
No doubt, Search Engine Optimization is a fundamental part of Digital Marketing. According to an estimate, people do trillions of searches every year. These searches might be with commercial intent or to get information about products and services.
Greater visibility and ranking in Search Engine Results than your competitor’s website is a great way to visibly increase your business leads. It can be achieved by properly optimizing your e-commerce business website for search engine searches.
In the past few years, the use of the internet has been raised that also increases searches on the internet. So, it becomes very important to get ranked on search engine result pages with low competition high search volume keywords.
In short, SEO is a key component of the digital marketing ecosystem. You need to understand what your users want and how you can satisfy their needs. It will help you to design marketing campaigns (organic or paid) to promote your business or services online.
Final Verdict:
Before getting into SEO, you must understand how it works and what are its benefits. SEO involves a set of practices (On-page or Off-page) that improve the overall health of your website and optimize it for flawless search engine crawl.
You need to execute different SEO types in conjunction with each other to get the maximum of it. An optimized website focusing on low competition keywords with high search volume tends to get ranked easily on search engine result pages.
It is vital to hire an SEO specialist to effectively implement SEO tactics and analyze the area of improvement. BUSNWEB is a leading Digital Marketing agency that offers expert SEO services. You can hire their expert SEO services to get rank your website in SERPs.
FAQs:
1. What will Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mean in simple words?
In simple words, SEO is a set of practices that are performed to improve the positioning and visibility of websites in organic search engine results.
2. What are the common SEO practices?
The most common SEO practices are white hat SEO. White hat SEO helps to improve and maintain the position and visibility of a website while still following the search engine rules and regulations. For Example, if a website wants to rank on Google, white hat SEO will help it to get ranked while following the terms and conditions dog Google.
3. What do SEO tools mean?
In simple words, SEO tools provide insight into the overall health and position of the website. They help to highlight the areas of improvement that may prevent you get ranked or getting visibility in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP).
4. Is it reliable and cost-effective to learn SEO on my own?
Yes, it is possible to learn SEO on your own. You don’t need to be an SEO expert or specialist to learn SEO. First of all, set your mind you can do it on your own. Willingness to learn and be ready to invest your time in learning is all that you need to learn SEO.
5. What is the future of SEO specialists?
In the digital marketing field, SEO is the most in-demand career. SEO is an important part of digital marketing to improve webpage ranking to generate more business leads. In short, SEO is a good career, and the future of an SEO specialist is quite bright.
6. How can I start to learn SEO at home?
- Understanding of what is SEO
- Practice keyword research
- Learn On-page and Off-page SEO
- Understanding of UX signals
- Writing SEO friendly content
- Start link building (Backlinks creation)
