What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO), is the process of attracting targeted traffic to a website through search engines' organic rankings. SEO involves creating high-quality content and optimizing it around specific keywords. Backlink building is also a common task.
And this is how it works:
SEO refers to improving a site’s ranking in the organic (non paid) section of search results.
Ranking for a keyword is a great way to get traffic to your website month after month.
These are the topics we will cover in this comprehensive guide to SEO.
- How Search Engines Work
- How SEO Works
- Organic vs. Paid Results
- Why Is SEO Important?
- Customers and Keywords
- SEO-Friendly Content
- High-Quality Content Examples
- On-Page SEO Basics
- Intro to Technical SEO
- Link Building Basics
- Search Intent
- Emerging SEO Trends
How search engines work
It's now time to find out how search engines such as Google actually work.
An algorithm is used to deliver the best results from search engines such as Google and Yahoo!
Specifically, Google scans its index of "hundreds of billions" of pages in order to find a set of results that will best answer your search.
What is Google's "best" result?
Although Google does not make its algorithm's inner workings public, according to filed patents and statements by Google, we know that web pages and websites are ranked on the following:
Relevance
You don't want web pages about truck tires if you search for chocolate chip cookie recipes.
Google prioritizes pages closely related to your keyword.
Google does not rank the "most relevant pages at top" in its search results. Google doesn't rank the most relevant pages at the top for every search term. There are thousands, if not millions, of them.
Google returns 349 million results for the keyword "cookie recipe" as an example.
They rely on three elements of their algorithm to order the results so that the best ones rise to the top.
Authority
Google calls authority "authority". It is a way for Google to determine if the content has been authenticated and is trustworthy.
Google is now asking the question: How does Google determine if a page has authority?
They also look at how many other pages link to the page.
(Links from other pages are known as "backlinks")
The more links a page has the better it will rank.
Google's ability via links to determine authority is what makes it different from other search engines like Yahoo.
Usefulness
Relevant and authoritative content can still be valuable. Google will not position content that isn't useful at the top of search results.
Google actually stated publicly that they distinguish between "higher quality content", and "useful content".
Let's take, for example, the search term "Paleo Diet"
The world's leading expert on Paleo wrote the first result ("Result A") that you click. Because the page contains so much quality content, many people have linked to it.
The content is not organized. It's also full of jargon most people don’t understand.
Compare that result with "Result B".
This article was written by someone who is relatively new to Paleo Diet. Their website has fewer links than the Paleo Diet.
Their content is divided into sections. It's easy to understand.
That page will rank high on the "usefulness scale". Google will rank Result B even though it doesn't have the same authority or trust as Result A.
It may rank higher than Result A.
Google's use of "User Experience Signs" is a major determinant of its usefulness.
This is how search results are interpreted by users. Google will give a search result a significant ranking boost if it is found to be popular.
My #1 SEO tip for higher rankings
Make a website people love! Search engines use different signals from the Web to find websites people love. You can play right into their hands and make those signals real, not artificial.
Now it's time for you to put all this knowledge into action with a step by step SEO tutorial.
SEO: How it Works
SEO is the process of optimizing your website for search engines you wish to rank for.
Your job is to ensure that your site is ranked as the best search result by search engines.
The algorithm used to determine the "best" results is one that considers authority, relevance to the query, loading speed and other factors.
(For example, Google has over 200 ranking factors in their algorithm.)
In most cases, when people think "search engine optimization", they think "Google SEO". This is why we will be focusing on optimizing your website for Google in this guide.
Organic vs. Paid Results
The search engine result pages can be divided into two sections: organic and Paid results.
Organic Search Results
Organic search results, also known as "natural" results, are results that rank 100% on merit.
Also, it is impossible to pay Google and other search engines to rank higher in organic search results.
The ranking factors used by search engines to rank organic search results include hundreds of ranking factors. Google considers organic search results to be the most relevant, trustworthy, authoritative, and informative websites or pages related to the subject.
Later on, I will provide more information about search engine algorithms. For now, here's what you need to remember:
SEO is the process of ranking your website higher in organic search results.
Paid Results
Paid search results can be classified as ads that appear above or below the organic results.
Paid ads can be used independently of organic listings. Advertisers in the paid results section are "ranked" by how much they're are willing to pay for a single visitor from a particular set of search results (known as "Pay Per Click Advertising").
SEO: Why is it Important
Search is, in short, a huge source of traffic.
In fact, here's a breakdown of where most website traffi originates:
You can see that nearly 60% of all web traffic comes from a Google search. When you combine traffic from search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and YouTube, 70.6% of all traffic comes from search engines.
Let's take an example to illustrate the importance and value of SEO.
Let's suppose you own a party supplies company. According to the Google Keyword Planner, 110,000 people search for "party supplies" every single month.
Google's first search result gets 20% of clicks. That means that your site will get 22,000 visits each month if it ranks at the top.
Let's now quantify this: How much are these visitors worth to you?
For this search phrase, the average advertiser spends approximately 1 dollar per click. This means that 22,000 visitors' web traffic is worth approximately $22,000 per month.
That's only for the search phrase. SEO-friendly sites can rank for many different keywords.
Search engine traffic can be significantly more valuable in other industries like insurance and real estate.
Advertisers are paid over $45 per click for the search term "auto insurance price quote".
Customers and Keywords
It's crucial that you don't skip one step before diving into the details of title tags or HTML.
Keyword and customer research.
This is where you can find out what your customers are searching for... and the exact keywords and phrases they use. This will allow you to rank your website for the things your customers search every day.
Sound good? This is how it works.
Customer Research
You probably know your target customers if you have an existing online business.
(Also known by the "Customer Persona").
Here's an example.
This customer research helps you to create products people love. This is an important aspect of SEO and content marketing.
I'll explain...
SEO success requires you to create content that is relevant to the topics your customers are searching for.
It's nearly impossible to know the customer without knowing them. (more details later).
How do you get to know your customer best? HubSpot's Make My Persona tool.
This tool is completely free and allows you to create a customer persona step by step. You'll be able to refer back to your avatar at any time after the process is complet
It's great!
Searching for Keywords
Now that you have a customer personal, it's time for the next step: keyword research.
This is where you can drill down to the exact words or phrases (search queries), that customers have entered into the search box.
Keywords generally fall into two categories: keywords that people use to search for what you sell (Product Keywords).
There are also keywords that your target audience uses if they aren't looking for something specific (Informational Keywords).
Let's take an example.
Let's suppose that your eCommerce site sells tennis shoes.
The following are product keywords that you might want to include in your bucket:
- Tennis shoes shipped free
- Nike tennis shoes
- Flat-footed tennis shoes
Informational Keywords, on the other hand are things your audience is interested when they'ren't necessarily looking for shoes.
- Tutorial for second serve
- How to prevent unforced errors
- Proper backhand form
- How to hit a topspin serve
SEO is about optimizing pages for both keywords and phrases to make your site more search engine friendly.
This way, your product will be found in search engine results when your customer searches it.
You can also show up for keywords your customers use even if they aren't searching for your product/service.
Keyword Research Tips
These are some tips to help you locate keywords.
First, use Google Autocomplete.
This feature is probably familiar to you already.
You get many search suggestions when you type something into Google.
I suggest typing keywords into Google and noting any suggestions.
Second, type words and phrases into Answer The Public.
This tool is great for finding informational keywords.
If you have a blog about Paleo Diets, for example, you would type "paleo diet” into ATP
It will also generate questions about the topic.
One example: "Will a paleo diet increase cholesterol?" This question is a great topic for a blog or video.
Next, use a keyword research tool.
Keyword tools will help you determine how many people are searching for each keyword, and how difficult it is to rank on Google for that term.
In other words, they can help you choose the best keywords from your list. There are many keyword research tools available.
These are some of the ones I recommend:
Google's Keyword Plan is the best free keyword too
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