Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a technique used to increase the number of visitors to the website and improving the ranking on search engine results such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Let’s see how this works.

According to Hubspot, 80% of the traffic for a website begins with a search query.

Search Engine Optimization Process

The process of search engine optimization can be divided into three parts-

• Keyword Analysis
• On-page and Off-page optimization
• Backlinks.

It is essential for every website owner to extensively research the keywords that are relevant to their business. Creating descriptive and useful content using the identified keywords will help the website to rank on top of the search results. This can be done through on-page and off-page optimization activities.

On-page optimization- A few changes are made on the back-end to integrate the keywords on your website in the form of the page title, description, image names.

Off-page optimization- The optimization measures do not take place on the site. but “off” page in the form of backlinks, a link-building process of obtaining hyperlinks from other websites to yours.

The search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo have their own algorithms and formulas to deliver the best possible results for all searches. The algorithm keeps changing every now and then in order to fight spam and ensure the best results. The entire search process happens in 1/8th of a second.

Google’s algorithm is very dynamic and it is focused mainly on delivering the best and most relevant results to the users. In order to maintain the quality, Google releases updates on the algorithm quite often. Google Panda was the first update followed by a lot more focus on improving the quality of the website and search engine optimization practices.

What is a Keyword in SEO?

A keyword is referred to a particular word or combination of words, that are entered by the user in the search engine to access specific information. Search engines such as Google or Bing assess the keyword phrase and line up websites in the search results according to their relevance. The site which has great content and more visits will be placed on the top of the search results.

The website ranking has to be closely monitored by the site administrator because he can make a positive impact on the keyword ranking by accurately researching and placing appropriate keyword terms in the content which would lead to more relevance and better quality. It’s very important to be more specific in selecting the keywords as more irrelevant visits to the website would be simply meaningless.

It is also important to keep in mind to target long-tailed keyword phrases than a single keyword.

Keyword tools

There are many tools available online to determine the relevant keywords for your business. The most reliable tools are Google keyword planner and Google trends.

Google Keyword Planner is a free Adwords tool that is more focused on picking the right set of keywords for Ads in Google. You can search for new keyword ideas, find out the volume of searches and obtain the keyword list to decide on the relevant keyword for your business.

Google Trends is an excellent tool that allows you to compare the popularity of search terms over a period of time. It shows the relative level of interest for your prospective keyword phrase and helps you identify the most trending keyword that is relevant to your business.

Here’re some keyword tools that would help to do the research

On-page optimization

On-page optimization is nothing but making certain changes to the website to bring in line with the best SEO practices. These changes are done by tweaking the HTML code, meta tags, keyword placement, and keyword density on the website in order to improve its ranking in search engine results.

Following are some of the on-page components that impact the website ranking in the search results.

• Page Title: This is the first element that is shown in the search results for your website, Page Title has to be unique for every page.

• Meta Description: This attribute provides a short explanation on the topic of the web page that both the users and search engine can understand.

• Meta Tags/Keywords: Enter unique keywords relevant to the content in the meta tag field. However, It does not have any effect on SEO these days.
• H1 Tags: The header tag that goes from <h1>to<h6> is the heading that stands out on the page indicating the title of the content.
• Alt-Text: Alternative text gives a description of the image to the website users and search engines.

Off-Page Optimization:

In order to increase the ranking of the website on the search engine results page (SERPs), Off-Page optimization is quintessential. This is one of the most effective ways to build the online reputation of your website using backlinks.

Backlinks

In Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) backlinks play an important role. Google considers the website with more backlinks to be the most relevant to the content. It is also important to have diversity in backlinks, The quality of your website will increase when you get endorsed by different domains linking to your website.

How to get backlinks?

In order to keep an eye on the quality of the content, Google carefully monitors each and every activity that takes place on the web. A piece of advise-DO NOT buy or trade links. It increases the risk of spam which could bring a lot of trouble to your website. The organic way of creating backlinks yield some great results. Here are some easy methods to start building organic links.

Blogging

Keep in mind that the main objective of Google is to provide users with useful and relevant search results. All you need to do is, Create helpful content that benefits people. If you have a product or provide a specific service, Talk about it on blogs. Let the readers know how your product/service adds value to people’s lives.

A big part of Google’s algorithm focuses on the concept of unique and original content so make sure that the content created across the blogs is all genuine.

There are a lot of companies that sell backlinks. NEVER buy such cheap backlinks. Google will ban your website for spammy content.

Social Networking

Social Network is an online platform where users engage in discussion and build social relationships. It’s very important to be active on social media. It provides a great opportunity to communicate your thoughts, interests, and ideas with the online community.

Building your brand on social websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr makes it easy for people to access and know more about your company.

Search Engine Submission

Search engine submission is done to notify Google about the existence of the website and instruct the bots to include the site in the search results. Some of the most authentic Search engine submission sites are

• Google : https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url
• Bing : http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url
• Baidu : http://zhanzhang.baidu.com/sitesubmit/index
• Yahoo! Search : https://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
• Dmoz : http://www.dmoz.org/

Social Bookmarking

The purpose of Social bookmarking is to help Google identify the category/concept of the website. The web pages bookmarked in social bookmarking sites add authenticity which helps in improving the backlink quality. This is one of the important steps in the search engine optimization process.

• StumbleUpon
• Delicious
• Reddit. These are some of the well-known social bookmarking websites.

Business Reviews

The online business review makes a huge impact on businesses these days. The three major benefits that we get from testimonials and reviews are

• About 90% of the top executives read testimonials before making any business decision. It plays an important role in influencing the customer.
• Reviews help to understand if your business is on the right track and make a decision based on that.
• Testimonials have a direct relationship to your performance. You can market it to your leads in the form of email campaigns. You can also place them on the website and forums.

Local Listing

One of the important steps performed in the SEO process is to create a local business listing. A local listing is an online profile. It consists of all the business information and the exact location of the premises.

You can create a Free business listing on sites like Google My Business, Bing places, Yelp, Foursquare and Yellow pages.