Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of these terms, and while it may seem complicated, the basic concept of SEO isn’t hard to understand.
This introduction to SEO will break down everything you need to know about how SEO works in plain English so that you can apply these concepts directly to your own website and marketing efforts.
Search Engine Optimization or SEO Defination
SEO is short for search engine optimization. Optimizing your website means that you are taking steps to ensure that your website will appear higher in organic (non-paid) search results.
It's not enough to just have a good product or service. You also need people to be able to find you! This can be done through various avenues, but SEO, or optimizing your site for search engines, will help get people looking for your type of product or service find your site.
In order to optimize for search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo you'll need to work on things like meta tags, keywords and content which are the most important for SEO.
Some other factors are backlinks (inbound links from other sites), social media shares and business listings. These all play into how well your site ranks in search engines.
There are lots of moving parts when it comes to starting a new business - but don't let that scare you away! While there is plenty of research involved in planning your company, don't let that discourage you.
On-Page and Off-Page Factors
Some of your optimization efforts will take place on your website’s pages (on-page) while others will occur off of your website (off-page).
Examples of on-page SEO factors include optimizing page titles, descriptions, tags, etc. for search queries to make sure those pages are showing up for relevant searches in Google. On-Page factors are typically more effective early on, but as time goes on you’ll need to spend more energy trying to rank for related off-page terms.
To do that, you’ll want to build links from websites that have high authority in your industry. This can be done by reaching out to bloggers or other content creators who publish articles with links back to their site. As an example, if I were a marketing consultant I might reach out to marketing blogs or social media influencers who write about topics like digital marketing strategy or content marketing strategy and ask them if they would be willing to link back to my website.
A link from a high authority site can help boost your rankings for off-page keywords that are important for driving traffic long term. An easy way to identify these sites is to use tools like Ahrefs, Moz Open Site Explorer, Majestic SEO or SEMrush.
It takes some trial and error but eventually you'll figure out which ones work best for your business. The most important thing is to make sure that when someone types in a keyword related to what you do into Google they see your website!
When developing an SEO strategy, it's also worth thinking about whether any of your competitors are already ranking well for those terms. You can find competitive analysis tools through companies such as SEMrush, SpyFu or Market Samurai.
Website Content
SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, refers to a wide variety of activities that help websites get ranked higher in search engine results. Each search engine uses different criteria to rank pages (hence optimization), but generally speaking it’s safe to say Google ranks pages based on links from other websites and content found on your site.
So, when you ask how does SEO work?, what you really want to know is how you can improve your content so that search engines like Google will want to send more traffic your way. There are lots of ways to do that, but we’ll stick with just three here. The first is keyword research figuring out which keywords people are using to find information about your industry or product category.
Then you need to make sure those keywords show up in your website copy in titles, headlines, body text and image alt tags and also in links pointing back at your site from other sites.
Finally, there are various technical SEO factors that search engines use too such as load times and mobile friendliness. You don't have to master all these things yourself; there are plenty of SEO tools out there that can help automate some or all of these processes for you. But if nothing else, at least now you know how SEO works!
Keyword Research
When you’re just starting out, SEO can be overwhelming. There are so many tactics that fall under an umbrella term like SEO (i.e., paid search, on-page optimization, link building). Keyword research, for example, is one of those tactics.
If you don’t know what keyword research entails or if you do but aren’t sure how to execute it it can be hard to know where to start with your SEO efforts. That’s why we went straight to a search engine optimization pro for an introductory guide on everything you need to know about keyword research. It covers everything from defining keywords and determining which terms make sense for your business to understanding your audiences' behavior when they're searching online.
So whether you’re at the beginning stages of SEO or want to brush up on some advanced tactics.
check out our beginner's guide to SEO!
• Step 1: Determine Your Goal
• Step 2: Identify Your Audience
• Step 3: Know Where You Can Find Relevant Content
• Step 4: Understand How Your Audience Will Search
• Step 5: Create Your Keyword List
• Step 6: Assess The Competition And Choose A Strategy For Tracking Them
Social Media Strategy
If you are planning to jump into Google or other search engines, remember that you’ll need to create a social media strategy.
The best type of seo for ranking in google searches, content marketing can help increase traffic to your website by regularly creating original articles that cover important topics in your niche.
While there’s a lot of competition for rankings on Google the best long-term bet is simply being seen as an authority in your industry. That doesn’t mean companies don’t see value in getting top rankings, but a high Google ranking isn't always enough to drive consistent traffic and conversions if people don't know who you are or what you do.
With all that said, here are some types of seo you should consider Content Marketing - Creating relevant, valuable content is one of the most effective ways to rank well in search engines.
There are two types of content marketing: owned and earned. Owned media includes any websites you own, including blogs and company websites. Earned media includes guest blogging opportunities on other sites (which will also give you backlinks), press releases, forum posts, news coverage and more.
You can use these pieces of content as part of your overall seo strategy or repurpose them into new pieces through different distribution channels like email newsletters or social media updates.