What is SEO and how does it works

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of optimizing your website to get un-paid traffic from the search engine results page. In other terms, SEO involves making certain changes to your website design and content that make your site looks more attractive to a search engine. You do this so that the search engine will display your website as a top result on the search engine results page.

Though search engine optimization can get quite difficult when it comes to all the different factors that impact your ranking, the basic process is not as difficult to understand. Search engines want to provide the best facility for their users. This means delivering results on the search engine pages that are not just only high quality but also relevant to what the searcher is looking for.

In order to do this, search engines will scan, different websites to better understand what the site is about. This helps them deliver relevant results to those who are searching for certain keywords or topic. The search engines will scan the site to decide how easy it is to navigate and read, rewarding user-friendly sites with higher rankings on the search engine results page.

SEO is the method that organizations go through to help make sure that their site ranks high in the search engines for relevant keywords and phrases.

By improving your SEO, you can work to increase your visibility on the search engines. This helps you reach and engage more potential consumers. By creating more engaging and effective SEO-focused content, you can boost your chances of bringing in more targeted organic traffic.

Factors That Impact SEO

Now that you simply know what's SEO and the way it works, let’s take a glance at a number of the factors that can impact your search engine optimization ranking.

Search engine giant, Google will never give away the accurate algorithm they use to rank sites. However, we do have a pretty good knowledge of some of the factors that impact search engine results page (SERP) rankings. These factors include both on-page and off-page factors, which we will explain below.

Content Marketing

Before we jump into some of the factors of on and off-page SEO, let’s talk about content. Content is powerful in both attracting the search engines and helping your organization make connections with site visitors.

The more quality, relevant content pieces that you have on your site, the more possible search engines will be to rank your pages higher on the search engine results page. The more engaging and powerful content you have on your site, the more likely your visitors will be to spend some quality time on your website and maybe even make a purchase.

On-Page SEO

The on-page SEO factors are those factors that happen on your website. These are the things that you have total control over, it means that you can work to improve these factors over time by following best practices for SEO. This goes beyond just your content marketing to the deeper levels of your website’s HTML.

Here are some of the on-page SEO factors that can help you to improve your search ranking :

Title Tag – The title tag on each page describes the search engines what your page is about. This should be 60 characters including both the keyword your content focuses on and your business name.

Meta Description – The Meta description on your website describes search engines a little more about what each page is about. This is also used by your human visitors to quite understand what the page is about and if it’s related. This should include your keyword and also provide enough details to tell the reader what the content is on.

Sub-headings – Not only do sub-headings make your content easier for visitors to read, but it can also help increase your SEO. You can use H1, H2, and H3 tags to help search engines properly understand what your content is about.

Internal Links – Building internal links, or hyperlinks to other content on your site can help search engines discover more about your site.

Image Name and ALT Tags – If you are using images on your website or in your blog content, you will also want to include your keyword or phrase in the image name and alt tag. This will help search engines better index your images, which may appear when users perform an image search for a specific keyword

Off-Page SEO

In addition to the on-page SEO elements that your organization has control over, there are also off-page SEO factors that can affect your ranking. Though you do not have direct power over these off-page factors, there are ways that you can increase your chances of having these factors work out in your favour.

Here are various off-page SEO factors that can impact your search engine rankings:

Trust – Trust is becoming a more important factor in a site’s Google ranking. This is how Google determines whether you have a legitimate site that visitors can trust. One of the best ways to develop trust is by building quality backlinks from sites that have authority.

Links – One of the most common ways to build off-page SEO is through backlinks. You want to be cautious here as spamming sites with your links is a fast and simple way to get your site banned from the search engines. Instead, take the time to form relationships with influencers and fans who create quality content and will link back to your site in their content.

Social – Another important off-page SEO factor is social signals, such as likes and shares. When it comes to increasing SEO, you want to look for quality shares from influencers. The more quality content you publish, the more likely you will be to get people to share your content with others.