SEO also called organic or natural optimization involves optimizing websites to achieve high rankings on search engines for certain selected key phrases. Generally, techniques used for optimizing on one search engine will also help efforts across others.
Search engines need to help users find what they’re looking for. To make sure they list the best results first, they look for signals of:
- Popularity
- Authority
- Relevance
- Trust
- Importance
SEO also called organic or natural optimization involves optimizing websites to achieve high rankings on search engines for certain selected key phrases. Generally, techniques used for optimizing on one search engine will also help efforts across others.
How search engines work, according to Google:
“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links, a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves ‘important’ weigh more heavily and help to make other pages ‘important’.”
SEO can be divided into two main strategies:
1. On-page optimization is achieved by making changes to the HTML code, content, and structure of a website, making it more accessible for search engines, and by extension, easier for users to find.
2. Off-page optimization is generally focused on building links to the website and covers activities like social media and digital PR.
SEO is an extremely effective way of generating new business for a site. It is a continuous process and a way of thinking about how search engines see your website, and how users use search engines to find your website. It’s search psychology.
Search engine optimization is a fairly technical practice but it can easily be broken down into five main areas:
• A search engine friendly website structure
• A well-researched list of key phrases
• Content optimized to target those key phrases
• Link popularity
• User insights
Optimizing a website for search engines should entail optimizing the website for users. Done properly, it should result in a better user experience, while ensuring that search engines index and rank the website well.
However, it can be tempting to focus on the technicalities of SEO while forgetting that both robots and humans need to read the same website. One should not be sacrificed for the other.
Search engines update their algorithms regularly. Each update is an attempt to improve search results, but can result in loss of rankings for some websites, depending on the update. A contingency plan, such as a prepared search advertising campaign, needs to be in place to cope with a sudden drop in rankings.
As with any digital marketing practice, SEO should not be the only focus of digital marketing efforts. It works best when part of a holistic online marketing strategy.
