Achieving a higher organic ranking on search engines can only be possible through a good SEO strategy, technique, and implementation. SEO does a lot of benefit to your website, from making it loved by search engines to earning you the attention of end-users. But perhaps you are wondering what SEO actually means, how it works, and why you need it, you are exactly in the right place to have your questions answered. Surf on!
What is SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the method of improving a website’s organic ranking and making it visible on the internet. It is important to note that SEO is a process, not a trick that gives an immediate result. That said, for SEO to work effectively, it must be continually monitored and improved for reasons that will be explained.
While SEO is a major factor that determines the visibility of a website, it is not the only thing you should focus on. There are other important factors like your website’s UI (User Interface) which must also be synced with your website’s SEO. In short, there’s nothing you can do to improve your ranking and make your website visible without SEO unless you will be running ads continuously.
How does SEO work?
There are 3 ways in which Search Engine Optimization works, or there are 3 types of SEO: Technical, On-site, and Off-site SEO
Technical SEO
This aspect incorporates the settings and configuration of a website. This will help make the job of search engine crawlers easier as it will be easy to determine what your website is about. When you create a website, you want Google to know that there’s a new website that needs to be indexed. That aspect is to be taken care of through Technical SEO. Failure to do this could result in your website being totally neglected.
On-site SEO
You must have probably heard that “content is king”. In every aspect, it is. On-site SEO deals with the relevance of the content on your website. There are certain words your online audience use when making a search on search engines. These words are referred to as “keywords”, and the best way to discover them is by conducting keyword research to know how exactly your audience make their searches and what words your competitors are ranking for.
You must identify the keywords relevant to your industry or the niche your website belongs to. After this, you can then optimize your content around these words for SEO. This will make search engines rank your website better because it will be seen as a website that has relevant information and can provide the solution to a user’s query.
Off-site SEO
As earlier said, SEO is a process, not a trick. The more you adhere to it, the better your website will perform in organic ranking. Another important aspect or part of the process that should not be overlooked is off-site SEO. This involves the building of backlinks. Getting other websites to link to your website’s content and pages prove to search engines that your website has quality content that can provide solutions on the platform.
Why You Need SEO in 2021
The major reason why every website owner needs SEO is to make their website visible. But as explained so far, a lot of efforts are combined to make that a reality. Therefore, let’s take a look at the importance of SEO as to how it helps a website gain more visibility and improve the organic ranking on search engines:
1. Increased Web Traffic
The more visible your website is, the more visitors you get. A lot of internet users do not bother to open the next page of a search result, it is believed that the most relevant will appear on the first page. The right use of keywords in your headings and content body as part of your SEO strategy will increase your chances.
2. To outshine your competitors
Any industry or niche your website may belong to is competitive. There are already websites on the top page of that particular keyword or search result you want to rank for, so the question is, how do you make your website organically rank above those websites? There’s no other way to achieve this other than paying proper attention to your website’s SEO.
3. To be compliant with major search engines rules
Google and Bing’s stand on website ranking is very clear. The goal of the two major search engines is to rank websites based on their relevance in providing solutions to users. That said, to improve your organic ranking, search engines and internet users must love your website. By using the right SEO techniques, search engines will better rank your website when the keywords you optimize around are searched.
4. Improved User Experience
User Experience is the overall reason why search engines use SEO as an important factor to determine website ranking. While User Interface also plays an important role in website ranking, both cannot be successful without the other. Combining a good UI with SEO will improve your website’s User Experience and ultimately improve the ranking.
Another important thing to consider under User Interface and SEO is the compatibility of your website with whatever device or system your traffic may be coming from. Most web traffic today comes from mobile devices, and Google recommends that websites should be tested for mobile device compatibility. Passing this test will make your website better optimized and ranked.
Conclusion
The goal of every website owner is to appear on the first page of search engines, but with numerous websites aiming to offer the same type of service to internet users, you need to be sure of your SEO practice. It is a highly competitive race that you can only win with patience and adherence. Every website on the top page utilizes a good SEO strategy, so to beat them, you need to do better in your Search Engine Optimization.
