SEO or Search Engine Optimization is optimizing your website for search engines such as Google, and this is done so that websites rank higher in search results. SEO involves ensuring that search engines can easily discover, crawl, interpret, and trust your website, because with effective SEO, you can attract more visitors to your website without having to pay for every single click. SEO is an excellent method to gradually increase your website's organic traffic, thus it is a crucial aspect of online marketing.
Here are the three processes of how search engines work:
- Crawling - Robots access websites by following links and sitemaps, and then indexing occurs, where pages are stored in a massive database.
- Ranking - When a user conducts a search, pages are ranked according to various factors, therefore the ranking process is crucial for determining the visibility of a website.
Why is SEO crucial, because you're getting traffic from users who are actively seeking out what you have to offer, and it can be worth the investment. It can be worth the investment because it drives traffic that is more likely to convert (buy, sign up, etc.) and helps make your site better for users, thus it provides insight into what your customers are looking for.
There are 3 main components of SEO:
- Technical SEO - making your site crawlable, fast, and readable,
- On-page SEO - making each page the best result for its query,
- Off-page SEO - building your site's reputation and authority away from your site, and to do SEO properly, you have to understand what people are searching for and why.
Then you have to create content that meets those needs, and you have to ensure your site is fast, secure, and navigable, so you have to get links from other quality sites.
And measure everything, to find out what works and what doesn't, therefore you can adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
