Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of getting your pages to rank higher in search engines like Google.
1. Benefits of Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is a critical part of online marketing because search is one of the primary ways users navigate the web.
Search results are presented in an ordered list, and the higher a site ranks in the list, the more traffic the site receives. For example, for a typical search query, the number one result will receive 40-60% of the total traffic for that query, while the number two and three results will receive much less traffic. Only 2-3% of searchers click beyond the first page of search results. Therefore, even small improvements in search engine rankings can result in more traffic and potential business for your website.
Therefore, many businesses and website owners will try to manipulate search results so that their website appears higher on the search results page (SERP) than their competitors. This is where SEO comes into play.
2. How Search Engine Optimization Works
Search engines like Google use an algorithm or a set of rules to determine which pages to display for any given query. These algorithms have become extremely sophisticated and consider hundreds or even thousands of different ranking factors to determine their SERP ranking. However, search engines evaluate three core metrics to determine the quality of a website and its ranking:
Links - Links from other websites play a key role in determining a website's ranking in Google and other search engines. The reason is that links can be viewed as quality votes from other sites, since site owners are less likely to link to other sites of lower quality. Sites that get links from many other sites gain authority (called "PageRank" in Google) in the eyes of search engines, especially if the sites linking to them are authoritative themselves.
Content - In addition to looking at links, search engines analyze web page content to determine whether it is relevant to any given search query. A big part of SEO is creating content that targets the keywords that search engine users are searching for.
Page Structure – The third core component of SEO is page structure. Because web pages are written in HTML, the structure of the HTML code affects the search engines' ability to evaluate the page. Including relevant keywords in page titles, URLs, and headers and ensuring the site is crawlable are actions website owners can take to improve their website's SEO.
The SEO process involves optimizing each core component of the search engine algorithm in order to rank higher in search results.
3. Search engine optimization technology
Understanding how search engines work is just the first step in the process of improving your website’s search rankings. In fact, improving your website rankings involves utilizing various SEO techniques to optimize your website for searches:
Keyword Research - Keyword research is often the starting point for SEO and involves looking at the keywords your website already ranks for, the keywords your competitors rank for, and other keywords that potential customers are searching for. Identifying the terms searchers use in Google searches and other search engines can provide guidance on what existing content can be optimized and what new content can be created.
Content Marketing – Once potential keywords are identified, content marketing comes into play. This can be updating existing content or creating entirely new content. Since Google and other search engines place a premium on high-quality content, it's important to research what's already available and create compelling content that provides a positive user experience and a chance of ranking higher in search engine results. Good content also has a greater chance of being shared on social media and attracting links.
Link Building - Since links from external websites (known as "backlinks" in SEO terms) are one of the core ranking factors for Google and other major search engines, obtaining high-quality backlinks is one of the main levers of SEO one. This may involve promoting quality content, reaching out to other sites and building relationships with webmasters, submitting the site to relevant web directories, and gaining media attraction for links from other sites.
On-page Optimization – In addition to off-page factors such as links, improving the actual structure of the page can have huge SEO benefits and is a factor that is completely within the control of the webmaster. Common on-page optimization techniques include optimizing the page's URL to incorporate keywords, updating the page's title tag to use relevant search terms, and using alt attributes to describe images. It's also beneficial to update your page's meta tags (such as meta description tags) - these tags won't have a direct impact on search rankings, but can improve SERP click-through rates.
Website Architecture Optimization - External links are not the only important factor in SEO, internal links (links within your own website) also play an important role in SEO. Therefore, SEO can improve the SEO of your website by ensuring that key pages are linked to and using relevant anchor text in these links to help increase the relevancy of the page for specific terms. For larger pages, creating an XML sitemap is also a good way to help search engines discover and crawl all pages of your site.
Semantic Markup – Another SEO strategy used by SEO experts is to optimize your website for semantic markup. Semantic markup (such as Schema.org) is used to describe the meaning behind the content of a page, such as helping to identify the author of a piece of content or the topic and type of content on the page. Using semantic markup can help display rich snippets such as additional text, review stars, and even images in search results pages. Rich snippets in the SERP have no impact on search rankings, but can improve search click-through rates, thereby increasing organic traffic.
4. Optimize search traffic: from clicks to conversions
SEO done correctly has the potential to significantly increase the traffic your website receives, but all search traffic will not help your business unless it converts into paying customers. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes into play.
Conversion rate optimization involves using methods such as A/B testing to make changes to a website and measure their impact on the website's conversion rate. Successful search marketers know that it’s not enough to just get traffic to your website, but what happens after the traffic reaches your website is equally important.
CRO used to be a difficult and highly technical process, but with software like Optimizely, running tests to improve conversion rates on your website is as easy as inserting a line of Javascript. Best of all, Optimizely’s visual editor allows you to make changes to your site without writing any code.