Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of strategically catering your site’s content and technical build to consistently rank better on search engine results pages (SERPs). It is definitely a mandatory marketing tactic if you want your target audience to discover your site! What makes SEO basics even more powerful is that it contributes to your brand’s organic reach. Which means it can become a long-term source for attracting potential customers without ever having to pay a cent.
SEO is essentially how you get seen in a search engine’s unpaid results. That’s all well and good, but how do you actually make that happen? We need to bridge the gap between understanding a technical definition and applying it to your business. That’s a big part of creating successful outcomes for your business, so let’s figure it out! How do you optimize for search engines?
There are many different search engines utilized by various demographics around the world, but when it comes to traffic volume, Google far exceeds its competition. In fact, Google is responsible for an astounding majority of search engine traffic around the world. That means that any strategy involving optimization needs to cater to this “big fish” search engine.
What Does “Crawling” Mean for SEO Basics?
No Google is not powered by a bunch of researchers looking up answers on their hands and knees. Crawling is the term for how search engines analyze, rank, and index your content. It essentially reads your site’s content and evaluates it for relevance using various algorithms. So what makes a website relevant to search engines?
There are several factors that affect index ranking including load time, technical specifications, link structure, and content relevance. It may seem pretty straight forward that your content needs to be relevant to your audience, but SEO goes a lot deeper than that. It factors in things like images and videos, headers, titles, alt text, and even the phrasing of your content itself. When it comes to SEO, you can never underestimate the importance of the so-called little things.
How Do Search Engines Define Website Quality for SEO Basics?
Quality can come from a lot of different sources when it comes to SEO. Even content that’s not on your site can impact your SEO ranking! For example, the number and value of other websites that link back to your site or even just a certain page greatly affects your visibility in SERPs. Link building is a huge part of the Google Search Engine algorithm. The more other sites with a record of dependability and relevance link back to you, the better your own ranking becomes.
If you have a bit of time, check out The Anatomy of a Search Result to familiarize yourself with the different parts of a Google search result.
A little reflection can go a long way in improving your strategy.
Key Questions for Auditing Your Website’s SEO
- Are people engaging with my site? If not, you may need to submit a Sitemap.
- Do users find what they are looking for when they click on my site?
- Are users staying on my site or bouncing back to the search results to click some other site’s link?
- Are users even clicking on my site listing or ignoring it altogether in favor of the other search result options?
- What is my site’s loading speed?
- Is my site mobile friendly?
- Do I have a lot of broken pages or duplicate content?
The Importance of Keywords in Search Engine Optimization
Now that you’ve done a little introspection on your site, let’s dive into one of the most powerful tools in your SEO toolkit: keywords.
Keywords are the terms that people are actively searching for. The easiest way to think about keywords is from the perspective of a search engine user yourself. When you’ve got a question, what do you put in the search bar to find an answer?
The specific words and phrases you use affect what pops up in your results, based on potential result’s websites. Subsequently, the terms your own site uses plays a huge factor in when and if your website is showing up on that search results page.
There are two main factors when it comes to choosing the right keywords to include in your site: relevance, volume, and competition.
What is Keyword Relevance?
The keywords you target on your site need to align with the search terms your target audience are most likely to use . This is referred to as keyword relevance.
Your specific industry probably has a lot of its own terminology and though that terminology may make sense for you, can you say the same for your audience? You need to consider what your target audience will be actively searching for. For instance, let’s say you’re in the business of digital marketing. It may seem like a no-brainer to use industry buzzwords like B2B, Churn Rate, CTR, or Closed-Loop Marketing. But are these the words that your would-be audience are likely to type into a search bar?
If you’re using industry terminology, the audience you are likely to generate will predominantly be other industry professionals. If this is your goal, great! You’re using the appropriate terms to find your audience. However, if your target audience are those who need help with digital marketing support, like various small businesses or nonprofits, you would want to stick to simpler terms that regular business owners would likely use.
There are a lot of keyword tools out there to help you home in on the best relevant terms for your site and pages. Keyword Surfer is a free tool with some useful basic feedback. Tools like SEM Rush and Spyfu offer a lot more than the free options you can find, but they come at a price. The tools you choose to utilize will depend largely on your budget, and the depth of the data you are keen on acquiring. As with all forms of digital marketing, considering your audience is key.
What is Keyword Volume?
Keyword volume refers to how many people are actually searching for a given keyword. The more people searching for a given word that is tied to your content, the bigger your potential audience.
For instance, if you’re using Keyword Surfer (found in the Google Chrome Store), an extra bit of information appears in the right-hand corner of your search bar as well as a list of keyword ideas related to the words you chose in your search.
A word or phrase that no one is searching for isn’t going to improve your visibility, so choose your words accordingly. That said, keywords with a high search volume also tend to have more competition because everyone else wants the biggest potential audience, too. To truly succeed in SEO, you must consider your website’s performance with that of your competitor’s by choosing keywords that balance volume and relevance with competition.
How Competition Impacts SEO Keyword Selection
Understanding your competition will give you great insight into the likelihood that your site will rank well for specific search terms.
Look at the titles and phrases your competitors are using, the content they provide, and the backlinks they offer on their website. You can even use a keyword search tool to enter your competitor’s domain and get a list of the keywords that they currently rank for.
Learning more about your competitors can also lead to insight into what you could be doing better. Ask yourself, what can I do to make my content more appealing to my target audience than my competition? Create lists of the things you feel they do well as well as the things that they fall short in to inform your overall SEO strategy.
Introspection into your competitors’ SEO strategy and relevance can give you a much better idea of what works in terms of search engine ranking in your industry and is an excellent way to inform your keyword choices and implementation.
SEO basics is an incredibly powerful tool for digital marketers across the board, and you do not want to lose out on all the opportunities it can offer your business. Though it may require a decent investment of effort up front to get your website and content up to snuff SEO-wise, it can lead to lasting benefits overtime that make it more than worth it!
Resources
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/04/30/seo-basics
https://www.statista.com/statistics/216573/worldwide-market-share-of-search-engines/
https://clever-solution.com/blog/top-search-engines-in-the-world
https://www.stanventures.com/blog/top-search-engines-list/
https://www.webfx.com/blog/seo/what-does-seo-mean/
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/sitemaps/overview
https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/what-is-seo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOfhHPp5sWs
https://www.singlegrain.com/seo/effective-seo-techniques-that-work/
https://backlinko.com/seo-techniques
https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/bounce-rate/
https://www.searchmetrics.com/glossary/content-relevance/
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keyword-surfer/bafijghppfhdpldihckdcadbcobikaca
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
