Getting content and websites visible to people out there is always what comes into play after we have them set up. In this article, we shall look at everything search engine optimization whose purpose is to make a webpage easier to understand by search engines thereby improving its position on the SERP which will increase the number of number persons having access to our website and content.
What is SEO and how does it work?
Search engine optimization is the process involving all the practices and strategies for improving both the quality and quantity of a webpage or website traffic. in other words, it is the process of increasing how high our website or content appears and is positioned on the search engines.
As said above the aim is to get listed on the results when a searcher queries for a particular term or phrase. This process is targeted at getting traffic that is not paid for to our website, one that is organic.
Understanding how SEO works entails understanding the search engines work first. Search engines like Google search engine, Bing and Yahoo use crawlers to gather information over the internet which they then save in their databases which are in turn returned as results when a user makes a search request. The process of the information gathering by these search crawlers is called indexing.
Let's take for an example you have content indexed on blissnaija.com on a topic of reasons why you should write evergreen content, and on this article, there are links to other related articles like types of evergreen content you should know, blogging niches and all of that, search engines will crawl to all these articles linked to the base article.
Now by chance, the base article was linked to an external article on another site let's say truloks.com with the phrase "how to discover best evergreen content", search engines will crawl from blissnaija.com to that article on truloks.com through the link. In this way, the search engine will also discover that article and index it.
One thing to note here is that the content on the blissnaija.com article that led to the article on truloks.com at this point is what makes the search engine understand everything about the web pages and the relevance that exists between them. This linking is what helps search engines to display results to searchers when they send queries on the internet.
Why is SEO important?
The reason is not far-fetched. SEO is important because it is the only gateway that gets your web pages and web content noticed by search engines and displays your content on the result pages when users seek such information on the internet.
The image above is a display of results from a user query of "Why you should write evergreen content" Now it is only by the implementation of SEO best practices that your content or website will show up as part of the result when users request for such information.
Categories of SEO
Basically, there are just 3 main categories of search engine optimization that could be carried out in order to help search engines understand, crawl index and rank web out web content. they are namely:
- On-page SEO
- Off-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
On-page SEO
On-page SEO is the optimization process made directly on a webpage or website in order to improve and increase its visibility and ranking on the SERPs. This could be directly interacting with the HTML source code by optimizing the webpage's elements to make it friendly to the search engine and users. Activities that could be performed here include:
Keyword Optimization: This involves the finding of suitable and relevant keywords to target and the strategic placement of these keywords in the page title, meta titles and description tags, content headings, image alt tags and content body.
Content Optimization: This is the creating or updating already created content to be of high quality with accurate information, organized and engaging in a way that satisfies the intent of the searchers of such information. Here, you make sure your targeted keyword is placed within the content body at the same time ensure the quality of the content.
Meta tags Optimization: Meta tags include title tags and meta descriptions. Craft out meta titles and meta descriptions which correctly represent the information on a webpage or website. It is very important because they are the snippets that show on the SERP for searchers to select from.
Header tags: Structuring and arrangement of your content with the appropriate header tags from h1-h6 to make your content readable.
Internal and external linking: This is the process of interlinking related content either on the same website or to other websites. Internal linking makes navigation within related content on the same website easy. External linking on the other handle hand enables search engines to understand your content better and helps in easy indexing.
Image Optimization: Images on a particle web content could be optimized by making sure to carry file names and contain various targeted keywords, compressed, and also contain a keyword in its alt text.
URL Structure: Optimize your URL in a way that it contains the targeted keyword and is not too long. Your URLs should always be descriptive enough to tell a researcher what your content is all about.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is the optimization of external factors to your website which affect the ranking of your website or pages on the search engine result pages (SERPs). Off-page optimization strategies include:
Backlink building: This is the finding of places where to acquire high-quality backlinks to your website or page. These should always be from authoritative websites which helps in demonstrating the trustworthiness of your website.
Guest blogging: Guest blogging is the writing and publishing of articles on other websites in order to establish your expertise. Through guest blogging, you could link that external article back to your main website.
Online Reputation Management(ORM): This is the process of monitoring and managing comments on your content and online reviews on your services or products. This is done in order to maintain a positive brand image.
Influencer Outreach: This is the process of collaborating with great influencers who are in your industry so as to help promote your content.
Social network Optimization: This is the process of sharing your content on social media platforms in order to gain traffic from them. The sharing of your content exposes your content to a lot of users out there. You could share your content on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.
Blog and community engagement: This involves you dropping relevant comments on other external blogs that are in the same niche as yours and in the process sharing your content links in order to add more clarity. You could also participate in relevant online communities and forums in order to build authority and connection.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO optimizing is the process of optimising your website's technical aspects so as to make sure search engines find, crawl and index your web content. This deals with the structure and what happens at the backend of your website in rendering your content for viewers. These technical SEO include:
XML Sitemaps: A sitemap is a file which tells the search engine the information it needs about the structure of your website leading to a smooth and efficient site crawling and improved ranking. They are written in extensible markup language (XML) format for easy understanding by humans and search engines alike.
As said above, its importance is to help in crawling and indexing as they serve as a roadmap for search engine crawler bots.
Robots.txt: This is a simple text file which contains the Configuring settings which instruct the web crawlers or robots on what to crawl and what not to crawl. It is placed in the root directory of your website.
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Website Speed: This is also known as page loading speed or even site performance. it is the time taken for a web page to fully load displaying all its content to the user on the browser. It is important that your website loads fast because it provides a better user experience, leading to a high conversation rate, mobile friendliness, and accessibility above all SEO ranking.
Mobile Friendliness: Always make sure that your website is responsive on all mobile screen sizes and that all the dynamic functions are working appropriately.
Canonicalization: This is the process of finding and resolving duplicate content on your website. This is done in order to avoid confusing the search engines and let them understand a preferred version of content when duplicates exist.
SSL/HTTPS: Secure Sockets Layers and Transport Layer Security which is its modern version are just encrypted protocols which help in ensuring secured data transmission over the internet. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a protocol which uses SSL in order to protect transmitted data over the internet.
Site Architecture: This refers to the structure of the website and the layout of all its pages and navigation elements. This plays a vital role in making sure your website is user-friendly and easy to navigate by users. Always let your website have a clear architecture.
Addressing all the above-mentioned SEO strategies from the on-page, and off-page to technical, will enhance the visibility of your website and improve its ranking on the SERPs.
Other categories of SEO include local SEO and e-commerce SEO.
Do you have a blog? How do you get backlinks to your site? I want to know. If you are having trouble, you can leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.
If you want to know how to get backlinks to your site, then make sure you check out The Ultimate Guide to Getting Links Back to Your Site.
Do you need a website that ranks high in search engines? If so, then you need a high-quality backlink.
Thanks for reading this post and don't forget to tell me what you have gained from this content in the comment section. I reply to the comment personally so, I will reply to you as well.
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1 Comments
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