What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Explained
As a business, you know that the key to success is being seen by the right people who want your products and services. Now, the first thing anyone does when looking for a product or service begins with a search engine. Customer Scout SEO will help you untangle the mystery of how to get more visitors to your website through organic search traffic.
What Is SEO?
You have probably seen the term SEO around a few times lately, but What is SEO? These three letters stand for search engine optimization. It is a way to boost your rank on Google or another search engine when someone types in a term related to your page. The closer it is to the top of the search results, the more likely it will be for someone to see it and become a potential customer.
Seach Engine Strategies
Search engine ranking strategies are divided into on-page and off-page techniques. Off-page techniques involve the backend and technical aspects of your website, like your page loading speed, page stability, and mobile friendliness. This article focuses on on-page SEO, which refers to your content and elements that you can use to boost your page rank.
The most basic element of an on-page search engine strategy is using keywords. This simply means using the phrases and words that your potential customers are likely to use when they want to find products and services like yours. When Google sees the keywords in your article that match the search terms the person is using, it thinks your page might be what the customer is looking for and decide to show your page to them as a potential solution on the search engine ranking page (SERP).
Black Hat vs White Hat Strategies
Given this basic explanation, it would seem like getting the highest number of keywords would be the key to success, but that is not always the case. Stuffing the article with keywords and duplicating text to try to gain rank is frowned upon by Google. They have software that can detect these tactics and will delist or penalize sites that use these strategies. These methods are called black hat strategies.
White hat strategies is a term for thinking long term and thinking about how your site will be viewed in the future. This means providing quality content that is useful and relevant. White hat strategies will help build trust in you as an authority in your field, which results in long-term loyalty versus quick gains.
SEO Marketing Basics
The basics of search engine marketing depend on giving the reader information that is presented in a way that is engaging and they can use. Google rank depends on the quality of the content and its authoritativeness. Using these principles also means that you are likely to build trust and gain long-term, repeat visitors. Following these four principles will help you achieve your results.
1. Content
The content must be relevant to the search terms and give the reader the information they were seeking. It must also be better and more in-depth than they can find on general information sites on the web.
2. Quality
Quality means having accurate information from authoritative sites that is almost free of any grammatical errors or mistakes. Quality content also means keeping your reader happy and providing the information that they need.
3. Intent
Google emphasizes the intent and purpose the person wanted to achieve when they typed the query. One thing you should ask yourself about every piece of content is what the reader will gain from it.
4. Freshness
Google likes sites that publish content frequently, but there are some other things you can do to keep your content fresh, like updating statistics or adding new information to old articles.
Best Practices for Quality Content
The best thing you can do to provide quality content is to keep your end reader in mind. Keep it fresh and break up the text into chunks that are easy to digest. Make the content actionable and make sure the customer gets what they need from it.
Search engine optimization is all about getting eyeballs on your page so that they can see what your company is about and the products and services that you offer. Contact Customer Scout SEO, and we can help you develop a digital marketing campaign that will get you noticed on the web.