SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)-Boost Your Digital Content in 2023

 

Do you have a website? And do you want more traffic? If yes, then there’s no doubt about it: SEO should be part of your marketing efforts. It’s a great way to get and keep people on your website. But what does it actually entail? In this post, we’ll explain what SEO is and how you can get started!

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In a nutshell, it’s the set of practices that an individual or business uses to get more organic traffic through search engines, like Google or Bing.

As you can tell, the definition is pretty vague. That’s a testament to the fact that SEO can be done in several ways, and has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. Despite this broad description, all branches of SEO share a common goal: helping you engage with an audience.

As of today, we can identify three macro-areas within SEO. These are:

• On-Page SEO
• Technical SEO
• Off-Page SEO (or 'links')

Why is SEO important?

You’ve created a website because you want people to buy your product, subscribe to your service, or read your content. Whatever your goal, you want people to visit your website. If you own a donut shop in Amsterdam, for example, you want your website to be number 1 when people Google: “donuts Amsterdam”. Because the chances of people clicking on your website are much higher when it’s the top result!

Keyword research is... key!

Keywords are one of the building blocks of SEO – you’ll often hear people throw the phrase ‘keyword research’ around when talking about this branch of digital marketing. Keywords are words or phrases related to the topic you’re writing about, ranked by search volume and trends.

On-page SEO factors

The ranking of your pages is partly determined by on-page factors. On-page factors are all the things on your website that you have a direct influence on. These factors include technical aspects (e.g. the quality of your code and site speed) and content-related aspects, like the structure of your website or the quality of the copy on your website. These are all crucial on-page SEO factors that you can work on.Ensure that your page only has one H1 heading! How you structure your headings does make a difference, and having two H1 titles might send contrasting signals to Google or other search engines.

Off-page SEO factors

In addition to on-page SEO factors, your rankings are also determined by a few off-page SEO factors. These factors include links from other websites, social media attention, and other marketing activities that happen off of your own website. Although not impossible, these off-page SEO factors can be more difficult to influence. The most important of these off-page factors is the number and quality of links pointing towards your site. The more quality, relevant sites that link to your website, the higher your position in Google will be.

Another off-page factor that plays a role in SEO is your competition relating to the niche of your particular business. In some niches, it is much harder to rank than in others. The competitiveness of your market therefore also has a major influence on your chances of ranking.

Basic linking strategy

When it comes to linking, keep in mind that Google uses links as an important ranking factor. As a rule of thumb, if your website has a lot of websites linking to it, chances are it will rank high in the search engine results pages.On the other hand, internal links (links from one page of your domain to another) can help a search engine decide which pages on your website are the most important.When linking to other articles on your website, make sure to use descriptive anchor text instead of something generic like ‘Learn more’ or ‘Read more’. For example, if linking to an article about sound effects, use the keywords ‘sound effects’ as an anchor text.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO focuses on the tech hygiene of your website – some of the best practices include making sure that there are no error codes, that the website is fast (remember: the faster the website, the more Google likes it), and that the domain is easily crawlable.

If you’re interested in these topics, we recommend you do some autonomous research. If you want a starting point, Google Search Central’s YouTube channel is great for visual learners. But for beginners or people with less experience who just want to get a feel for technical SEO, here are a couple of pointers:

Making sure your website has a functioning sitemap. If you use a CMS like WordPress, you’ll have access to built-in features for generating these. A sitemap is nothing but a list of all the URLs that you want Google to index! Create a robots.txt file where you link to the sitemap! A robots.txt file tells the Google crawlers which pages to look at and which pages to ignore.

How can we help you get started?

At SAECOM, we specialise in optimising your product’s ranking on Amazon. Our team of experienced consultants are well-versed in SEO best practices, from comprehending the intricacies of the Amazon A10 algorithm to strategically optimising relevant keywords. With our expertise, we can make a significant difference in how your products rank on Amazon, improving visibility and increasing the likelihood of sales. Trust our team to provide effective SEO strategies that drive results and help you succeed in selling on Amazon.

Conclusion

SEO is the practice of optimizing websites to make them reach a high position in Google’s – or another search engine’s – search results. At Yoast, we believe that holistic SEO is the best way to rank your pages because you focus on optimizing every aspect of your site. You can check yourseogenius.com for details on this. 

Don’t use any black-hat tricks, because eventually, this will have negative consequences for your rankings. Instead, practice sustainable SEO with your user in mind, and you will benefit in the long run. Read more on how to rank high in Google or if you use WordPress, make sure to check out our ultimate guide on SEO in WordPress.