SEO is a dynamic field that is continually changing. Our guide intends to help you understand the practise and support you on your way to becoming an SEO master.
SEO BASICS
Lexico.com defines Search Engine Optimization as 'The process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine'. In our words, SEO involves the methods you apply for your website to organically appear as a top result on a search engine.
SEO can be executed very differently depending upon the time and effort dedicated, the strategies enlisted and where your SEO focus resides. Despite the differences in how SEO is carried out, it shares a common goal to improve rankings in search engines.
Black Hat Vs White Hat SEO
There are two sides to SEO practises. These practices tend to be known as Black Hat and White Hat SEO.
Black Hat SEO involves:
- Keyword Stuffing
- Link Farming
- Invisible Text
- Cloaking or Redirecting Users
- Duplicate Links
- Purchased Links
The Black Hat SEO techniques offer 'quick wins' catered to outsmarting the search engines rather than targeting a human audience. The majority of the mentioned strategies previously resulted in higher search engine ratings. However, search engines now work to prevent this and have made multiple algorithm changes as a result. While Black Hat SEO is understood to be a strategy with immediate benefits, it is frequently at risk of being penalized, banned or de-indexed by search engines.
White Hat SEO:
- Keyword Analysis and Using Relevant Keywords
- Rewriting Meta Tags to Increase Relevance
- Backlinking
- Link Building
- Catering Content to Humans (rather than search engine bots)
- Well Labeled Images
- Unique and Relevant Page Titles
White Hat SEO users apply techniques that require more time and energy. However, White Hat SEO has the likelihood of remaining effective for longer. This strategy is sometimes referred to as a long-term investment because the chances of algorithm updates affecting the rankings are smaller.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO consists of the elements you can incorporate on your website to optimize your search engine rankings.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is made up of the practices you can implement away from your website to raise its SEO.
SEARCH ENGINES
The process of a search engine follows three core steps.
Crawling
Otherwise known as The Discovery Process. Crawlers or spiders are sent out to search for new and updated content (regardless of format). These crawlers then store the page information they find within an index.
Indexing
Discovered webpages are added to a data structure called an index. The index includes URLs and relevant information about the URL. Related information can cover; keywords, content type, page freshness, and previous user engagement.
Results
The final step looks to present a user with high-quality results. When searches are entered, the search engine identifies all applicable pages within the index. An algorithm is applied to rank the results in terms of relevance. Each search engine has its unique algorithm, and as a result, outcomes may differ depending upon the search engine. Elements like the searcher's location, language and device can alter the ranking of results.
To see if your site has been indexed by a search engine, enter 'site:' and then insert your domain name into the search engine. [site: walvis.ca.]
The results show all the pages that have been indexed on your site. If your web pages do not appear then several things may have happened;
- Your site has not been crawled yet.
- Your site's complex navigation is hard for robots to crawl.
- Your site has been penalized by the search engine.
Ranking Factors
Google's core algorithm includes a machine learning-based component called RankBrain. RankBrain's purpose is to act as a query processor and determines the most relevant results to search engine queries.
There are believed to be over 200 factors that can optimize your site for Google RankBrain. Some are proven, some are just speculation, and some are more important than others.
Zyppy compiled a list detailing Google's 100+ ranking factors.
Here's an overview of what is believed to be 10 of the most critical factors.
- Targeted content
- Crawlable and accessible to search engines
- Quality and quantity of links
- Satisfies user intent
- Uniqueness of content
- Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness
- Freshness
- Click-through rate
- Speed
- Built for multiple devices
How People Use Search Engines
In reference to the number one ranking factor mentioned above, it is important to outline what is meant by a search query. Search queries are typically classified by 3 types.
- Navigational Search Queries
- Informational Search Queries
- Transactional Search Queries
Navigational Search Queries
A navigational search query is entered when a user wants a particular website or webpage. A user might enter 'YouTube' or 'Facebook' into the search bar rather than using a bookmark or typing it into the navigational bar of their browser. Due to the clear intent of the search query, other websites have limited opportunities for gaining traffic if their site is not what they are looking for. With this in mind, it is beneficial that you own your own brand's navigational query. Ideally, your site will top the organic and sponsored spot in a search for your company name.
Informational Search Queries
In this case, a user is looking for certain information. They are looking for the answer to a question or to learn how to do something. For example, 'How to bake a cake' or 'When was the Industrial Revolution?'.
The best way to target informational searches is to provide high-value SEO content that provides helpful information relevant to the query. Positioning your website as a source of trustworthy and authoritative information will enhance this SEO strategy.
Transactional Search Query
A transactional search query indicates the intent to complete a transaction. Such queries may include exact product or brand names, 'Nike Airs', or be more generic, 'Sneakers'. In some cases, the search might involve verbs like 'buy', 'order', or 'download'. While it may not always be explicit some searches imply an intent to purchase. Searching for flights to Paris suggests the user want to buy tickets. As a result, the search engine may also offer suggestions of pricing - this is also known as a vertical search.
As well as understanding the ins and outs of search engines, it is also essential to recognize the three important factors that bring SEO together.
- Technical Elements
- Content
- Backlinks
Technical Elements
Meta Tags
Meta tags are snippets of text that describe a page and its content to a search engine. Meta tags appear in the page's source code. Because they only exist in HTML at the head of the page, they are only visible to search engines.
Recent updates penalizing keyword stuffing has meant that meta titles and descriptions do not directly influence your rankings. However, they remain to be very important for SEO as their strong psychological factors influence CTR's and overall user engagement.
On-page SEO best practices
Keyword Research
Find out what people are searching for before you start writing
Title Tags and Headline
Wrap your title in a <h1> tag. Your main keyword focus should be included and users should be persuaded to click on your site.
SEO Friendly URLs
Shorter URLs rank better in google
Add Modifiers to your Title
e.g. guide / best / 2019 - help rank for long-tail versions of your target keyword
Multimedia
Engaging images and videos can increase interest and reduce bounce rates.
Subheadings
Wrap subheadings in <h2> tag and include target keywords in at least one subheading
Responsive Design
Since 2018 Google has been considering mobile versions of websites when indexing and ranking.
Outbound Links
Creates a relevancy signal that helps search engines figure out your page's topic
Internal Links
Internal links are a great way to direct users to your other articles or important website content.
A highly effective way to use internal linking is to utilize topic clusters
Speed
According to 2018 research by Google, 53% of mobile users leave a site that takes longer than three seconds to load.
Google Search Console
Setting up Google Search Console is a must if you want to be on top of your SEO work. It is a free service that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results.
Robots.txt
Robots.txt is a handy file that tells crawlers and bots what you don't wish to be indexed.
Robots.txt can be very useful if you want to avoid duplicate content appearing in SERPs and if you wish to keep entire sections of websites private.
Content
Content and SEO are intrinsically linked. High-quality content requires on-page optimization for it to be found and an optimized website needs content of value for users to stay on the site.
Content Types
Blogs
Blogs are a great way to create user engagement. Not only do they allow for originality, but they also provide the opportunity to humanize a business.
Videos
Today's consumers are viewing more and more video content. Producing interesting and relevant videos are a great way for businesses to increase engagement.
Infographics
Infographics present opportunities for your valuable content to be shared and downloaded by users. They help businesses educate their audiences and provide information that can result in leads and customers. However, some businesses make the mistake of using infographics as a text substitution. By doing so, infographics are losing their SEO potential.
Case Studies
Case Studies demonstrate your process to users in individualistic circumstances. They present interesting and unique data and also portray your customer satisfaction strategy. Case studies are the perfect way to provide real-life examples of your services and users can get an idea of how your company can add value to their lives or businesses.
Interviews
Interviews are a chance to share unique information with your users. Interviews with industry experts help to build a level of credibility and position you as a source of knowledgeable information.
eBooks
eBooks are commonly used for generating leads, especially in B2B circumstances. They are an effective form of long content that businesses can use to prove value to users.
Backlinks
Backlinks = Incoming links to a webpage
When a webpage links to any other page it's called a backlink - sometimes known as inbound links.
Backlinks are important as they demonstrate trust from one site to another. When a webpage has multiple sites linking to it, search engines conclude that the content on that page is of value and therefore worth ranking.
Types
- Do-follow backlinks: pass the authority of the linking page and are the default of backlinks. Also known as link juice.
- No-follow backlinks: the rel='nofollow' HTML tag tells crawlers and bots not to count the link and therefore passes no value from an SEO point of view.
High-quality backlinks
Generically speaking, high-quality backlinks include these characteristics;
Domain authority
Important domains that link your website or webpage are likely to be much more influential than a relatively unknown and potentially untrustworthy site.
Relevance
A relevant backlink is situated on a site or page that is of the same industry, subject or niche as yours. The relevance may depend on the content of the linking site or the wording of the content surrounding the link itself.
Traffic
Backlinks that are situated in footers will probably get a lot less traffic than those embedded within a popular piece of content. A high-quality backlink will be placed where there are high volumes of traffic and active readerships.
Link building strategies
Guest posting
One of the most popular ways to build links is through guest posting. Guest posting is where you write a piece of content and it is published on another website.
Infographics
As previously mentioned in the content section, infographics are a high-value piece of content. Having your infographics featured on other websites is a great way to build links.
Check competitors backlinks
If your competitors are ranking higher than you in search engines there's a possibility that you can use their techniques to your advantage. Use tools like SEMRush, OpenLinkExplorer and LinkMiner to identify what keywords they're ranking highly for and what their backlinks are.
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