What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs). This is done by implementing a variety of strategies and techniques designed to improve the relevance and authority of a website.
SEO in 3 Buckets
User Experience
What we experience on the website
- Page load speed
- How easy it is to find what the user needs
- Web interactions
- Content quality
- and more
Technicals
What search engines understand of the website
- Meta tags
- Code cleaniness
- Schema markup
- Keywords
- Crawl errors
- and more
Reputation
How often is the website talked about positively
- General tustworthiness
- Backlink volume, relevance, and quality
- Positive social sentiments
- and more
SEO Best Practices
There are many different best practices that you can follow to improve your website's SEO, but some of the key ones include:
- Search Intent: Understand your audience and what problems they are trying to solve. Do your research.
- Users First, Search Engines Second: Produce high-quality, relevant, and unique content that can best address those problems. Write for your audience, optimize for search engines.
- Content Marketing: Tell people about your content via your own social channels, other's social channels (comment), email campaigns, partnerships, word of mouth, digital ads, etc.
Other Notable SEO Best Practices
- Use keywords in your website's 1) page title, 2) meta titles and meta descriptions, 3) sub-headings, and 4) body content to help search engines understand your website.
- Make sure your website is easy to navigate and has a clean and user-friendly design.
- Use internal and external links to create a network of connections between your own pages and other relevant websites.
- Optimize your website's images and videos by using alt tags and file names that include your target keywords.
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly, as more and more people are using their smartphones to search the web.
- Use social media to promote your content and build backlinks to your website.
- Monitor your website's performance using tools like Google Analytics, and make changes based on the data you see.
By following these and other best practices, you can improve your website's visibility on search engines and drive more traffic to your site.
2 SEO Checklists for you convenience
SEO Expectations
It is difficult to provide specific expectations for the success of an SEO campaign, as the results can vary depending on a number of factors, including the quality of your website, the competitiveness of your industry, and the effectiveness of your SEO strategies.
Here are some things to expect from SEO:
- It will take 6 to 12 months in most cases to see results
- Improved user experience from better website UX/UI and content
- Increase in visibility and credibility of your website
- Increase in organic rankings in search engines' result pages
- Increase in traffic, which in most cases, organic traffic drives the best conversions (leads/sales)
SEO: DIY or Hire?
Whether to do SEO yourself or hire a professional to do it for you is a decision that ultimately depends on a number of factors, including your budget, your level of expertise, and the amount of time you have available.
Do It Yourself
If you have the time and expertise to learn about SEO and implement strategies yourself, then doing it yourself can be a cost-effective option. There are many resources available online that can help you understand the basics of SEO and how to optimize your website, including guides, tutorials, and online courses.
SEO Learning Resources
There are many great learning resources available for those interested in learning about search engine optimization (SEO). Some of the best ones include:
- The Beginner's Guide to SEO from Moz - This comprehensive guide covers the basics of SEO and provides a step-by-step approach to optimizing your website.
- Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide - This official guide from Google provides an overview of the basics of SEO and offers practical tips for improving your website's visibility on search engines.
- The Advanced Guide to SEO from Neil Patel - This advanced guide covers more complex topics in SEO, including link building, technical SEO, and content strategy.
- The Beginner's Guide to SEO from Ahrefs - This free online course covers a wide range of SEO topics and provides practical tips and strategies for improving your website's ranking on search engines.
In addition to these resources, there are many other great books, articles, and blogs on SEO that can provide valuable information and insights. To learn the most effective strategies and techniques, it is important to keep up with the latest developments in the world of SEO.
Hire a Professional SEO
However, if you are running a large business or have a complex website, then hiring a professional to handle your SEO may be a better option. SEO experts have the knowledge and experience to develop and implement effective strategies that can help improve your website's ranking and drive more organic traffic to your site. They can also provide valuable insights and analysis of your website's performance, and make recommendations for improvements.
Hire Us!
Our team has over 10 years of experience helping small and big companies rank better on major search engines. Book an appointment with us to learn more!
Last Updated: Dec. 13, 2022