SEO Basics for Beginners- 2023
12/May/2023
Digital Marketing
Introduction
Do you know that 53% of website traffic comes from Organic search which makes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a top priority for business online. The more our website ranks in Search Engines, the more We have the possibility to get traffic to our website which indirectly results in conversion.
How Search Engine Works:
When you type a query into a search engine, web crawlers known as bots or spiders crawl millions of pages in their index, choose which are most relevant content, and serve you an answer.
Every search engine has three main functions:
Crawling: It is the process of systematically browsing and indexing web pages on the internet using automated bots known as spiders or crawlers.
Indexing: It allows search engines to find and understand your website's content, which helps them to determine where to rank your site on the search engine result page.
Ranking: Once the pages are crawled and indexed, the Ranking Algorithms list out the relevant content based on many factors like Relevancy, quality, location, authority, and device. Sometimes we can pay for the Ranking for our website to appear in the priority of SERP.
When you’re starting your SEO campaign, it’s important to understand the different types of SEO your business can use, that will drive the best possible results for your business.
There are three main types of SEO techniques you will come across:
1. On-page SEO:
Expecting more views on your page, On-page SEO is the way to achieve that. It is the process of optimizing elements on your website itself that helps your website to move up in search engine rankings. In other words, On-Page SEO is the practice of optimizing every individual pages of your website to rank higher and earn more traffic in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
In order to optimize the visibility and ranking of your website you should consider a few elements of On-Page SEO:
Some of the key elements are:
1. Keyword Research:
It is the most important aspect of SEO that involves researching and identifying the most relevant and high traffic Keywords to optimize the website’s content to rank higher on Search Engine Result Pages.
2. Title Tag:
The Title Tag is the HTML tag that identifies the title of a web page. It is not shown on the page rather it is shown on Google Search Result Page as the link to your website. It should be optimized with relevant keywords as it influences the People’s first impression on your website and Click Through Rates.
3. Meta Description:
The Meta Description is a bit confusing. It influences the clicks as People will see your Snippet or your page information on Search Engine Result Page. It provides a brief summary of the content on your webpage.
4. Header Tags:
These are referred to as the Headings and Sub-Headings of your webpage and enable the logical hierarchy of the page content. In other words, it is the establishment of a hierarchy with a main headline (H1) and subheadings H2, H3, and so on.
5. URL Structure:
URL Structure is an important aspect of SEO as it can affect the website’s visibility and ranking in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). Some practices to keep in mind for URL structure are to keep the URL short, descriptive, and use relevant keywords.
6. Content:
The content of your webpage should be informative, high quality, and be more engaging so that the users should not bounce from your webpage.
7. Internal Links:
Internal Links are the links from one page of your website to another page of your own website. It helps to create a Logical structure for your page and guide users / Search engines to the page content.
8. Image Optimization:
Search Engine Spiders cannot see the Images and so the images on the website should be optimized with Image ALT text and relevant file names so that it makes them more easily crawlable by Search Engine.
9.Mobile Optimization:
In this present world most of the users are accessing the Internet from mobile. So, it is very important to ensure that your website is optimized for mobiles.
2. OFF PAGE SEO
Websites that are more popular are likely to rank higher in SERP. Do you want your website to be popular and stand out among others, then concentre on Off-Page SEO. Off -Page SEO is nothing about promotion you can do outside your website to increase the visibility and ranking in Search Engine Result Pages.
Some of the key elements of Off-page SEO are:
1. Link Building:
The most important aspect of Off-Page SEO is providing relevant and high-quality Backlinks from other authoritative websites. if your website is provided with backlinks, then it tells Search Engine your website is the authoritative source of information.
The Backlinks can be provided by registering our website in some online directories through:
- Social Bookmarking
- Classified Submission
- Local Business Submission
- PDF Submission
2. Guest Blogging:
Guest Blogging is the practice of writing Blog posts for other websites of your Industry with a link back to your site. This is actually a Win-Win aspect for both sides.
3. Influencer Outreach:
Influencers have roughly more audiences and we can make use of them by building relationships with the industry-related Influencers which helps to increase your website’s visibility, credibility, and chance of obtaining high-quality backlinks.
4. Forum and Community Engagement:
This involves participating and establish yourself as a thought leader in online forums and communities of your industry and share your experience and knowledge and then connecting them to your website. The most popular platforms are Reddit and Quora. And finding forums of your niche could be just effective.
5. Video Marketing::
It involves creating and sharing videos on online platforms to promote or inform audiences about your product or Service.
6. Local SEO:
This strategy helps your business more visible to Local Search results by creating local business listings, building local citations, and getting local reviews.
7. Social Media:
Social media doesn’t directly help your ranking factor, but it’s a great media for more attention which leads for more branded searches. It includes creating and sharing the content on Social Media platforms to create brand awareness and drive traffic to your website.
3. TECHNICAL SEO
Technical SEO focuses on technical aspects of a website to improve the visibility and ranking of your website in SERP. Your website may look beautiful in site view, but it matters low when the technical aspects of your site aren’t optimized.
The main technical aspects of Technical SEO are:
1. Site Speed Optimization:
This is an essential one as faster the page loads, the less waiting time for Users which improves the user’s experience and their staying time. Now it’s easy to check the page speed by using free tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
2. XML Sitemap Optimization:
This involves creating and optimizing an XML Sitemap which helps the Search Engine to crawl and index your site’s important pages.
3. Roboots.txt Optimization:
A robots.txt file serves as the instructions manual for web crawlers to allow or prevent the requested pages.
4. HTTPS Implementation:
This involves implementing HTTPS encryption to provide a secure browsing experience on your website. This activity is important for any business that includes communicating online, shopping, e-commerce, and so on.
5. Mobile Optimization:
This involves optimizing your website's mobile-friendly experience using Mobile Responsive Web design.
6. URL Structure Optimization:
This focuses on optimizing your site’s navigation and URL Structure thereby making it more user-friendly and easy for Search Engine to crawl.
7. Canonicalization:
Canonical URLs are used to avoid duplicate content issues and to ensure the search engine crawls the original page.
Conclusion
SEO is an ongoing process and ever-changing technology. So it’s crucially and both importantly to stay updated with the latest trend in technology that Google's Search Engine uses. So in order to keep on ranking in SERP, closely track the results and leverage the methods that work for your website.
