Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting your website to rank higher on search engines. It sounds difficult but we assure you it’s not.
This article will help you understand what is SEO and how to get started to help you improve your website’s rankings.
What is SEO?
SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization. It’s the art and science of getting rankings on search engines such as Bing and Google.
Search engines are the main ways for people to discover your website and therefore, it’s crucial to get higher rankings to drive maximum traffic to your website.
In search engines, the results page is featured after the paid ads on top. Paid search is referred to as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM). other results that appear that aren’t promoted by ads are known as “organic search results”.
With the help of SEO, you can make your website easy to find, relevant, and build authority.
In addition, it helps more and more users visit your website if your website has content that matches common search queries.
Search engines such as Google recommend SEO efforts that mutually benefit the page ranking as well as the user’s search experience by featuring content that meets the user’s needs.
Generally, this includes schema markup, the use of relevant keywords in URLs, H1 (heading), title, and meta descriptions. These specify the page’s content meaning and help search engines determine page rankings.
Simply put, search engines help users find what they’re looking for online. It could be looking for a place to stay, dining at a restaurant, researching a product, etc. For business owners, it’s a valuable opportunity to direct traffic to your website.
“SEO is the practice of orienting your website to rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP) so that you receive more traffic.”
Therefore, SEO is understanding the needs and wants of your target audience. Then, configure your website so that you can achieve the desired results.
Understanding The Role of SEO
By now, you might have understood that the goal of SEO is to help you rank better in organic search results. You can do so by a lot of different methods such as local results, shopping, optimizing AdWords, etc.
It may look as though there are a lot of competing elements that affect SERPs and push down the organic listings. But, SEO is a very powerful and lucrative way to enhance your rankings.
4 Benefits of Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a key part of online marketing as it’s one of the primary ways people navigate the web.
All search results are presented in an ordered list. The higher you rank on the list, the better for you. Higher search rankings mean more traffic to your website.
For instance, for a general search query, the first result receives 40-50% of the total traffic for the query. The second and third results receive somewhere between 10-20% of the total traffic and only 2-3% of people click beyond the first page of the search result.
Thus, every small improvement matters and can result in your website getting more traffic and potentially, more business.
However, because of this, a lot of site owners try to manipulate search results to rank higher. This is where SEO comes in.
Here are a few reasons why so SEO is important:
- Attracts more traffic, organically. 60% of marketers state that their highest quality leads come through organic search results.
- Trustworthy Experience For Users. Ranking on the first page on search engines isn’t easy. Therefore, only those websites are able to secure a spot that has the solutions to users’ problems and technical knowledge to showcase that.
- Enables You to Focus on User Experience. Google has already prioritized user experience as a ranking factor. Factors such as page speed determine if you’re providing valuable content or not.
- Increases Brand Awareness. Apart from helping you generate more traffic, SEO helps you build authority in your niche. This increases brand awareness as more people start associating your brand with the niche. For instance, you run a beauty salon and share tips and tricks to run a profitable beauty salon on your blog. Your article might appear in the seventh or eighth positions in the search result but over time, people will start recognizing you. Eventually, you’ll see a growth in your site’s traffic.
In Conclusion
Search Engine Optimization when done properly dramatically increases the amount and type of traffic your website receives. It also helps your website build more authority which in turn, helps generate trust with users.
The key to implementing SEO is to research right and pay attention to the ongoing trends. For instance, Google’s policies change frequently, and unless you create content in accordance with the policies you’re likely to lose rankings.
Featured Image Credits: Unsplash
About the Author
Shristi Patni
Content Writer
Shristi is a content writer and owner of F and B Recipes and Snazzy Women. When not writing, she can be found reading or trying new recipes.
