What is SEO: Quick Overview of Search Engine Optimization

In this blog post, I am going to talk about What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), what are the different types and strategies used in SEO. Basically I am going to give you a quick overview of SEO. Let’s get started!

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a technical process or actions performed on and off your website to rank it higher in a search engine result page (SERP) for your targeted keywords. 

It is also called a practice of increasing the organic traffic to your website. If you want to rank for one or more keywords in a SERP you have to apply the SEO tactics to your website.

There are two types of SEO practices “White hat SEO” and “Black hat SEO”.

What is Black Hat SEO and Why You Shouldn’t Practice It

Black hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice or action that violates the Search Engine’s rules or terms of services. Black hat SEO is performed by someone who wants to quickly rank his website in a search result.

Back hat SEO should be avoided as it is not performed as per the rules also when caught by search engines it will penalize your website for specific keywords or context. 

Black hat SEO practice may includes,

  • Link Manipulation 
  • Keywords stuffing 
  • Copying the content from other websites.

What is White Hat SEO

White hat SEO refers to the practices of SEO that are legal or as per the terms of services of search engines. Most of the SEO consultants perform white hat SEO.

Note that it takes some time but the result stays with you for a longer period of time. White hat SEO always wins in the long run. 

When search engines find your website trustworthy they will always try to rank it higher for any specific keywords.

There are a lot of things we have to do for white hat SEO. Generally, White Hat SEO practices contain the following things,

  • Creating EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) rich content
  • Mobile-friendly website
  • Using keywords rich meta tags.
  • Setup The Google Search Console
  • Install Bing Webmaster Tools
  • Setup Google Analytics
  • Install Yoast SEO
  • Reduce the length of the title tag (to between 10 and 70 characters).
  • Implement a redirect to HTTPS on your website
  • Enable SSL on your website
  • Implement a robots.txt file
  • Update URLs to be more human and Search Engine readable
  • Add ALT attributes to all images
  • Create and link your Social media pages
  • Use your main keywords across the important HTML tags
  • Increase Page text content
  • Optimize your images to reduce their file size
  • Add Schema Markup
  • Remove inline styles
  • and some more…

Practicing white hat SEO not only helps you rank higher but also maintains the integrity of your website.

What Are The Different Types of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  • On-Page SEO
  • Off-Page SEO

1. On-Page Search Engine Optimization

On-page SEO means performing tasks on your website to optimize the certain elements of a website. Below are the things we do on-page SEO.

Keyword Research

This is the first step when you are starting the SEO of any website. We have to figure out the top target keywords we wish to rank for in a SERP.

In this step, you figure out your targeted primary and secondary keywords so that you can use those keywords in the next steps.

The main focus while selecting the keywords should be on,

  • Search Volume ( Monthly searches)
  • Competition
  • Relevancy

Google keyword planner is a good tool to start keyword research. Here is a complete keywords research checklist. Do check it out.

Title Tag

The title tag is the element showing the summary of your website on the search engine’s result page. See the example below. The highlighted part is a title tag. It also helps improve the CRT (Click through rate).

Title Tag example

Meta Description

A meta description is a short description that appears on a SERP and it tells about the context of the website or current page. The meta description gives more information about the page.

Similar to the title tag meta description also enhances the CTR. More meaningful information makes the user click on the link.

Meta Description example

URL structure

URL structure not only helps crawlers (Search engine programs) understand the page they are visiting also the user. It is always a good practice to use readable URLs. Keep the URL short and to the point.

See the example below.

URL structure example

Header Tags

Header tags are the indicators for the search crawlers and it makes it easier for them to understand if the written text is a header or subheader.

Header tags are <h1> to <h6>. Here H1 being the important heading or main header and H6 will be the least important heading.

Internal Links

Internal links are the links of the other pages on your website. When you want to point your reader to some more detailed blog post then you simply use the internal links. You can find some internal links on this blog post as well.

Long tail keywords

You should not be only focusing on your main keywords rather you should use long-tail keywords as well.

For instance, if your target keyword is Digital marketing then you should also focus on using keywords such as “what is a digital marketing strategy”, “what is the role of digital marketing manager” or “how to learn digital marketing”, and so on.

Sitemaps

Sitemaps are used to make or organize a website in a manner that users and search engines find it easy to understand the structure of your website.

HTML sitemaps: These are basically used by users
XML sitemaps: These are used by crawlers

Now that you got the point and have a clear basic understanding of on-page SEO, let me tell you now what is off-page SEO.

2. Off-Page Search Engine Optimization

Off-page SEO is also as important as on-page. It is the practice of doing the things that bring your website relevant traffic and authoritativeness.

Apart from traffic  Off-page SEO also helps in increasing your website’s brand awareness, domain authority, and page authority.

Building Backlinks

Back-linking is the main activity we perform in an off-page SEO. When an authority website links to your website for any reference then it clearly indicates to the search engines that your website is valuable too.

The point is getting the high authority websites linking to you. They will link you only if you have some valuable content for their readers.

There are three main types of backlinks that are differentiated based on how they are earned 

Natural Links: 

These links are given by the blog post author himself. For instance, a fitness blogger giving a buy now link to his own diet plan ebook is a natural link.

Manually built Links:

These types of links are acquired by link building strategies. Asking customers to share your website link within their network or asking influencers to link to your awesome blog post.

Self-Created Links: 

When someone creates the links to give information or want to cite something in his/her blog then that link is called self-created links.

Bloggers generally link to an online directory, forum, blog comment signature, or a press release using optimized anchor text.

Some strategies for link building

You can practice the below things to get more backlinks. However, here is a complete guide on getting backlinks that help your SEO performance.

Engaging Content Creation:

You have to be sure that your content is sufficiently engaging and trustworthy that an authority site in your niche would like to backlink to your blog post or page. Write original and well-structured content keeping your target audience in mind.

Off-site engagement:

Spend some time and take part in a discussion of some similar websites like yours.

Other things in Off-site SEO:
  • Social media marketing
  • Guest blogging
  • Linked brand mentions
  • Influencers marketing.

Things to check while getting backlinks from other sites

  • The popularity, trustworthiness, and domain authority of a linking site.
  • How related the linking site is or what topic that site is related to. If they are in the same niche as you then it’s a good thing.
  • The Freshness of the link.
  • What anchor text the linking site is using. Because crawlers and humans read anchor texts and that can increase the click rate.

Conclusion

That is it, guys. Now I hope you get a basic idea about SEO. Today SEO is more than ever important and will remain the main player in the marketing of any business. Organic traffic helps you build a domain authority of your website and trustworthiness.

You should focus on relevancy while creating the content and don’t forget the EAT technique that is Effectiveness, authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness of content.


You can explore more of my posts on SEO here. Also, check out my Search Engine Marketing posts.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments and also don’t forget to share it within your network. Thank you and Happy learning 🙂

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