What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engines like Google and Bing are in the business of matching web searchers with relevant content. Search engine optimization is the art and science of making your websites and webpages more appealing to the complex and top-secret algorithms used to match web-searchers to websites.
The inner-workings of search vary from search engine to search engine, but the basic premise remains the same for modern providers like Google and Bing. The relevancy of your page to a search term is based on a combination of on-page and off-page elements.
SEO focuses on the on-page elements, to include the quality, relevance, originality and even formatting of content, website architecture, navigation, and the overall ability of search engine to ‘see and understand,’ or index, your website.
Content Originality, Relevance and Quality
Search engines match users with original, high quality content from around the internet relevant to the user’s search.
A large part of search engine optimization is creating your content to account for relevant search behaviors and highly searched relevant keywords.
Optimum target keywords and phrases are identified by starting with a seed list of keywords and phrases relevant to your website and comparing them against search behavior data from popular search engines. Using these optimum keywords and phrases in your content ensures your website is relevant to more search opportunities.
Off-page elements, often referred to as signals, include the quantity, quality and context of other websites who link to your content, geographic proximity and even social media network connections.
Content Formatting
Formatting helps users understand your content better with the use of headers (<H*> tags), lists and other formatting elements. These same elements can also help search engines better understand your content when used properly.
The use of ‘alt attributes’, or ‘alt tags’, allows your page to describe non-text elements such as images and animations. Though their use is intended for visually impaired users, search engines also rely on them to ‘understand’ non-text content.
Website Architecture
Your website’s structure plays a role in search engine optimization. Search engines see your website much in the way we may see a text book. Your website should feature a table of contents, or ‘sitemap’ in web-terminology, as well as clear navigation sections, and descriptive titles and link structures.
The Secret of Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization helps your site rank higher in search engine results, but it cannot guarantee a high ranking on its own. Even a ‘perfectly optimized’ website is highly unlikely to earn a spot in front page results without essential off-page signals such as quality contextual inbound links, social media network ties, and some essential elements of search engine marketing.
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Tags: Marc Frechette, Marketing 101, SEO
