SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, this definition may still spring many questions to mind – ‘What is Search Engine Optimisation?’ This blog post will provide the answers to this frequently asked question.
Search Engine Optimisation is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of visitors to websites, this is done through improving rankings in the algorithmic search engine results (positioning websites with higher visibility in search engines).
“How Does SEO work?”
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the magical lists you come across on Google?
Well, search engines want to provide the best possible results for their users. To do this, they will scan / crawl websites to gain an understanding of what they are about. (these are called crawlers) Then they can deliver more relevant results to those searching for certain topics. They also scan the sites to see how easily they can be navigated, rewarding user-friendly sites, thus them ranking higher on the search engine result page (SERP). The crawlers bring back all of their information to build an index, this index is then fed through an algorithm that tries to match all the data with your query. Therefore by optimizing your website you can feed crawlers all of the positive information and appear higher on SERP’s. This means more visitors to your site.
“Is SEO really that important?”
You may begin to wonder, but SEO is just as important as having a beautifully designed website. Research has shown that websites on the first page of Google receive almost 95% of clicks. So If you are using your website to make money, then being ranked higher is crucial to increase your income.
There are two types of SEO- White Hat vs Black Hat
White Hat SEO- this refers to the best techniques and strategies which abide by search engine rules, to provide more purpose and increase the human audience.
Black Hat SEO- Differently Black hat SEO is techniques and strategies which attempt to fool search engines. While it can work it does put websites in danger of being penalized or removed, this then leads to high implications for companies.
“How?”
How can you use SEO effectively to improve your ranking on SERPs? SEO can be quite complex which is why some large companies hire SEO specialists. However, here are some simple ways to help your website:
Keywords are extremely important, there is no way for a search engine crawler to know what your website is about unless you have those relevant keywords. Definitely include keywords in your title, headers and throughout your web page, but be careful! If you repeat the keywords too many times the crawlers will recognize this as spam, this is a black hat technique, which can put your website in danger.
Other strategies include Link Analysis. Link analysis involves the search engine looking to see how many other web pages link to the page in question. If pages which link to your website are already quite high on SERP’s this will also boost your website. So how do you get websites to link to your page? This is tricky but if your website is a destination people want to link to the this could be simple! You can also offer link exchanges with other sites that cover similar material to you.
It is important to put out fresh informative content and become a trusted authority in your niche/market to overtake your competitors for the top spot. Go get ‘em! & try not to use those bad black hat SEO tricks!
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