- 14 November 2022
- SEO, Technology
Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) sits in the center of your website’s visibility. Companies today are aware that a big portion of consumers are online, and even the most traditional businesses realize they need to accelerate their digital transition if they want to stay in the game.
For this reason, most businesses use the Internet to maintain their competitive edge in one way or another – be it through having a Facebook page, website, online advertising, email marketing, etc. Unfortunately, many do not realize that having one channel is not enough in today’s competitive world. To stand out from the crowd and succeed, you need to be in the right place at the right time.
What is the best way to use search engine optimization for your website?
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves the appearance and positioning of web pages in organic search results. It attracts more targeted traffic to your website, based on specific keywords, directly from search engines like Google and Bing.
This practice improves your website’s ranking in the unpaid section of specific search results, bringing you more visitors, clicks, and sales. In simple terms, SEO helps your site rank organically (without having to pay for advertising) for search terms that your audience is researching.
What are the main SEO elements?
Search engine optimization consists of several different elements and is divided into two parts – On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. One focuses on improvements to your page, while the other refers to anything that can be done outside of your website to improve its visibility on the web. To build a successful strategy you need to use both. Here’s what they include:
On-Page SEO
The SEO of your page helps search engines analyze your website and its content to provide the most relevant result to the user’s search query. It is essential to optimize elements visible to the user such as media and content, as well as those visible to search engines – metadata, HTML, keywords, and internal links.
Content and media
The content of your website is the most essential element of an effective SEO strategy. It should be optimized for the right keywords, but it’s far more important that it contains the information your users are looking for. This is precisely why you should write it in a form that would be well received by your visitors. Today’s content should be educational yet interesting, delivered relevantly in an engaging way. Whether it’s in the form of a video, podcast, infographic, blog post, book, or Social Media post, well-written and optimized content will bring you real success. Especially if you use high-quality images. If you want to improve your rankings, optimizing all photos will help you load faster and provide a better user experience, maximizing your Google rankings.
Metadata
Metadata is the (meta) title and description published in SERPs (abbreviated from Search Engine Result Page – the page displayed after searching for a keyword in Google). This data can be found in the HTML code of each page and helps search engines and users understand what your page has to offer. The meta title usually includes your most important keywords and is a maximum of 55 characters. The meta description is a maximum of 150 characters and again includes the words that best describe your website. Optimizing these two parts is done through good keyword selection, prompting the search engine audience to visit your website.
Website structure and internal links
Your web page structure refers to how you organize your website content and is hugely important for good SEO. Having a clear page hierarchy makes it easier for search engines to crawl your site properly, indexing your URLs better. To rank higher, you need to provide easy navigation bars, and optimize your tags and categories, while also emphasizing internal links.
Internal links are those links that point from one page on your website to another page, also on your website. They are used by users as well as search engines to find specific content, moving from one page to another, and also help in better search engine rankings.
Keywords
Keywords are those phrases and combinations that users type into search engines like Google to find a solution to their problem. To be found in search engines, you need to integrate selected keywords that suit your field. If your idea is to list a bunch of random keywords, you will not get the results you desire. Not only will you not get quality traffic (or any at all), but you also risk to damage your website’s reputation because it can be penalized by search engines. Choosing keywords is a process that takes time and research, but it pays off.
Off-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO covers all the tactics and strategies outside of your page. Building backlinks is among the most well-known methods of creating a profitable strategy, but there are other tricks that can be profitable. Optimizing your social networks and using local SEO tools can dramatically help your rank and put you on the first page of Google.
Backlinks / External links
Building quality internal links play a crucial role in the pursuit of first-page rankings and are the foundation of good Off-Site SEO. They can be built by promoting your business through PR and marketing or exchanging links with others in your industry. There are two types of external links:
- Organic links generated without any action taken by you – an example of this type of link would be another blogger taking a positive view of your content and linking to it from their site.
- Paid links created by promoting your business online – an example of this type of link would be an influencer sharing your content.
Building backlinks is a long and complicated process, so it is important to strive to maintain your authority by selecting relevant sites that suit your industry. If not done correctly, it can negatively affect your rankings in Google and other web search engines.
Social Media
Social Media networks can be extremely useful in building an SEO strategy for your site. Using popular platforms is a great way to expand the reach of your content, introducing it to a new audience. This not only gives more visibility to your content but also helps build quality backlinks. Social networks are considered a site of high rank and authority. And although Google doesn’t state a direct link between social networks and SEO rankings, if you optimize your social profiles, they will rise to the top of search engine searches for your brand name.
Online directories
Online directories can be beneficial if you are new to the online world. They will help you to be more widespread and visible on various websites specific to your industry. Having your website listed in an online directory will give your customers a chance to leave feedback and reviews that can attract new customers to your business.
Local SEO
Local SEO is becoming vital for new businesses to be discovered by consumers searching through their mobile phones. If you own a local business and want to attract more customers, creating a page for your business on Google My Business and Google Maps is an absolute must. This will shoot you up in the search engine rankings, especially if people are already searching for your business. Using local SEO tools will get you new customers who wouldn’t have found out about you otherwise, but it will also bring you more traffic and new leads.
Why is SEO necessary?
Search engine optimization is another marketing channel that your business can take advantage of. Although paid advertising and Social Media platforms can generate traffic to your website, the majority of internet traffic comes from search engines. That’s why it’s important to start building an online presence as soon as possible.
Of course, organic results seem easier to trust and do not require constant investment in active advertising. They could be helpful to:
- Provide an incredible return on investment
- Increase sales and generate more web traffic
- Attract the right target group
- Move leads through your marketing funnel
- Increase confidence
One of the key benefits of search engine optimization is that you can reach the customer through organic search before your competition can capture their attention. If you can attract the viewer at this key moment, you will win a new customer without wasting unnecessary advertising funds.
