How many times do you use search engines looking for a delicious recipe or an article about the latest news of art and cinema (SEO)? Have you ever asked yourself why certain sites appear especially in the first search results? Is it just a coincidence or what? Many questions come to everyone’s mind and in this article we will provide you with adequate answers.
Search Engine Optimization [SEO].
The set of practices and modifications for the site that positively affect its appearance on the page of natural search results on search engines. In fact, these improvements are not limited to just building links, creating content and decorating it with keywords, as search engines have undergone many changes and developments in terms of the policy followed and tools used to improve natural search results rankings, and thus increase the visibility of your brand’s activity.
You can say that SEO is the magnet that attracts more traffic to a specific website, but this magnet has two main poles to achieve effective results. The first one is to know what users are looking for on the Internet, while the other one focuses on presenting this information in a way that search engines can find, understand, and present to users in a way that serves them and your brand.
If you are looking for the optimal description for the process of search engines, we can say that it is more like a very large data bank. These engines collect a large amount of content for sites, and then organize and evaluate this information based on thousands factors. This should be done in order to determine the best content that will answer a specific question asked by users.
How did SEO start?
When did the first spark for this specialization take place?
The beginnings of ”SEO” was in the early 1990s, but not many people know that the idea dates back to 1945. Vannevar Bush, Director of the Scientific Research and Development Office, published an article in “The Atlantic” proposing to save a huge set of data and notes in a list, then organize it in a way that is easy to use when needed. Actually, this is just like what the search engine “Google” does right now. Although there is no concrete evidence that Dr. Bush’s article gave rise to the idea of search engines, specialists point to the possibility that it was the first spark for technologists in 1990s.
Well let’s put this speculation aside and take a quick look at the history of websites and search engines:
- In 1991. Tim Berners-Lee launched the world’s first website.
- In 1994, the idea of SEO was not born yet, as Eric Ward’s focus on the idea of searching was to find a medium of communication that connects people around the world.
- In 1998, Google was launched in September and this created a huge change in the world of internet and communication.
How does SEO work?
There are three essential stages that search engines go through when they meet any content, they are:
Scanning, indexing and then ranking!
Search engines will scan or crawl various websites to better understand their content. This helps them provide more relevant results for those who are searching for specific topics or keywords.
Then the content found during the scanning process is stored and organized. Once the page is in the index, it is displayed as a result of related search queries.
Finally, the ranking, when providing the content that answers user’s questions, your site will be ranked in the results according to the most relevant content that answers these questions.
SEO Steps
What are the main ingredients of SEO?
In fact, SEO is not done randomly. In order to create a comprehensive and impactful marketing strategy and bring unexpected results for your business, SEO consists of many dynamic parts that work in well-connected context . But before thinking about the steps you will focus on in this process, it is imperative to understand your business and analyze it well. Do not forget to take your target audience into consideration before preparing any searchable and applicable strategy.
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Keywords:
Keywords are the first step to a successful SEO strategy. People who are successful in SEO have fully understood what people are searching for and what they think about when using search engines. If you feel that some keywords are very competitive in your niche, go for longer ones (between two and five words) that will be easier for you to get higher ranking, since the longer your keywords are, the less competition will happen.
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Content:
We cannot deny the fact that content is the king. Search engines have stated that creating high-quality content is the best way not only to rank better, but also to provide a positive user experience. It plays an important role in raising consumers’ awareness, which gives you a position and authority in your market. Statistics indicated that 82% of customers form a more positive view about any company after reading its specialized content.
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Meta tags:
Meta tags play a vital role in SEO. Try typing any keyword in searching box, you will see how that keyword appears in the title of that page. The search engine “Google” views your page title as a tag related to this keyword. The same applies to the description of that page. Don’t worry about the title tag of keywords, since Google has publicly stated that search engines do not pay any attention to this tag. In fact, it has been misused by webmasters and all those trying to rank according to certain keywords.
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Analysis and reporting:
Let’s be clear. Nothing is more important to an SEO campaign than accurate reporting. If you can’t accurately analyze the campaign results, do you expect to make the exact adjustments that an SEO campaign needs? For keyword strategy, some businesses don’t require any adjustments every day or even every week. On the other hand, most businesses require adjustments every six months. However, if your brand is keeping pace with ongoing market changes, it may be important to incorporate the task of keyword research ever seven or fifteen days. This gives you the chance to know exactly what your audience is searching for.
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Backlinks:
Well, the idea isn’t about building sites with the most links, but the focus should be always on the highest quality links that refer to other websites. Build backlinks by contacting popular blogs in your niche to find out how to get a backlink from their websites. Create the best site for your products, so that people who are interested in the products you sell will come back again.
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Pictures of products or services:
If you think that pictures are not important in this regard, you should think again. Did you know that posts with attached photos get 94% of views? When many consumers search for products, they not only look at results for “web”, but also go for “image” results. In other words, if you have high-quality images on your site and the title of these images contain related keywords, then they will rank well in the search results. This, in turn, will increase the traffic to your site, and potential customers will click on that image to reach your store.
To be honest, dear reader, the list of SEO components goes on and on, but I tried to highlight the most famous ones and other components will be covered in the upcoming articles, stay tuned.
Now, let’s talk about the importance of this strategy and the reasons that drive website owners to compete so hard. First, when users search for any online services or products, they are more likely to choose one of the first five suggestions that the search engine offers. Thus, you will get more traffic to your website.
The first results page on search engines gives a sense of credit to your website when they recommend it. Actually, users tend to adopt the recommendations provided by these engines, and this will create a trustworthy image about your product or service in the user’s mind.
In short, SEO is the key to grow your brand. That means the higher your website ranks on search engines, the more natural traffic it will receive.
Yes … It’s as simple as that, so what are you waiting for?
If you are looking for someone improve your website SEO :
- Shibly Marketing: Offers the best SEO services, you can view them here:
Read More:
Digital marketing. The strategy of today and tomorrow. What is it?
*Resources:
- searchengineland.com
- searchenginejournal.com
- searchenginewatch.com
- Introducing SEO, Your quick-start guide to effective SEO practices by Aravind Shenoy & Anirudh Prabhu