What is SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) encompasses the set of practices and actions aimed at increasing a website’s organic traffic from search results. It is a crucial and effective marketing channel for businesses of all types, aiming to improve their online presence and attract more visitors.
When discussing SEO, the focus is often on optimization for Google. However, SEO principles apply to any search engine.
Why is SEO Important?
SEO is vital because it drives organic traffic from search engines. Unlike traffic generated from ads, organic traffic is free. For instance, we receive nearly 1.8 million monthly visitors from organic search. If we were to acquire the same amount of traffic from paid search ads, it would cost approximately $2.5 million per month.
Additionally, SEO efforts are scalable. This means that the more effort you put into optimizing your site, the more traffic you can potentially receive. In contrast, paid traffic stops immediately once you stop paying for ads.
Achieving a high ranking in Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) also enhances your brand's credibility and authority. People trust that Google works hard to display only the best, most relevant, and high-quality search results.
What are the Components of SEO?
SEO comprises various aspects and components. Here are the main ones:
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. It involves identifying the search queries your target audience uses when searching for information, products, solutions, and more on search engines.
Understanding what people are searching for online allows you to create and optimize your content to align with those specific queries, making it more likely for potential customers to discover your web pages in search results.
A comprehensive keyword research can be conducted using Ranktracker’s Keyword Finder.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO (or on-site SEO) involves optimizing elements on your website to help search engines better crawl and understand your pages, connecting them to relevant keywords.
Some key on-page SEO elements you can optimize include:
- Page content: Create comprehensive, high-quality content that satisfies users’ search intent.
- Title tag: Keep it short yet descriptive enough to let users know what the page is about.
- Meta description: Write a compelling meta description that expands on the title tag and highlights the benefits to encourage users to click and visit your page.
- URL: Use a short and descriptive URL that includes your target keyword.
- Images: Optimize your images by compressing file sizes and using descriptive file names and alternative text.
- Internal and external links: Link to relevant pages on your site and other external resources to provide value to users and help search engines understand your website’s structure and context.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO involves efforts outside your website to improve its rankings in search results. The primary focus of off-page SEO is link building — the process of obtaining backlinks from other websites to your website. These links signal to search engines that your website is credible, authoritative, and has valuable content, boosting your site’s ranking in organic search.
Off-page SEO is closely related to media marketing, digital PR, and brand management.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on improving the technical aspects of your website to ensure search engines can easily find, crawl, understand, and index your pages.
Key technical SEO tasks include optimizing site speed, structure, crawling, indexing, and schema markup. It also involves mobile optimization, submitting sitemaps, and resolving issues such as server errors, broken links, and duplicate content.
Overall, technical SEO supports your on-page and off-page SEO efforts and forms a foundational component of a comprehensive SEO strategy.
Local SEO
Local SEO aims to improve your website’s organic rankings for local search queries. Since most people use Google to find local businesses, local SEO primarily focuses on optimizing for Google users.
Important local SEO ranking factors include Google Business Profile, NAP (name, address, phone numbers) citations, customer reviews, and backlinks.
How to Learn SEO?
Learning SEO can feel daunting due to the topic's complexity and the abundance of misinformation in the industry. However, with time, effort, and the right guidance, you can master SEO. Here’s what you can do:
Learn SEO Fundamentals
Start by understanding the basics of SEO. Learn how search engines work, then move on to other topics such as keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and technical SEO.
Get a Website and Practice on It from the First Days
The best way to learn SEO is by applying your knowledge to an actual website. Learning only the theory won’t help much if you’re not testing it in practice. Besides, experimenting with your own site gives you a chance to refine your understanding over time.
Create a website and practice optimization as you learn, progressing from basics to advanced tactics.
Stay Up to Date
Although SEO fundamentals don’t change frequently, the practices and processes constantly evolve. Google frequently updates its algorithm, and smart SEOs continually develop new and effective SEO tactics.
Stay on top of these trends and updates by attending SEO conferences, listening to popular podcasts, reading SEO blogs, and participating in various communities.
