Search Engine Optimization or SEO always gets mentioned whenever a discussion revolves around improving a website. It has become the panacea for a site’s ills. It almost seems too good to be true, which makes it hard to determine what it can actually do. To confuse the issue even further, articles are regularly published claiming that SEO is dead, including proclamations by Forbes and Entrepreneur.
WHAT IS SEO?
The most important part of being on the web is the first Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Being the number one result guarantees that it will receive a third of the traffic. Additionally, 90 % of internet users don’t scroll past the second page. Of the various search engines, Google is the most important because 70% percent of the internet users in worldwide market uses the search engine.
Ranking first in the SERP is the ultimate goal of SEO. It does so by taking advantage of a search engine’s algorithms. However, search engines regularly push updates to avoid abuses and practices that produce false results and affects the user’s experience.
The little tricks which SEO specialists relied on in previous years no longer worked. What remains are the basic fundamentals that make a website good for search engines and normal users.
WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT CREATE A SEARCH A GREAT WEBSITE?
1. USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITE
Search engines measure both the website’s front-end, the content that people use, and its back-end, the code and data that programmers build.
What you see
What Google sees
Good sites help the users along their journey to the content that they’re searching.
Visuals are helpful for people but search engines mainly index text. The two should be balanced in favor of usability.
Because text is crucial for search, page content should mention the keyword or phrase that encapsulates the site’s subject at least once but not so many times that it interferes with readability.
Pages should load quickly to avoid long waiting times.
Meta data, or the data hidden in the back-end, should be aligned with the target keywords.
2. OFF-PAGE RECOGNITION
A good website is recognized as good by others. SEO also attempts to influence pages outside the website.
Websites that use your page as a reference render credibility. These backlinks’ value increases when they come from other authoritative sites, such as established online news and blogs.
Adding the company to a directory can easily generate backlinks but only get listed where it makes sense otherwise search engines will penalize the behavior.
Backlinks from forum posts are no longer valuable for SEO but they can still be good for marketing to niche communities like mommy, gaming, arts and craft and every other communities there is under the sun.
Social media signals have become a rising SERP ranking factor. Quality shares, even if they aren’t widely viral, can quickly boost popularity.
3. GREAT CONTENT
SEO specialists often say content is king because great and helpful articles helps SEO with its on- and off-page strategies.
Emailers can encourage people to create SEO meaningful behavior. Incentivizing comments and shares promotes factors that change SERP results.
On-site blogs offers the website with opportunities to use keywords that its regular pages can’t support. But more importantly, well-written articles raise credibility while providing linkable and shareable content.
HOW TO MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF AN SEO CAMPAIGN?
However, enjoyment isn’t a metric that can be used to improve the website further or track the effects of the SEO campaign on the business. Fortunately, there are three measurements that can.
1. TRAFFIC
More visitors equal more views and chances for conversion.
3. KEYWORD RANKING
Being on the first SERP generates the most number of traffic, especially when the website is ranked number one for keywords that your audience use to search for products or service like yours.
2. SOURCE OF TRAFFIC
Good SEO produces organic traffic or traffic that comes from the SERP. If other sources dominate, the SEO campaign still requires improvement.
SEO remains an effective and important tool for improving websites and encouraging visitors. It is continually changing, requiring specialists to keep updated on the latest trends while promoting websites that people like.
Our team designed a website optimization playbook to guide you in making sure your website is visible in Google.