Search engine optimization

What is search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of getting pages to rank higher
in search engines such as Google. Because search is one of the main ways in which
people discover content online, ranking higher in search engines can lead to an
increase in traffic to a website.

In Google and other search engines, the results page often features paid ads at the top
of the page, followed by the regular results or what search marketers call the "organic
search results". Traffic that comes via SEO is often referred to as "organic search
traffic" to differentiate it from traffic that comes through paid search. Paid search is often
referred to as search engine marketing (SEM) or pay-per-click (PPC).

The benefits of SEO

Search engine optimization is a key part of online marketing because search is one of
the primary ways that users navigate the web.

Search results are presented in an ordered list, and the higher up on that list a site can
get, the more traffic the site will tend to receive. For example, for a typical search query,
the number one result will receive 40-60% of the total traffic for that query, with the
number two and three results receiving significantly less traffic. Only 2-3% of searchers
click beyond the first page of search results. Thus, even a small improvement in search
engine rankings can result in a website receiving more traffic and potentially business.

Because of this, many businesses and website owners will try to manipulate the search
results so that their site shows up higher on the search results page (SERP) than their
competitors. This is where SEO comes in.

How SEO works

Search engines such as Google use an algorithm or set of rules to determine what
pages to show for any given query. These algorithms have evolved to be extremely
complex, and take into account hundreds or even thousands of different ranking factors
to determine the rankings of their SERPs. However, there are three core metrics that
search engines evaluate to determine the quality of a site and how it should rank:

 Links - Links from other websites play a key role in determining the ranking of a site in
Google and other search engines. The reason being, a link can be seen as a vote of
quality from other websites, since website owners are unlikely to link to other sites that
are of poor quality. Sites that acquire links from many other sites gain authority (called
"PageRank" in Google) in the eyes of search engines, especially if the sites that are
linking to them are themselves authoritative.
 Content - In addition to looking at links, search engines also analyze the content of a
webpage to determine if it would be relevant for any given search query. A large part of
SEO is in creating content that is targeted towards the keywords that search engines'
users are searching for.
 Page structure - The third core component of SEO is page structure. Because
webpages are written in HTML, how the HTML code is structured can impact a search
engine’s ability to evaluate a page. Including relevant keywords in the title, URL, and
headers of the page and making sure that a site is crawlable are actions that site
owners can take to improve the SEO of their site.

The search engine optimization process involves optimizing each of these core
components of search engine algorithms in order to rank higher in the search results.

Search engine optimization techniques

Understanding how search engines work is only the first step of the process in
improving a site's search rankings. Actually improving a site's rank involves leveraging
various SEO techniques to optimize the site for search:

 Keyword research - Keyword research is often the starting point for SEO and involves
looking at what keywords a site is already ranking for, what keywords competitors rank
for, and what other keywords potential customers are searching for. Identifying the
terms that searchers use in Google search and other search engines provide direction
on what existing content can be optimized and what new content can be created.
 Content marketing - Once potential keywords are identified, content marketing comes
into play. This can be updating existing content or creating brand new pieces of content.
Because Google and other search engines place a premium on high-quality content, it's
important to research what content is already out there and create a compelling piece of
content that provides a positive user experience and has a chance of ranking higher in
the search engine results. Good content also has a greater chance of being shared on
social media and attracting links.
 Link building - Because links from external websites (called "backlinks" in SEO
parlance) are one of the core ranking factors in Google and other major search engines,
obtaining high-quality backlinks is one of the main levers that SEO has. This can involve
promoting good content, reaching out to other websites and building relationships with
webmasters, submitting websites to relevant web directories, and getting press to
attract links from other websites.
 On-page optimization - In addition to off-page factors such as links, improving the
actual structure of the page can have tremendous benefits for SEO, and is a factor that
is entirely in the control of the webmaster. Common on-page optimization techniques
include optimizing the URL of the page to incorporate keywords, updating the title tag of
the page to use relevant search terms, and using the alt attribute to describe images.
Updating a page's meta tags (such as the meta description tag) can also be beneficial--
these tags don't have a direct impact on search rankings, but can increase click-through
rate from the SERPs.
 Site architecture optimization - External links are not the only thing that matters for
SEO, internal links (the links within one's own website) play a large role in SEO as well.
Thus a search engine optimizer can improve a site's SEO by making sure key pages
are being linked to and that relevant anchor text is being used in those links to help
improve a page's relevance for specific terms. Creating an XML sitemap can also be a
good way for larger pages to help search engines discover and crawl all of the site's
pages.

 Semantic markup - Another SEO strategy that SEO experts utilize is optimizing a
website's semantic markup. Semantic markup (such as Schema.org) is used to describe
the meaning behind the content on a page, such as helping to identify who the author of
a piece of content is or the topic and type of content on a page. Using semantic markup
can help with getting rich snippets displayed in the search results page, such as extra
text, review stars and even images. Rich snippets in the SERPs doesn't have an impact
on search rankings, but can improve CTR (Click Through Rate) from search, resulting in
an increase in organic traffic.

Top SEO tools

As a fairly technical discipline, there are many tools and software that SEO relies on to
help with optimizing websites. Below are some commonly used free and paid tools:

 Google Search Console - Google Search Console (formerly known as "Google

Webmaster Tools") is a free tool provided by Google, and is a standard tool in the
SEO's toolkit. GSC provides rankings and traffic reports for top keywords and pages,
and can help identify and fix on-site technical issues.
 Google Ads Keyword Planner - Keyword Planner is another free tool provided by
Google, as part of their Google Ads product. Even though it is designed for paid search,
it can be a great tool to use for SEO since it provides keyword suggestions and keyword
search volume, which can be helpful when doing keyword research.
 Backlink analysis tools - There are a number of link analysis tools out there, the two
primary ones being AHREFs and Majestic. Backlink analysis tools allow users to
analyze which websites are linking to their own website, or the websites of competitors,
and can be used to find new links during link building.
 SEO platforms - There are many different SEO platforms that bring together many of
the tools that SEO needs to optimize sites. Some of the most popular include Moz,
BrightEdge, Searchmetrics and Linkdex. These platforms track keyword rankings, help
with keyword research, identify on-page and off-page SEO opportunities, and many
other tasks related to SEO.
 Social media - Most social media sites don't have a direct impact on SEO, but they can
be a good tool for networking with other webmasters and building relationships that can
lead to link building and guest posting opportunities.

Optimizing search traffic: from clicks to conversions

Search engine optimization done properly can have the potential to dramatically
increase the amount of traffic that a website receives, but all of that search traffic won’t
help grow a business unless it converts into paying customers. This is where conversion
rate optimization (CRO) comes in.
Conversion rate optimization involves using methods such as A/B testing to make
changes to websites and measure the impact they have on a site’s conversion rate.
Successful search marketers know that just getting traffic to a site is not enough, what
the traffic does once it arrives on the site is just as important.

CRO was once a difficult and highly technical process, but thanks to software such as
Optimizely, running tests to improve conversions on your site is as easy as inserting a
single line of Javascript. Best of all, Optimizely’s visual editor allows you to make
changes to a site without having to write a single line of code.

Over the last few decades, the way businesses market their products and advertise
their services has evolved rapidly. All thanks to the advent of the internet and its billion-
plus users, brands have moved on from traditional marketing, and the attraction towards
digital marketing has never been crazier before - presenting new job roles and career
potentials. From content marketing to PPC, and social media marketing to SEO, every
aspect plays an equally important role. SEO, however, has a lot of aspects from on-
page to off-page and backlinking to interlinking. Well, let's start with the basics first.

You’ve most likely heard the term before but may not have asked the question: What is
SEO? We’re going to try and answer it regardless.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the practice of increasing organic traffic on the
Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It is also known as organic search or listings. If
you want to rank number one for all the keywords, you need to apply SEO to increase
your rank.

Suppose you started a blog for ice cream recipes, but your website doesn't rank high in
the organic search results. There are several reasons why this can happen:

 Your competitors have better content

 You use weak keywords

 You use poor link building practices

 Your webpage load time is slow

 Your website doesn't have a good user experience

 Your website is de-indexed by mistake

To rank high on the SERP, you need to understand how search engines work. In this
article, you will learn about how Google ranks websites, the different types of SEO, and
various SEO techniques you can use to improve your ranking.

What is Black Hat SEO?

Black hat SEO refers to the practices that violate the search engines' terms of service. It
will likely increase a page's ranking in a search engine result page (SERP) for some
time but can result in getting banned from search engines or affiliate sites since it's
against the search engine's terms of service. Some of the black hat SEO techniques or
practices include:

 Keyword Stuffing

 Link Manipulation

 Creating articles, pages, or site landing pages with duplicate content

Word of caution: You might experience short-term success. The traffic to your site might
increase rapidly, but Google penalties are getting more sophisticated each passing day
and can have crushing aftereffects both on your traffic and ranking.

What is White Hat SEO?

White Hat SEO typically refers to SEO tactics that are in tandem and agreement with
the terms and conditions of the search engines. And just like the name suggests, white
hat SEO is the contrast of black hat SEO. A white hat SEO practice like:

 Creating original quality content and services

 Mobile-friendly website

 Use of clear and keyword-rich meta tags

It will improve your search rankings on a SERP, and also maintain the integrity of your
website.
Types of SEO

If you want to rank for a particular keyword on Google, you need to apply SEO. There
are two strategies for this:

 On-page SEO

 Off-page SEO

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing website elements. When you do this, there
are certain factors that you need to take into account. All these elements are something
that you can control as an end-user. The aspects of on-page SEO are:

Keyword Research

Before you do anything with your website, the first thing you need to do is understand
what keywords you want to rank for. To do this, you need to do keyword research. In
this process, you choose the primary and secondary keywords around which you build
meta tags and content.

The primary components for keyword research are:

 Search volume

 Competition

 Relevancy

You can also use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs to
search for keywords. Once you choose the keywords, you can go ahead and start
optimizing your pages for those keywords.

Title Tag

The title tag is a header title element displaying the summary of your website's content
on the search engine results page. It also influences click-through rates and is the most
important factor of on-page SEO. Search engines display the first 50–60 characters of
the title tag.
Meta Description

A meta description is a brief description that summarizes the content of a webpage.

They are also displayed on the search engine page results. In comparison to the title
tag, a meta description gives users more understanding of what your webpage is about.
Meta description also influences click-through rates.

URL Structure

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. The best practice is to use SEO-friendly
URLs, as they help to understand what the webpage is about. The poor URL structure
is a big issue in SEO, which may result in your website getting lower ranks.

Header Tags

Header tags help to identify the headings and subheadings of your content. The
hierarchy of header tags goes from H1 to H6. H1 is the main heading of a page, the H2
tag is a subheading of H1, and so on. These tags help search engines to read and
understand the content better.

Internal Link

Internal links are links that link web pages together on your website. They allow users to
navigate through the website. They are also useful to spread link equity (value passed
from one website to another site).

Keyword Usage

A search engine crawls a website using Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP
helps search engines look for content and keywords.

For example: If your website is about digital marketing and you have used only the
keyword “digital marketing” in it, then the chances of you ranking high for this keyword is
low. It is important to add related keywords such as types of digital marketing, skills in
digital marketing, etc.
Sitemaps

A sitemap is a way of organizing a website to help both users and search engines
understand the structure of a website. There are two types of sitemaps:

 HTML sitemaps: Designed for humans

 XML sitemaps: Designed for crawlers

Now that you have a clear understanding of on-page SEO, let us discuss the off-page
SEO section of the ‘What is SEO?’ article.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is another process of improving your rank on the search engine results
page. It also helps to strengthen the credibility of your website and build a sense of
domain authority and trustworthiness. Other benefits of off-page SEO are an increase in
traffic, page rank, and brand awareness.

Link Building

Off-page SEO is mostly associated with link building. Link building is the process of
acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your site. This is also known as external link
building. The key to link building is always content. From an on-page SEO perspective,
having quality content allows you to optimize it for relevant keywords and rank. From an
off-page SEO strategy, having high-quality content enables other sites to link back to
your site.

Here are some strategies for link building:

 High-quality content creation - Other sites will link back to yours if your content is
original, well-structured, and reads well.

 Off-site engagement - Spend a lot of time on other websites similar to yours. You can
search for other sites that have relevant content. You can share your content with
them they can share their content with you. You can also achieve off-site
engagement through social media and collaborating with bloggers.

When learning ‘What is SEO’ there are also some do’s and don’ts as well which you
should be aware of. The next section covers it.

Master many facets of SEO including keyword research, technical SEO, link building,
analytics, with the Search Engine Optimization training course.
Do's and Don'ts of SEO

Here are some important points to keep in mind for SEO.

DO's DON'Ts

Do not opt for black hat

techniques.
Opt for white hat techniques (basically all of the points
mentioned above). For example, choosing a
keyword arbitrarily and stuffing
that keyword into the content.

Try to get backlinks from relevant sites that have high- Avoid backlinks from irrelevant
quality content. sites.

Use keywords in your title tags, and have a unique title Do not duplicate the same title
tag for multiple web pages. tags on multiple web pages.

Write engaging content for a better user experience. Do not plagiarize content.
 Do keyword research. Understand the volume and Avoid keyword stuffing. Google
competition for all the keywords. will be able to pick up on this.

Avoid building sitewide

Build internal links to your website naturally.
backlinks.

It takes time to rank your content so be patient and wait Don't stress out and start using
for a while. black hat techniques.

Don't ignore mobile devices

while making your website for
Make your website responsive and user-friendly across
the desktop. Most users today
multiple devices.
start their search process on
their mobiles

SEO vs SEM

Before we continue this ‘What is SEO?’ article, it’s worth addressing something many
people get confused — the difference between SEO vs SEM. Both are critical
components of any successful digital marketing campaign, and SEO is actually a subset
of SEM. The main difference, which we go into much more detail here, is that SEM
employs paid search engine advertising to target specific demographics.
How Does Google Rank Websites?

Websites are ranked primarily based upon the competition between your web pages
and other web pages for a particular keyword. The web pages which follow the best
practices outrank every other web page in the competition and rank on top for those
keywords.

Search engines like Google follow three basic steps to rank a website. They are:

1. Crawling

Search engines have spiders or bots which scans a website copies the entire
website's content, and stores it in the search engine's index.

2. Indexing

Indexing is the method of adding web pages into Google search results. If your
website is not in a search engine's index, no one will be able to find your website.

3. Ranking

When you type something in Google, the most relevant websites (from the index) will
appear in the search results. These results are based on multiple factors like user
location, language, experience, etc.

There are a lot of factors that go into ranking - relevancy being a critical aspect. For
example, if you type Simplilearn, the web pages for Simplilearn shows up organically
because they are relevant to that keyword. However, you also need to make sure that
the page load time is fast for the end-user. Google also takes into account other factors
like how long someone stays on a website and the bounce rate (leaving the site after
viewing only one page).

Language and location also play a vital role in ranking. For example, if you search in
India, the results are going to be different than the results in the United States. This is
because Google has different bots crawling different pages at different times and that
Google's index is being updated continuously. However, it's not syncing in real-time.

To elaborate, if you search “cafes” while in San Francisco you're going to see different
results. Now if you search for “cafes” while in Mumbai you're going to see different
results.