What is SEO? This is one question that you need to answer if you are serious about making a living off the Internet.
SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. Moz explains that it helps your site rank higher in search engines.
Search engines refer to Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other engines that we go to begin our search for information. When a user inputs keywords in search engines, a list of relevant websites will be shown in the search results.
For instance, if you want to know the recipe for chicken stew or something, you go to search engines, type the keywords recipe for chicken stew and you click the button search. The search engine will give you a list of websites that contains the best recipes for chicken stew.
Of the millions of websites on the Internet, search engines refer to an algorithmic ranking system that will let them know which site is most relevant to what the user is searching for.
SEO is an important Internet Marketing strategy that enables website owners to get a high rank in that system so they get more visibility when a user does a search. Small business SEO strategies usually involve various kinds of searches: images, content, videos, academics, news, and several other forms of information found on the web.
The basic principle is, when you rank high in search results, you get more visitors. When you get more visitors, there are more chances to increase sales or advertising revenues.
HOW TO SEO
SEO is not really complicated to learn but it does take a lot of getting used to. The SEO concepts are simple but the details are quite massive! Not only that, you need to be in tune with the latest SEO rules because we all depend on the algorithms that search engines put up.
For instance, Google SEO made the headlines last year when significant changes in their algorithm bumped off some websites from the top spot in search results. Remember the Panda in 2011? We all had to go back to our drawing boards to make sure we get back to the basics and ask ourselves, what is SEO?
So to give you the basic rules in SEO, here are a few tips that I have gathered for you:
1. Utilize your keywords
Keywords will let the search engine know if your website is relevant to a search. Even if you have thousands of articles about chicken recipes but your keywords are all over the place, Google will not be able to recognize that. Put your keywords in titles, tags, content, images, etc. Just make sure you do not stuff your content with too many keywords to avoid being penalized.
2. Asking what is SEO? Content is everything
When I say content is everything, I mean it! Content will give you relevance and will also have the power to convert website visitors into loyal customers. Make sure your content is unique, and informative and has keywords in the right places (first, middle, and last paragraph).
3. Link yourself to relevant sites
This is one mistake that some website owners make. They think that quantity will give them a higher ranking. That may be true before, but search engines got a lot wiser now. They are looking for quality above quantity now. So make sure your links are in the right place.
4. Updates keep you alive
Search engines need to detect activity on your website. That means you have to do something new on your site every so often. This can be done by uploading new material. It can be an image, a new article, or a video. Anything that will tell search engines that your website has something new. A website that has been left for a month or so will be marked as inactive by search engines.
I strongly advise that you keep exploring answers to the question, what is SEO? You need this knowledge in order to survive in this domain. I’ll try to input more articles that will explain the different SEO techniques. They’ll be available very soon.
Stay tuned!