Simplifying the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is a familiar term with people in the digital marketing industry or people looking to make their website, business or content seen and ranked high on search engines’ search results like Google, Bing, etc.

If you’re a beginner and you’re looking for how to go about this optimization process either for your own website or to embark on this career path then it’s highly recommended you go through this simplified article thoroughly.

Meaning of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO is a process that involves improving the traffic and visibility of a website in search engine search results which is usually done organically.

SEO makes your website, brand, or content to be more visible when people search for keywords associated with them by making them rank higher in the search results. Since there are probably hundreds of people rendering the same products or content as you, this helps to attract viewers and customers to your page by ranking you higher where your content would be easily visible and accessible.

Factors considered by Google for SEO ranking

1. Should contain information of high quality and relevance to the searcher’s request. Google does this by “crawling” the website’s content and determining the relevancy mostly based on the keyword’s similarities with the user’s search.
2. The usefulness of content to the searcher.
3. Authority of the website. This mostly determines the authenticity of the website and content. It also can improve with the number of other websites that links to your website i.e. Number of websites that contains a link to your web pages (The websites must be trusted and authentic)
4. Responsiveness of the website: This involves how long it takes for a site to load. The faster your site loads the more advantage you have of being ranked high by Google.
5. How secure the website is

The types of Search Engine Optimization

1. On-page SEO

This is the search engine optimization that is done on the webpage or website. It includes optimizing;

• Site or page URLs: should include a very brief description of the page’s topic or contents and the keywords.
• Title tags and meta descriptions: should include keywords that pertain to what your site or page is about.
• Alt tags for images: alt tags should always be included for your multimedia content to enable it visible to search engines.
• Body content: content should be unique, engaging (e.g. images, infographics), high quality and keyword-optimized throughout the page
• Internal linking: inserting links on your page that leads to another page, video or image on your website.
• Site loading time: should be made faster
• Header tags: Utilizing header tags makes your content easily readable.

2. Off-page SEO

The activities for this type of search engine optimization are performed outside of the website.

They include:

•  creating quality content
• Influential promotion: sourcing out popular bloggers, journalists, or other influencers to feature your website or product.
• Joining online communities and publicizing your website
• Sharing on social media while including your website link to direct people to the site.

3. Technical SEO

This search engine optimization type involves the optimization of the website’s infrastructure to enable the easy crawling and accessing of content by the search engine. This SEO deals with the backend of the site e.g. Site structure, URL structures,etc.

The activities involve:

•  Use of a secure socket layer (SSL): This security technology enables an encrypted link between the browser and the web server.
• Ensuring the design and configuration of the site are mobile-friendly.
• Increase site speed: ensure image sizes are as small as possible, use a fast DNS provider, compress web pages using G zip, minimize site codes, etc.
• Create XML sitemap: This helps your website to be more understandable to the search engine while it’s going through it.

List of search engine optimization SEO tools

SEO tools are tools that give you data and keep you updated on the improvement of your website. It helps to figure out the strategy that works and what needs to be adjusted. Some SEO tools also offer reports on your site growth in comparison to your competitors in the same field.

Search engine optimization tools include:

• Ahrefs
• Google keyword planner
• The HOTH
• SEMrush
• UberSuggest
• Yoast SEO