SEO this, SEO that. You hear it all the time but what is it and how do you do it? Today I’m starting a series of posts that I hope will unwrap this mystery for you. We’ll talk a little about what SEO is and why it’s important. Then we’ll talk about 3 types of SEO and what aspects of your website they address.
What is SEO and why should you care?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of adjusting the content and structure of your website in a way that will allow search engines to access it and interpret the content in the most effective manner.
By now, it’s obvious that traffic drives everything in the online world. And while it may appear that search engines show a preference to large companies, SEO is an affordable way for small businesses to grab that coveted spot on the first page of Google’s search results. By implementing simple SEO tactics, you can improve your rankings and increase traffic to your website.
There are 3 types of SEO:
- On-Page
- Technical
- Off-Page
A well rounded strategy will incorporate all of these. By grouping your efforts into one of the 3 categories, it will be much easier to implement your changes and improve the search engine’s ability to rank your site.
Let’s start by looking at each type of SEO and identifying its characteristics.
1. On-Page SEO
As the name implies, on-page SEO refers to the content on your website. By optimizing the content of each page of your site, you are improving the ability for Google and the other search engines to properly categorize your pages within the search results.
Aspects associated with on-page SEO are:
- Keyword identification and usage: Finding the best words to use to ensure that the search engines interpret your content accurately.
- Content creation: Ensuring that the quality of your content is the best it can be. Providing fresh, original, keyword-rich content.
- Keyword optimization: Identifying the best places to use your keywords in your content as well as your meta tags.
There are many tools available to help you with each of these tasks. I’ll be covering some of those in the next post of this series.
2. Technical SEO
Technical SEO addresses the non-content aspects of your website, primarily the structure and how it functions. This type of SEO can do more for your rankings than any blog post or content page. A search engine’s ability to access, crawl and interpret the content of your site is key to its ability to properly place your website in it’s rankings.
Some of the key factors are:
- How mobile-friendly your site is
- The level of security built into your pages and functions
- The organization of your content and the associated navigation required to access it
- How quickly your website (pages, images, etc.) loads into a user’s browser
- How efficiently and effectively your website is coded
As with on-page SEO, there are online tools that you can use to check your site’s technical SEO score. Many provide reports as well as high level instructions on how to improve it.
You don’t have to be technically savvy to make improvements to your website that fall within these areas. Many of the above items can be improved upon with simple techniques. I’ll be reviewing some of the techniques in a future post in this series.
3. Off-Page SEO
Unlike the first 2 types, off-page SEO cannot be easily evaluated. That being said, it is still an important aspect to search engine rankings. Off-page SEO refers to improving and managing your online reputation. This is done by strengthening the image of your company and website through its perceived influence and relationship with other sites.
Why is this important?
All search engines have one primary goal – give online users exactly what they are looking for as quickly as possible. They want the user’s experience to be a great one so they keep coming back. To do that, search engines determine the reputation of a website by looking at multiple factors. These factors include the number and quality of backlinks to your site, the reputation of the sites talking about or linking to your site, what’s being said about your company or website in reviews, articles, news forums etc.
Managing your online reputation can mean the difference between a page 1 ranking and a page 5 ranking or worse. Your online reputation, just like in real life is not always 100% under your control. You need to be diligent about it, not only in your own words and actions but in being aware of monitoring those of others.
In a future series post, I’ll be providing more information on how you can manage and improve your online reputation. There are companies out there that can help you with this as well. They specialize in Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM).
Today, we’ve covered the 3 types of SEO (search engine optimization). I’m hoping that this information has helped you to understand the basics of SEO and how each impacts your rankings in Google, Bing and the other search engines.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be delving into each one and giving you tips, tricks and tools for setting up your website for success with the search engines.
Next week’s post – On-Page SEO – How to Make Your Content Google–icious
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