SEO is an acronym that stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s the process of optimizing your web pages for search engines to drive unpaid, free and quality traffic (visitors) to your site.
The popular search engines are Google, Bing, and Yahoo. People go online (on this search engines) to inquire about topics of varying interest. The goal of any search engine is to serve the best possible results.
To make sure your website is featured on the search result page (SERPs), preferably on the first page, you’ll need to optimise and follow the rules search engines appreciates and understands.
How does SEO work?
SEO is not a quick-scheme. It takes times, knowledge and the best approach to make it work for your website. Below are some of the essentials to know about SEO.
Quality Content plus keywords Matters
Quality means a lot. It requires you to create valuable, relevant, engaging and content with practicality so your visitors can feel safe and trust you with their time, money and become loyal “followers.” Contents range from blog post and articles, images, videos, podcast/audio recordings, infographic to other visual contents.
On the other hand, however, quality content with appropriate keywords or key phrases will help search engines determines what your content is all about, and also increases your chances of ranking. Keywords or phrases are the terms your site visitor will likely use or type on search engines to find the information they are looking for. Don’t take these for granted.
On Page SEO Matters
On Page SEO factors are the elements on your site. This also determines the effectiveness of your “SEOing.” Parameters in this area include title tag, Meta description, sub-heading, internal links, image name, ALT tags and many more. These are signals that help search engines better understand your website.
Off Page Contributes Immensely
Off pages factors largely affect how most search engines determine if your site is worth displaying on the SERPs. For example, backlinks from other websites, having higher authority, gives a search engine the impression that your website can be trusted. Also, social signals such as likes and shares improve SEO because it shows your content is getting engagement on social media.
While no search engine, not even the giant, Google, will share its in-depth analysis of how their algorithm works, the above factors play a huge role.
Can SEO Improve my Website Ranking?
SEO can improve your website rankings on the SERPs if you abide by the rules. But you’ll have to stay clear of bad practices otherwise known as Back Hat SEO which involves bending or breaking the rules to improve rankings quickly without regard for the human visitors that’ll navigate and read the content.
While Black Hat SO can provide short term results, you can get penalised quickly. White Hat SEO, known as the good practices, will not produce result overnight but will contribute to your website ranking in the long run.
Conclusion
Although SEO is extensive and complex, here you have the basics you need to know. If you can hone your SEO skills or get an agency that knows their onion, SEO can translate into more sales, profits and business success for you.