What is SEO: the Basics

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimisation, is the name for methods and strategies aimed at improving the visibility and ranking of a website or webpage in the un-paid, “organic” search results. There are a number of strategies used for Search Engine Optimisation, and they vary widely in their effectiveness, ethics and methods. When most people hear SEO, they immediately think about two things: keywords and backlink building.

However, there’s much more to SEO than just keywords. Proper search optimisation means working with the architecture of the website itself, not to mention that only when all factors work in combination will your SEO efforts be successful. Below is a short list of basic SEO techniques that can help rank a website higher in search engines. The list is by no means full, however, and the best way to improve SEO means not just cramming the page of keywords, but using the help of an agency that offers Search Engine Optimisation services.

The Importance of Relevant Content for Search Engine Optimisation
Relevant content is probably the most important factor for the high ranking of the website in the search engines. No amount of keywords in Meta tags or backlink building is going to help your website move to the top if the search engines consider your content to be irrelevant to the query. Good webpage content means having a copy that has enough relevant keywords – usually, 1 to 3% of the overall word count – while also being coherent and easy to read. It’s easy to make the text unreadable by stuffing too many keywords in the site copy, and that can drive away potential customers. The best way to create relevant SEO content is to just write naturally and plop down a keyword here and there, but only when appropriate.

keyword-research-essex

Tags and Search Engine Optimisation
It’s not just the content that visitors see that is important. Paying attention to the specific parts of the source code of the page is important for search engine optimisation too. Typically, Title, Description and Keyword tags are those that are most important for SEO.

Of these three, the Title tag is the most important one. It’s the first thing that a search engine looks at when determining the theme and topic of the webpage, and is also the first thing about your site that users of the search engine see when looking at the listing. Generally, it’s a good idea for search engine optimisation to include one or two keywords in the Title tag. Doing so lets the search engine and users see what the page is about, but overdoing it will only make your webpage look like spam.

Another two tags that are important for search engine optimisation are the description and keyword tags. They aren’t as important as the title tag. In fact, it’s debatable if using keywords in the description tag helps rank your page higher. However, description tag text is what users will read when the link to your site comes up, so it definitely plays a big role in attracting people to your site. Avoid keyword stuffing here. Instead, make the description readable and attractive to humans while having one or two keywords.

Finally; the keyword tag. It’s not as important as it was years ago. In fact, some search engines tend to disregard this tag entirely because people tended to stuff it with keywords. Still, while it’s not guaranteed that including the keyword tag will be of any help as far as search engine optimisation is concerned, it definitely won’t hurt.

online_marketing_essex

Backlink Building
SEO is not just about the site content, and forgetting backlink building is something that no-one wishing to see their site climb to the top of the search engine rankings should do. One can’t just start leaving comments linking back to their website on each and every blog they come across. For the backlink building part of search engine optimisation, identifying sites where you should place backlinks to your site is very important. The very basic rules are to favour sites that have a lot of visitors, are considered to be trustworthy by the engines, and are relevant to your topics. This is true both for the theme and the location the site revolves around. That’s why it’s important to use SEO Essex agencies when trying to improve the rankings of your website aimed at the Essex population, by the way. However, there’s more to backlink building, just as there is more to other SEO techniques. That’s why it always pays to use the services of SEO specialists, or become one yourself.

  • What is SEO: the Basics
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Previous Post
Why Websites Must be Mobile & Tablet Friendly
Next Post
Benefits of Email Marketing