SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a practice that is designed to help websites leverage certain elements and strategies to improve their organic (unpaid) ranking power in the SERP (search engine results page). In simple terms, SEO helps websites increase their chances of ranking on the first page of Google. Because over 25% of searchers click on the first organic result, it is important to have a strong SEO strategy to ensure your website will be in front of potential customers when it needs to be.
With over 1.7 billion live websites existing today (and 576,000 new websites being created daily), now more than ever it is extremely important to ensure businesses have an SEO strategy to help increase their chances of being found online. SEO is by far one of the most important investments a business can make into its digital presence.
Search engines like Google and Bing use ‘crawlers’ or ‘spiders’ that well, ‘crawl’ the web and collect information as they discover webpages. Once this information is collected, it gets stored in that search engine's index, where it has the potential to be pulled forward when the search engine believes that source could be a useful and relevant result for a certain search term.
When users search for something online using ‘keywords’, the search engines use a complex algorithm to pull the most relevant and useful information for search that based on some metrics we call “ranking factors”.
This is where SEO comes in. SEO helps identify ways to strengthen a site's ranking factors with hopes of that site getting recognized by the search engine as a great resource to present as a result.
One of my favorite SEO education sites, Moz, took a group of 150 SEO experts to identify how the many ranking factors influence performance. Here’s what they found:
SEOs will use their in-depth knowledge of these ranking factors to help build SEO and marketing strategies that can help keep websites in the top SERP positions through different on-page, technical, and off-page initiatives (more on this later).
Sounds pretty simple right? It is. The problem we SEOs run into are sites that have been neglecting SEO best practices for years, and or new websites that have been built without any SEO consideration. This can make it extremely difficult for a website to perform successfully in the SERP, because yes, as much as Google rewards sites that follow the rules, they will also heavily penalize websites that don’t. This is why it is so important to have an SEO strategy in mind prior to building a website for your business - luckily with our over three years of SEO experience we ensure this step is not skipped at WebDrool.
As mentioned above, there isn’t just one type of SEO. SEO has three main areas with different elements that can be optimized under each. These areas are very different but all contribute to an overall healthy and strong SEO strategy.
On-page SEO focuses on optimizing all things content-related, hence “on-page”. Essentially anything visible to users when they are on your web pages can be optimized through on-page initiatives. Some on-page SEO ranking factors are:
Keyword research plays a big role in the success of on-page SEO initiatives as well. One of the most important things a website can do from an on-page perspective is to focus on creating super high-quality relevant content based on your keyword research. Google will not feature bad content on the SERP, especially for competitive terms that thousands of websites are going to want to rank for.
Technical SEO is well, more technical than on-page SEO. Technical SEO focuses on improving the ‘behind the scenes’ elements that affect the website's performance and crawlability. These could be elements such as:
Search engines give preferential treatment to websites that have optimized technical elements like secure connection, responsive design, and fast loading times to name a few.
Off-page SEO refers any action taken outside of your physical website to help improve your rankings. Effective off-page SEO will help websites build trustworthiness, authority and relevance, which can have a significant impact on performance. Some off-page initiatives include:
Off-page SEO’s major strength is its ability to build authority on websites. Having a website with high authority increases its chances of ranking for more high-value competitive keywords. Search engines also favour sites with high authority scores as they know that the site is high quality and will be a useful resource for users.
Everyone! No, but really. If you have a website and are hoping to use it as a tool to generate business then I would highly recommend implementing an SEO strategy. With over 1.7 billion websites on the web today, SEO is one tool that will get you one step closer to being able to be found by those who you want to talk to.