We had a paja on the 22^nd of November 2023 about search engine optimization (S.E.O). Whether content gets promoted by Google or not got me interested in search engine optimization and how it works. This topic is new for almost everybody as it is not something you come across frequently. We got a guest for our paja session who had a deeper knowledge about these topics and could help us understand this specific one better. This essay will go through the basics of S.E.O. and will also dive a bit deeper into the topic to understand what it is all about and why you should be aware of it.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization means that you do a set of technical tweaks to your website for it to be easily found when browsing the internet. SEO makes you rank higher on Google and from there get more traffic and visibility. Google favors certain things that it thinks are a sign of good content and pushes those to be seen. Search has been done by search engine optimizers to find out what the favorable content is and how it should be implemented in your specific case to get more traffic to your website.

The benefits of SEO

When a site is optimized for a search engine it gets more traffic to the website resulting in increased brand awareness. More customers are going to end up on your site, and not just any customers but those ideal customers that are most likely going to buy from you. Good search engine optimization is also going to increase your brand’s credibility. A well-positioned brand in the search engine is trusted by Google and the people. As the online side of businesses becomes more important having a well-positioned website can be much more important for a business than having a brick-and-mortar store at a prime location

Types of SEO

On-page SEO: This means the optimization made for your web page content for search engines and users. These include optimizing for search intent, title tags, internal links, URLs, keywords, content quality, and HTML tags. Google search engine checks a website’s content if it matches the search. If it does so and Google thinks the web page is going to be useful for the user, it will place it higher on the search list.

Off-page SEO: These are techniques done outside of the website to improve its ranking on a search engine. These techniques include backlink building, social media marketing, articles, blog posting, bookmarking, link building, etc.

Technical SEO: A process for optimizing a website for search engines and improving customer experience. Making your website mobile-friendly or improving its speed and making it run smoother is part of technical SEO. The technical side of a website is very important as it gives the first impression to the customer when entering your website. The user experience on a website is fundamental to whether a customer stays on the website or leaves. I have gone through thousands of websites during the years and the ones that run effortlessly and look pleasing to the eye give out a great first impression. Webpages that look outdated and do not run smoothly give out a feeling of sketchiness and therefore make you close them immediately and move to the next one. The constantly evolving technical advancements of website building make websites become outdated way faster than before. That is why it is important to focus on the visual aspect of a website that invites people to visit it.

Local SEO: Is a search engine optimization that focuses on your brand being more visible in local search results such as Google Maps for instance. If your business has a physical location, it would be highly beneficial for your brand to pop up first for those customers searching with keywords related to your business.

Image SEO: Making your website’s images appear on Google’s image search. A well-positioned image can lead people to your website increasing its traffic and number of potential customers.

Video SEO: This is almost the same as image SEO but with videos. Get your videos to rank on YouTube or other video platforms for increased visibility. Keywords that get millions of views in Google searches may get only 50 on YouTube. That is because people search with different keywords based on the site. A good way to check what works on YouTube is to go to the search engine and type a keyword. The prefill options it gives you show the ones people search for the most. This is perfect as it gives you an answer to what you should put in your video for it to work better in the algorithm and gain more views.

The 12 Google ranking factors that should be prioritized according to FirstPageSage for SEO-optimized content and how important they are.

1. Consistent publication of high-quality content (26%)
2. Keywords in meta title (17%)
3. Backlinks (15%)
4. Niche expertise (13%)
5. User engagement (11%)
6. Internal links (5%)
7. Mobile friendliness (5%)
8. Page speed (2%)
9. Site security (2%)
10. Structured data (1%)
11. Keyword in URL (1%)
12. Keywords in H1 (1%)

Search engine optimization should be talked about more in the entrepreneurial field. Knowing how important it is for a company to have good search engine optimization it should be a strong focus point for companies. If a company’s search result is on the second page of Google when searched is equivalent to the company not existing at all as its visibility is little. The more time a company puts into optimizing its website and making sure that it follows the guidelines of Google the more possibilities it has to outrun the competition. And as online content gains more and more importance in the business world having well-done SEOs will give a company an advantage in the highly competitive business world.

Sources:

https://www.wordstream.com/seo

https://www.semrush.com/blog/on-page-seo/

https://www.semrush.com/blog/technical-seo/

https://www.semrush.com/blog/off-page-seo/

https://mailchimp.com/resources/what-is-local-seo/

https://backlinko.com/video-seo-guide