Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the set of techniques used to help a website climb the ranks in search engines and to place higher and higher for certain keywords.
From a technical standpoint, it is said that those who do SEO aim to climb the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Achieving a good ranking in search engines is crucial for those who do business leveraging the web. In fact, a site in the top positions is much more clicked on compared to others. Research proves this, but we only need to consider our own habits and behavior when we are online. Indeed, most people who search for something on a search engine hope to find what interests them in the top positions, especially in the first three. Clicks on other sites on the first page start to be fewer, and even less for the pages following the first. In short, it is quite intuitive to understand how important it is to rank a website well.
The Indexing Criteria Chosen by Google
When discussing search engine ranking, we tend to speak in general terms. In reality, most users use Google, and thus, when talking about search engines, almost everyone thinks of the American giant. This means that to do SEO, it is important to understand the criteria by which Google ranks search results for certain keywords. One of the criteria to certainly consider is the quality of the content. In theory, the website that gets the top position is the one that best explains the proposed topic, contains a good organization of internal and external links, and adheres to all the current web writing standards. Another factor not to be underestimated is popularity.
Google places a certain importance on popular websites and tends to push up the content of a website that has proven over time to be reliable and consistently provides quality content. To fully understand the mechanisms behind search engine ranking, it is also necessary to mention how Google is organized. This search engine has some software, called spiders, whose job is to scan all the documents on the web, with the goal of including new documents or existing ones in its archives if they have been modified. Before getting to optimization, it is important to understand the concept of indexing. The search engine organizes a sort of classification of the content found within a website. Specifically, after scanning the content, Google saves these documents on its servers. These documents then end up in Google’s indexes, which is why it is referred to as indexing.
Those involved in Search Engine Optimization must, therefore, work to ensure that the content of a website is properly indexed by Google’s spiders. It involves helping the search engine understand what the main content of a site is, i.e., those that a company needs to attract customers. For example, it is quite obvious that the ‘contacts’ page cannot have the same importance as the page dedicated to the products or services offered by a company. For Google, however, generally speaking, every page has the same importance as another, and it is for this reason that doing a good job of indexing becomes essential. If a website has not been designed correctly from this point of view, Google proceeds to a random scan of the content on the pages. It is not possible to do SEO without having a fairly in-depth knowledge of the sector one is dealing with. In fact, SEO is made up of keywords, and therefore, if an analysis is not done of what the site offers and the keywords that users might use to search for those products or services, there is a risk of going nowhere and not achieving any significant results in terms of ranking.
To do SEO, you do not need to be a super expert in computer science. In the past, this was the case, but nowadays anyone can engage in this activity. Of course, it is preferable to have at least basic knowledge of HTML, but thanks especially to the widespread use of CMSs like WordPress and plugins that help users write content optimized for search engines, anyone can try to do SEO. However, this does not mean that it is an easy activity. In fact, often to achieve significant results, it is necessary to turn to professionals in the field, such as freelance SEO specialists or web agencies. Sure, the costs will be high in some cases, especially for all those off-site operations, like link building, but the results in terms of Google ranking are almost certain. It is obvious that in SEO, there is no certainty, and you should be wary of anyone who promises to climb the SERPs to reach the noteworthy result of being first on Google.
SEO is Patience
The first thing to understand is that the results of an SEO strategy are not always immediate. Climbing the ranks in search engines, especially when it comes to keywords with fierce competition, is not easy. It is necessary to work with great consistency but also with patience and dedication because the results might take several months, if not years, to arrive. A good SEO operator must attract new users to the website through ranking, users who may be interested in the content or, in the case of a company, the products and services offered. It is clear that the SEO is not responsible if, once a good ranking is achieved, a site, despite having a good number of visitors, fails to increase sales. In short, we can say without a doubt that the work of the SEO ends once they have succeeded in increasing the visits to the website they were working on. Another aspect that has grown increasingly important in recent years is localization. Today’s tools allow for the positioning of not only national websites but also companies that want to promote their products and services locally. After all, users often use the internet to search for specific products or services offered in a particular location. When searching for keywords to use for positioning, it is necessary to use some tools that the web and Google provide. One of these is Google AdWords, which allows you to write one or more words and see the search traffic around those keywords. The interesting aspect of Google AdWords is that it not only returns the indicated keyword but also related words. However, often choosing just one keyword is not enough. Moreover, it is necessary to look not only at the average searches of a keyword but also at its competition. Generally, the higher the competition, the harder it is to achieve a good ranking. Besides this aspect, it is also important to perform an operation known in marketing as benchmarking: looking at the websites on Google’s first page for the keywords with which you want to attempt to rank on the search engine.
Content is King or Maybe Not?
After analyzing some aspects related to SEO activities, let’s now look at how content should be written to help a website rank on Google. A good copywriter must first understand that the web and Google itself favor simple writing. In short, when writing for the web, there is no need to strive for complicated words and elaborate syntax. Doing so could produce the opposite effect of what is desired. The keyword you want to rank for must be present in the title, H1 header, H2 header, as well as in the meta description and URL. It doesn’t stop there. The keyword must be used coherently and relevantly in the text, without overdoing it. It’s also necessary to include the keyword in image references. When writing content for the web, it can be enriched with internal and external links. An internal link points to content related to the same site, while an external link points to a resource that is not part of the site. Regarding writing, it is important not to fill a site with useless information. The method to use is the inverted pyramid. The most important things should be written at the beginning, while other details can be fleshed out throughout the text. It is also possible to use bullet points and bold words. What matters is that everything is done coherently and naturally. Of course, it is important to publish texts optimized for search engines, but it is equally true that to allow them to climb the SERPs, the entire site must be “pushed.” To do this, it is necessary to acquire inbound links, and the quickest and simplest way to do this is through a link building campaign.