Ever heard of SEO? No? Then you obviously do not know what all the fuss is about when marketers scream SEO. Allow me to take you into the world of SEO and explain to you, the nitty-gritty involved.

The Basics of SEO

SEO simply means search engine optimization. Basically, this is when materials are optimized for search engines. Basically meaning getting them to be more noticeable on search engines using some identifying features. The results from optimizing your materials are completely free and, if you are conversant with the results on search pages – which I’m sure most if not all of us are – you will notice that there are free results and paid results. These free results are called organic. Now when you use SEO, your results are organic and that in truth is what we are aiming to achieve. Here the results are completely dependent on your abilities and how much of your content matches the specific search query on a search engine. The major search engines use their distinct optimization algorithms to rank content and website so that when a search is made, they use that same index to find and match relevant pieces of the given search query.

The Importance of SEO

SEO is simply important because search engines are important and, search engines, in turn, are important because when people need information or answers, this is where they go. With search engines, it is simple, the higher you rank, the more traffic you get on your site. This is what traffic percentages look like in a regular search engine:

1st position – 20.5%

2nd position – 13.32%

3rd position – 13.4%

4th position – 8.98%

5th position – 9.21%

6th position – 6.73%

7th position – 7.61%

Now, this is precisely why SEO is important because search engine users generally want the best and fastest answers and these are usually located in the top ranks according to search engines. Now without the optimization of your content, your site would not even get close to being top-ranked and as a result, you would be getting very slow if at all any web traffic.

On-Page and Off-Page SEO

With SEO, there are two types:

On-page: This happens on your page. It is controlled by you and it refers to the things you do to optimize on your site content and the HTML part of your page.

Off-page SEO: This does not happen on your page. This has to do with building links with related contents. These can have a huge effect on your relevance. They are important but we will get back to them shortly.

One really unknown yet rather relevant part of SEO is the technical SEO. This actually has to do with what happens behind the scenes.

To get your SEO to function properly and continuously, all these parts of it need to function in order and in accordance.

The Evolution of SEO

Despite being the serious business that it is today, SEO has actually been in effect since the conception of web pages and back then, it was often a black hat affair. This means that different illegal tactics were used to go against search engine guidelines in order to improve rankings. Over time, search engines were able to catch on with these antics and have been able to create rules which have become the SEO rules of today.

SEO and Google’s Algorithm Updates

Google has made itself known in the world of search engines right from the early 2000s. Anyone who has used this search engine since then would know that it has constantly battled with black hat SEO by bringing in several algorithms with a number of updates and constantly keeps updating them till this day.

How Search Engines Carry Out Ranking.

First of all, we know that when Google ranks, there are a few more important factors they use; and from its algorithm tactics, we can tell that trustworthiness, links and quality content are factors they take very seriously. Even though Google is our main focus, we have to bear in mind that other search engines use similar factors to index their own contents.

SEO Content

First of all, the overall quality of content has been the major reason for most algorithm updates; also contents is the main determining factor for how well a site will be ranked. You need to make sure that your keywords for optimizing and targeting are words that your audience would be searching for. We also need to be sure that your content contains as much specific and useful information as possible. Therefore you need to focus on coming up with very detailed and informative contents optimized for the sake of the reader and not just the search engine.

SEO Link Building

A link according to Google is more or less a vote and could be either in your favour or against you depending on the site it comes from. The more links you get from reputable sites, the more trustworthy you become to Google and the more ranking you get.

In order to get these links, you need to create high quality content and ensure to promote it constantly.  The more these links that are drawn back to you from the right crowd, the more relevant you become. Ways of getting linked include; viral posts, campaigns, outreaches and guest postings.

SEO – Authority And Trustworthiness

As regards to SEO, the higher the quality of your content, the more authoritative and trustworthy you get with Google and the better your links get.

SEO Social Media

The main question here is, how does social media affect search rankings? The answer, it does not directly affect your ranking but it does indirectly. Therefore, what this means is that the higher your social media ranking is, the higher you may rank in the right in search engines. Although, this refers more to Bing than it does to Google.

SEO Optimization Guide

First, you may want to find keywords that are ranking in your area of expertise and create your content to not just involve but be centred on these words. To make them Google standard, make sure they are authoritative, fact-driven and are in long content form. If your content can be the most in-depth and informative concentrating around the keyword, your chances of ranking would actually skyrocket.

After creating your content, you will want to create some form of hype around it. Promoting it in emails, media and outreaches, you will want to get as much traffic as you possibly can.

Even after content creation and creating hype around it, the fact is that it is really the quality of your content that attracts traffic. That being said, ensure to have more quality for traffic and this is sure to be more effective than focusing more on the hype. Never trade quality for quantity as it simply is not worth it.

Lastly, ensure that you regularly and constantly update your content to ensure that it remains relevant.

That is basically what there is to know about SEO, and why it is as important as it is today.

If you have any questions, please feel free and be sure to drop them in the comments.