How to develop an effective SEO strategy

What's SEO?

Search engine optimization, or SEO. Getting your website found in the free or organic area of Google, Yahoo, and Bing is an art and a science. Increasing sales, generating leads, and raising brand recognition are the goals.

What is Google's Process?

You must first comprehend how search engines function in order to comprehend SEO. Web crawlers, spiders, or bots are computer programs that search engines use to browse the internet. They add new pages to an index as they are discovered. The index is what we imagine to be like a traditional Rolodex.

Next, a search is conducted on Google, Yahoo, or Bing. A search query, or simply a query, refers to the search. Which pages are retrieved from the index and shown in the search engine results is decided by an algorithm used by the search engines.

A technique or set of guidelines that must be followed in order to solve an issue is all that an algorithm is. The search queries are the issues in SEO, and the web pages that appear in search engine results are the solutions. The computer programs that come in between and pair the two are called algorithms.

For each search, search engines want to offer the best webpage they can (also known as a search query or query). Note that we said webpage rather than website. Complete websites are not displayed by search engines. They show distinct webpages instead.

The methods used to determine search engine rank are intricate, dynamic, and kept a secret. Because of this, SEO may seem daunting. Stop letting it. The goal of Google is still to "organize the world's knowledge and make it broadly usable." Adopting a comprehensive SEO plan guarantees that the pages on your website support Google's objective both now and in the future.

4 SEO pillars

Let's dissect SEO into its four components, or pillars. The four SEO pillars are what we think of as a framework that helps anchor action items beneath the wing of a comprehensive strategy.

Technical SEO, content, on-site optimization, and off-site SEO are the four cornerstones of SEO.

1) Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the primary pillar. Why? The search engines must first find, crawl, and index your web pages before they can display them in the search results.

As we learned above, spiders are used by Google, Yahoo, and Bing to browse the internet and gather data on the websites they encounter. Your website contains files and directives (code snippets) that educate search engine spiders on how to crawl and index the pages.

Where not to go is specified in a robots.txt file for the search engines. You should typically give search engines full access to your website's content. When you don't want duplicate, thin, or secret content from some areas of your website to display in search results, you may use the robots.txt file to block access to such areas. All you need to know right now is that the robots.txt file instructs spiders to stay away from certain pages. Please do not index these pages.

The robots.txt file is the reverse of an XML sitemap. It gives a list of every page on your website that you want the search engines to crawl, index, and display in search results. Consider it the CV for your website. It includes the high-level details required to start a discourse, like the most recent modification date and the relative importance of a page compared to other pages.

Additionally, each webpage's header contains meta directives in the form of code snippets. Website visitors cannot see these instructions. Instead, they advise search engine bots on how to index the content on each page, page by page.

Technical SEO includes speed, responsiveness (mobile-friendly), and security. These three crucial technological elements influence usability.

The search engines prefer websites that are served through secure HTTPS connections, which shouldn't be surprising.

Additionally, it's critical that your website functions well across all platforms, including PCs, tablets, and mobile phones, as more than 60% of searches are conducted on mobile devices.

Lastly, speed is important. No matter how excellent the material on a page is, if it loads slowly, it is useless. People will quickly abandon a page that takes more than two seconds to load, and they will be angry with Google for sending them there. Thus, high-speed websites are rewarded by search engines.

Site structure is the final component of technical SEO. The order and relative importance of the pages on your website must be understood by the search engines. Structure can be visualized as a pyramid, with the top layer being your homepage and the bottom layer being your major navigation. Each layer below those top two is made up of a smaller and less number of webpages. An equilateral pyramid is what we want. Our website should not be excessively big or tall.

At first, technical SEO may seem overwhelming. However, it becomes more palatable if you divide it up into these little components and comprehend the motivations behind each one. Additionally, it becomes much simpler to use the strategies that would enhance technical SEO.

2) SEO off-site

We have concentrated on your website and the numerous factors that affect search engine rankings up to this point. SEO, however, is more than just your website. It also has to do with how trustworthy and credible your website is online. In other words: link building.

For a pizza restaurant in New York City, you could design the best website in the entire world. Excellent menu, glowing reviews, and quick service. It is imaginable. Until Google receives confirmation from other websites that you are in fact the greatest in New York, it won't trust this page and display it in the search results.

These off-site signals are being listened for by Google, Yahoo, and Bing primarily in three places:

Links pointing to your website from other websites. Because they allow for the transfer of authority (ranking power) from one website to another, these links are valuable. Links serve as endorsements from one website to another, to put it simply. A link will convey more authority to the website it points at the greater the authority of the website providing the link. A link referring to your website from The New York Times website will carry far more weight than one from the website of your dog groomer.

Google Maps, among other local search profiles. A Google Maps listing via Google My Business is essential if you have a physical presence or serve a specific area. Building trust with Google only requires verifying your location and contact information. Additionally, obtaining glowing client testimonials and comments will help you establish greater credibility.

SEO is influenced by social media. The credibility and authority that a link from a Facebook post to your website passes doesn't compare to a traditional backlink as described in #1. However, the links they provide to your website make your social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms valuable.

3) Content and user experience

The search engines can find and index our web pages thanks to technological SEO. They discover the content on each page.

Since SEO's conception, content has been its foundation. Text, pictures, video, tables, PDFs, and much more are all included. Based on the content of each webpage, the search engines infer meaning.

Regarding content and SEO, there are five things to bear in mind:

*Quality *- It's essential to have original, well-written material that offers readers a lot of value.
Keywords: The phrases you want to rank for in the search results must be included in the content. To offer more context, group relevant keywords together and utilize synonyms.
Fresh, new information is well-liked by search engines. Your blog is typically the section of a website that is updated the most.
Type - To make the page lively, visually appealing, and engaging, you should combine a relevant blend of text, photos, video, and more, depending on the content of the page.
Relevancy - Material relevancy refers to how effectively the content on your website corresponds to search queries. Your web page will likely rank well in the search results the more relevant it is.
Even if your website has excellent content, search engines will take note if people have trouble locating and interacting with it. By paying attention to the following, you may improve user experience and please both visitors and search engines:

*Navigation *- Users can easily find the stuff they're seeking for on your site thanks to a sensible information flow.
Look - Your website is presented in a straightforward and eye-catching way that communicates authority, trust, and the essence of your business.
Feel - People like interacting with your website and interacting with you in return.
Usability - The website is simple to use and runs consistently with visitor expectations in mind.
Let's look at how you may enhance other aspects of your website to make it more appealing to search engines and users now that you are aware of the significance that content plays in SEO.

4) On-Site SEO

In search engine marketing, the word "optimization" is overused and ambiguous. What does it mean for your website to be "optimized"? It could also mean adding keywords to the copy or enhancing usability, among other things.

The following are the main on-site components that should be "optimized," or enhanced, for users and search engines:

Each webpage's header contains tags for page titles and meta descriptions. These are used by the search engines to create the informational summaries that appear on the search engine results page. Page titles affect rank and the likelihood that someone will click on the listing (click-through rates). Only click-through rates are influenced by meta description tags.

The H1 to H6 tags standardize header format and divide your information into easily readable chunks. These tags are recognized by search engines as the page or content section headers.

A written description of a picture is provided to search engines through alternative text on images. Alt text is primarily a concept of accessibility, but it also aids in the meaning-derivation process for search engines.

Internal links make it simple for both website visitors and search engines to navigate to different pages on your website. The context and meaning of an internal link are communicated by the clickable text on a given link (anchor text). Additionally, they transfer ranking power from one page of your website to another.

Code snippets called structured data provide search engines with specific information about the subject matter of a webpage's content. Additionally, it makes it simple for them to display websites in the right context in search results. Have you ever wondered how Google presents information about concerts, movies, or recipes so swiftly in the search results? Credit goes to structured data, often known as schema markup.

When developing an SEO plan, auditing on-site SEO is a crucial first step. Off-site SEO is the alternative to on-site SEO. Let's examine what that involves.