The illustrious three letters: SEO. Or Search Engine Optimization. If you are an online business owner or Internet brand, or if you own a website, the concept of SEO should be the focal point and essential strategy for growing your business. This article will attempt to introduce you to the concept of SEO.
So what exactly is SEO?
The definition is in the name. Search Engine Optimization or SEO means just that. It is the process where a website is optimized so that it ranks higher on search engines like Google.
Meaning your website, article, content, needs to check certain criteria off of Google’s checklist so it can rank higher on their search engine. Google does this ranking system to provide a better overall experience for its users. Which is why it’s imperative that you implement SEO.
How does SEO work?
We will only go over how SEO works briefly but if you want to know in detail the functions of SEO you can check out this SEO for dummies guide. Now that the concept of SEO has been established, you start to get an idea of how important search engine optimization is. And although SEO might sound simple enough, in truth, it isn’t. One reason why is because of the sheer amount of content available on the internet, versus the will of users to search through all of them to eventually decide which link to click on. It has been proven that 75% of all search engine clicks go to the top 3 search results. That is the only stat you need to let you know to invest in SEO. But how, exactly, does SEO work?
To understand how search engine optimization works, first you need to understand how search engines work. Search engines like Google use robots called Crawlers whose job is to crawl web pages identifying content and indexing them on their database. Then, Google’s algorithm matches a user’s search for the most relevant and available information in their database.
What is the best way to do SEO?
SEO is a complicated concept. Many SEO analysts will advise you to adopt a combination of tactics when pursuing a search engine optimization approach. But here are the most effective ones, especially if you’re just getting started.
1- Keywords: keywords are words that users will type into search engines when searching for a particular topic. This is without a doubt one of the most important tools for SEO. Using keywords in a natural way throughout your website is a good way to get Google’s crawlers to pick up on your website. If you’re not sure which keywords to use, the very first step is to do a keyword analysis. Import that into a keyword rank tracking tool and prioritize keywords with most search volume and least competition.
2- Alt Text: This is the text that you provide for images on your site. Again the idea is to provide as much written data as possible, in a natural way, so that Google can pick up on it.
3- Credibility: a less technical way to optimize SEO. Providing good content, establishing trust and a positive user experience is a guarantee for growing your business and brand.
Getting started with SEO
These are just a few quick tips to help you get started with your SEO process before you implement a full-blown and diverse strategy. However, you can always opt for guest blogging services or hiring small business SEO services. One thing before starting is that the first step to starting an SEO strategy is creating an attractive website that is accessible, and easy to navigate.
Now that you have an idea of what SEO is, you can read up about it further, and learn the different ways you can optimize your website and content. Also, make sure to follow up on your metrics and analytics to know whether or not your approach is the right one. Get started with the process of ranking your website, and go SEO.