Everything You Need To Know About SEO
Some wise nuts have said that the best place to hide an article is on the second page of a search engine. The truth is people will hardly look at the second page of Google or Bing because the thought would be that the best information will automatically make it to the first page.
That is not always true. You would find an excellent article that was never properly optimized, and so it could only make it to page two. The research would be deep, the writing style ideal for the modern reader, but the use of keywords pretty poor. Before we get too involved with the word ‘optimization,’ it would be best to start from the basics. What is SEO?
Demystifying SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is focused on increasing a website or blog’s visibility on organic (non-paid) search engine results. It involves both technical and creative elements that you can use to improve your site’s ranking and traffic.
There is more to Search Engine Optimization than just the keyword. It is important to look at how other sites link to yours and even the way you structure your words. Simply put, SEO is about making your site understood by the search engines. In this respect, you need to be familiar with algorithms used by leading search engines so that you know how to structure your articles to increase discoverability.
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines receive thousands of requests every day. What the engine will do is send its crawlers out to gather all the information on the internet regarding a certain topic. When the crawlers bring back the information, an index is built. From that index, the search engine will attempt to get the best information suited for your query.
Quality Over Quantity
Numbers are everything. You are optimizing your site to attract as much organic traffic as possible. However, quality of the attention matters more that the traffic, seeing that you only want to get visitors that will add value to your site. If you are a farmer dealing in organic vegetables, you want to attract people interested in your organic vegetables. When you get queries about the latest iPhone, your traffic is not of the quality you need. However, if the keyword is right and you attract the right traffic, you will want as many visitors as possible.
On-Page Factors?
Several things happen behind the scenes in making your page visible to visitors that need your content. One of the more crucial elements is content. What is good content, you ask. In a nutshell, good content must supply a demand (after all, it is what the visitor came here for) and it should be linkable. If other people cannot link to your article, then it will be no good in the eyes of a search engine.
Penalties
Do not be so keyword-happy that you end up stuffing your content with it. Having your keyword everywhere from the Meta description to all the sub-headings and in every paragraph will be seen by Bing, Google, and other search engines as keyword stuffing. What happens then? The rank of your site will be lowered, or Google could ban your site altogether.
