What Is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
SEO (search engine optimization) is an essential element of online marketing, helping increase website visitors, which in turn lead to leads and sales. But in order for SEO to work properly – as search engines like Google are continually altering their algorithms – you must keep up with current trends and best practices to be effective.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to the process of optimizing content so it ranks higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). There’s more involved, of course, but that is the basic idea.
Optimizing content for SEO means keeping track of what people are searching for online, then producing or finding content to match these search queries. That may involve things such as making sure it’s useful and informative; writing in an effortless, natural voice; using keywords where appropriate and making sure they appear naturally within text – among many other strategies.
SEO’s goal is to rank higher in search engine results pages, thus increasing traffic to your website. This can be accomplished using various strategies like content marketing, link building and paid advertising.
In order to do this effectively, it’s necessary to understand how search engines function. Search engines use complex algorithms that analyze billions of web pages and rank them according to hundreds of factors that relate to their content – this means understanding search engine algorithmic workings is crucial if you wish to rank higher in search results.
Example: If someone searches “how to make a sandwich”, search engines quickly scan for relevant content online, taking into account factors like popularity and competitiveness when displaying search results in response.
Another key element to consider is how often your page is updated, as this signals to search engines that your content remains relevant and up-to-date. Furthermore, regular page updates increase how frequently other websites link back to it.
An updated page is more likely to rank well in search engine results because search engines prioritize fresh and relevant content when ranking pages.
As part of your updates, it is also a good practice to include keywords in your page titles, meta descriptions and slug. These elements form part of the metadata of a web page which tells search engines what information it should display about itself. There are both free and paid tools that can help identify popular industry keywords – for instance Google Keyword Planner, WordStream’s Keyword Tool or WPBeginner’s Keyword Generator Tool are among many others that could come in handy here.
Finally, when using images with text on them that cannot be read by search engines or screen readers, make sure you add alt text so they are still interpretable by both search engines and screen readers. Furthermore, ensure the images don’t slow down your website by being the appropriate size and being optimised with proper dimensions.