A Beginner's Guide To SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) combines different strategies and techniques to increase a brand's digital presence on search engines. With growing competition, SEO has become integral for all businesses. This is made evident by the fact that 75% of web users never go past the first page of their Google searches.

If your website doesn't make it to the top of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), it might as well not exist. If your intended audiences can't see you on the first page, they'll instead trust your competitors who did spend time and money on SEO to make their websites rank high on the SERPs.

And this is why you need a compelling search engine optimization strategy – to stay ahead of the competition and present your offerings to your prospective buyers.

In this guide, you will learn all about the essentials of SEO. Use this information to craft your own SEO strategy or work with a professional search engine optimization firm to help your business boost digital visibility.

The Important Features Of SEO Done Right

In its true essence, SEO strategies focus on making a website accommodating to the needs of a search engine.

You see, Google or even other search engines for that matter, want to serve up fresh, authentic, reliable, and accurate content to its users. So you make their job easy with SEO tactics, and they'll reward you by ranking your website at the top of the search results.

This means that the goal of a search engine is to provide its users with the most comfortable experience. Therefore, your SEO consultant optimizes your website's features, content, and design to improve user experience and provide quality content that solves their pain points.

A search engine optimization specialist will focus on the following components while devising your SEO strategy.

• Make Your Website Crawlable
• Use Appropriate Keywords To Make Content Relevant To Searches
• Create Compelling Content That Attracts & Retains Visitors
• Track On-Site Traffic
• Use Link Building For Better Authority
• Add SEO Friendly Website Title tags, URL, and Description

Make Your Website Crawlable

Search engines use web crawlers to analyze your website. A web crawler, also known as a spider or search engine bot, examines your website page by page. They study the content, features, and design elements on each page and collect and store relevant information.

Therefore, when a user makes a query, the search engines examine the information stored by the crawlers and displays the information that best matches the user's query.

If you're working with a professional SEO company, the experts will make sure that the web crawler crawls the relevant pages of your website. The search engine optimization consultant would also check your website for irrelevant URLs (which sometimes come with the theme) and block them from getting indexed. When these pages are restricted from being indexed, the web crawlers will not take that page into account while analyzing your website, thus giving you a better chance at getting a higher ranking.

Use Appropriate Keywords To Make Content Relevant To Searches

Most people are under the false impression that using relevant keywords is all that there is to SEO. While keywords are important, they are just a tiny component of an intricate plan. For example, if you're working with a small business SEO company, you'll notice a document called keyword research. Keyword research is a process of collecting data on the most searched user queries.

The key terms and critical phrases enlisted in the keyword research are seamlessly integrated into the website's content, Meta titles, and Meta descriptions.

Most businesses make the mistake of only using high-volume keywords in their SEO strategy. While that is an effective technique to invite traffic, experts recommend using different volume keywords to bring in traffic easily. This is because high-volume keywords come with a lot of competition, as almost all competitors use them in their website content.

If you are using high-volume keywords, make sure to elevate other areas of your SEO to differentiate yourself from the competitors.

Create Compelling Content That Attracts & Retains Visitors

A good search engine optimization agency stresses the importance of high-quality content. The website's content includes on-page web copies, blogs, and product pages/descriptions.

Search engines prefer websites that provide users with high-quality, easy-to-understand, and informative content. An SEO-optimized website uses simple terminologies, professional grammar, and the right tone to attract customers/clients.

In addition to being well-written, your content should also be relevant. You need to understand the queries of your target audience and use your content as means to resolve them. For instance, if you are running a clothing store, your content plan can include descriptive and informative product descriptions, keyword-infused category content, and a blog section featuring different types of guides.

If you're working with a professional SEO agency for small businesses, you will notice that their content is also optimized for voice SEO. Voice SEO is the considerations taken by the SEO strategy to ensure that the website is also optimized for queries made via voice commands.

Track On-Site Traffic

On-site traffic refers to the number of users that visit your page. You can track and analyze your website's traffic by adding a tracking code in your website's code or by using plugins that generate traffic reports.

Your online traffic report should be analyzed for:

• Dwell time: The amount of time a user spends looking at your webpage. A higher dwell time is good for your SEO rankings.
• Bounce rate: The percentage of users that left the website without interacting with it. A higher bounce rate reduces your SEO rankings.
• Conversion rates: Conversion rate is the percentage of users that invested in your products or services.

Use Link Building For Better Authority

Link building is a strategy applied for off-page SEO. Backlinks are created to get higher authority websites to link back to your webpage.

Link building is an integral component in your SEO strategy, as it allows the search engine to view your website as a reliable source. Think of link building as getting a recommendation from college professors for your job application. If your professor has a good reputation in the industry, the workplace is more likely to take their word about your profile.

This is why it is essential to create backlinks with industry-specific, relevant, and high-authority websites. You can use different SEO tools to determine the website's domain authority.

Add SEO Friendly Website Title tags, URL, and Description

Title tags, Meta descriptions, and website URL is also crucial for SEO. Title tags are the first things that users see when they make a search query.

An effective title tag features your primary keyword, includes 50–60 characters, and a clear message about the page. Similarly, the Meta description should be a concise summary of the page's content, written to answer the user's query while also compelling them to click on the page. This Meta description should be no longer than 155 - 160 characters.

The website's URL also plays a role in your search engine rankings. Search engines prefer URLs that are designed to match user searches. For example, don't include too many hyphens and keep it easy to remember.

Difference between Technical, On-Page, and Off-Page SEO

SEO strategies can be divided into Technical SEO, On-page SEO, and Off-page SEO. Technical SEO includes work on website elements, design, and technical fixes. For example, WordPress SEO optimization, indexing, and submitting robot.txt files are all part of technical SEO.

On the other hand, On-page SEO refers to strategies to improve the user experience on your website. This includes keyword research, website content, internal linking, and other such features.

Off-page SEO includes the work to build your brand through other sources besides your website. This includes back linking, local SEO, and building domain authority.

For Reliable SEO Expertise, Call On Epitome Digital Marketing!

A good SEO strategy is essential for getting your business noticed. If you rank higher on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), your brand will be visible to a larger group of individuals. This means your website will get traffic from relevant users who are actively seeking and are interested in purchasing your product.

SEO strategies can take months to show results. So, it's better to invest your time and money in an experienced search engine optimization company that can optimize your website professionally from the get-go!

If you need a reliable SEO agency, get in touch with Epitome Digital Marketing. We have a team of SEO experts who can make your business gain popularity in the digital realm!