A topic that is fascinating and more than slightly
mysterious, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can best be defined as a series of
actions performed to ensure that your website lands close to the top of the
search results when a user performs a search within a search engine.
Sounds simple enough right? Well, it is and it isn't.
There are two main areas that need to be considered in SEO:
On-page optimization and Off-page optimization.
On-page Optimization:
Many people think of SEO solely as
keyword usage. Google uses complicated algorithms that are constantly changing
to provide users the best search experience. For instance, there really isn't
such thing as a "Keyword" that will increase your search rankings; the
internet is just way too massive for such a thing to exist. Rather, there are
"Keyword Phrases." For example, you do not seek out a place to eat by
typing "food" into a browser; instead, you might type in something
like "best restaurants in Mytown", "Family dining that stays
open late in Anywhere", or something along these lines. The search engine
takes these phrases and returns the best matches for you. When optimizing a
website, keyword research is a combination of intuition and investigation. While
keyword usage is an important component, there are many other on-page factors
that should be considered. Other on-page optimization techniques include
keyword density, website design, and image use. While many web designers take
these factors into account when they are designing a site, some do not.
.
Off-page Optimization:
Off-page optimization is the
process of improving your rankings through actions that happen outside of your
site. Primarily, this is done through back links, which occur when other sites
link back to yours. The reason this works, is that each link into your site is
like a vote for your site. In essence, they are vouching for you as a credible
resource. Some simple ways to build back links to your site are through a social media site page or a blog. On the flip side, a site manager wants to
seek valuable back links from credible sites with good ranking; otherwise they
can do more harm than good.
I'll talk more about SEO in upcoming posts as it's an
important topic in digital marketing. Often times it falls into the hands of
the website owner, marketing director, social media manager, or another
employee, to conduct the SEO for a company. Some may choose to do the SEO
themselves and some choose to hire another company to do it for them. Search
Engine Optimization has become such a technically specific endeavor that now
there are a multitude of companies that sell their services to businesses to
help them to increase their searchability. We can learn from all of this that
Search Engine Optimization is an art. It takes a certain amount of finessing
between the right combination of keywords and the proper amount of internet
savvy to ensure one's foothold among the many competing online for a spot nearer
to the top.
