What is SEO? A Beginners Guide

Did you know, 33% of all internet users will click on the first site on a search engine results page (SERP)? The further down the SERP you get, the lesser the chances of getting clicked on. By the time you get to the bottom of page one, your chances drop to less than 1%. 

It’s for this reason that you’ll need to optimize your site and your content so that others can find it through the search engine. But how do you make sure that happens? With search engine optimization (SEO) But what is SEO?

In this article, we’ll walk you through some of the basic principles of SEO and give you plenty of ways of increasing organic traffic to your website. 

What Is SEO?

When search engines rank websites, they need to compare over 1 billion different sites. The likes of Google have some very powerful algorithms to help sort and rank the different sites. 

There are different ranking factors that help these algorithms to decide where your site should sit on the SERP. To ensure your site is likely to rank where it needs to, you’ll need to use SEO. 

There are several types of SEO. These include: 

• On-Page SEO – This relates to the content on your site
• Off-Page SEO –  This relates to the steps that you take outside of your own site to promote it
• Local SEO – This refers to the practices used for driving traffic from within your area
• Technical SEO – This is to do with the technical aspects of your website and how you can improve them to lift your ranking

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can improve your rankings through SEO practices. 

Improve Your Page Loading Speeds

How long would you say it’s fair to wait for a website to load? We’re all so used to high-speed internet connections these days that on average a person will only wait for three seconds before heading back to the SERP to click through to a different website that may load quicker. 

Of course, Google knows this. For this reason, if your website doesn’t load quickly enough, it’ll get relegated to the bottom of the pile. Your competitor’s websites will end up getting visitors. 

To avoid losing out, you’ll need to speed your site up. There are a few things you can do to improve your page loading speeds. 

Firstly, pay a visit to Google’s Page Speed Insights to find out exactly how your site stacks up in terms of loading speeds. Using the best SEO audit tool will help you gauge your page speeds.

Next up, make sure that you have lazy load images set up on your website. This means that images will only load up when they’re on the screen. This saves on having to have the entire site load up before it can be used. Instead, only the visible parts will need to be loaded. 

The next thing you should do is compress your images. You can find plugins for your site that will do this for you. 

If you have any plugins or themes running your site that are not in use, you should remove these as they may be slowing things down. 

Finally, look at turning on caching. This will mean that your site will load quicker on a visitor’s subsequent visit. 

Tailor Your Content to Humans

While your position in the SERPs may be decided by powerful algorithms, ultimately the content you are creating is going to be read by real people. 

Many people will focus on trying to please the algorithms that decide upon the ranking of their sites. However, doing this may result in the penalization of your site. This is because writing for the benefit of machines can often make content almost unreadable. 

Practices such as keyword stuffing are not uncommon but could result in your site ranking lower instead of higher in the SERPs. 

Instead of writing for machines, focus your attention on creating content that is designed for humans to read. 

Use Keywords 

You’ll want to rank for certain words and phrases on the SERP. To do this, you’ll need to optimize your keywords. This means placing keywords or keyphrases naturally into your posts. 

It should never be obvious to your reader what your keyword or keyphrase is. For example, this post’s keyword is ‘what is SEO?’. This should be used sparingly in the introduction, conclusion, and in at least one of your post’s headers. 

Do some keyword research using a tool such as Google Keyword Planner. You’ll want to pick keywords to rank for that are not too difficult to achieve, but that have an adequate search volume. 

Use Backlinks

In everything you create for your site, you should ensure you use high-quality backlinks. These should be links that take the reader to a different part of your site. This serves two purposes, it teaches algorithms how your site is connected, and it helps users find your content easier. 

In addition to using internal links, you should also pepper in some external links. These must be relevant and of value to your content.  

You’ll also need to try and get other sites to link back to your site. This shows search engines that your content has authority and is trustworthy. 

To get links featured on other sites, build up relationships with bloggers and social media influencers. You might want to think about guest posting on sites that have a good standing

Write In-Depth Content 

Think about the number of words that you’re including in each post you write. There tends to be more meat on the bones of longer pieces and as they hold more information, they are generally thought to be of more value. 

For this reason, search engines are more likely to send users in the direction of longer-form content. 

Include Meta Descriptions

Every piece that you create for your site should have its own meta description. This is the snippet of information that a user will see about the page when your site appears in the search results. 

Your meta descriptions need to be well written and include a call-to-action that entices users to click through to your site. 

Keep Your Finger On the SEO Pulse 

SEO is an ever-changing playing field. As browsing habits and the technology that we use to access the web change, so too do many SEO practices. 

One great example of changes in SEO is voice search. Think about the way that you interact with Siri or Alexa on your smart device. You’ll ask full questions when you want to find something out. When you type your search online, you’ll tend to use shorter questions. 

For this reason, you’d need to focus on long-tail keywords and ask full questions in your posts to reach these searches

Optimise Your Website for All Devices

We access the internet in so many different ways these days. Common devices that many people use to access the web include:

• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Desktop computers
• Laptops
• Smart speakers

If you want to ensure you’re reaching the widest audience possible, it’s important that you optimise your website’s content for all of these devices.

Smartphones are possibly the most important devices to tailor your website towards. With an ever-increasing number of smartphone users, the lion share of clicks to any website will likely come from phones rather than computers.

If you’re using a content management system such as WordPress, make sure you choose a theme that is mobile-friendly. While most pre-made themes will be, it’s always best to check how your site will load on every possible device.

To appeal to smart speakers and voice search, you’ll need to write your content in a conversational way. But how exactly do you write as though you’re having a conversation with your reader?

The answer – lots of questions!

Break up your content into questions and answers. Having a FAQ section at the end of your pages can also help your pages rank for voice search.

The next thing to think of is using long-tail keywords. But what are long-tail keywords?

These are phrases that are a whole sentence.

When you search using a smartphone or laptop, usually you use brief search terms. To rank for this type of search, you’ll want to use short phrases such as ‘what is SEO?’

When you’re using voice search, you may use longer questions. For example ‘how can I improve the SEO of my website?’

Including a mixture of these shorter keywords, along with the longer phrases will help you rank for more devices.

SEO Frequently Asked Questions

What Is SEO?

SEO is the practice of optimising your website so that it appears higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO incorporates a variety of techniques including using keywords, building backlinks, and improving the functionality of your website.

Can I Carry Out SEO Myself?

Yes. SEO can be carried out by anyone. There are plugins that can help you such as Yoast, or Squirrly. Alternatively, you can ask an expert to help you. You may want to get a web developer to do this or hire a copywriter. SEO does take time to see results, and it’s something you need to keep on top of to maintain relevance in the search rankings.

How Long Does SEO Take?

SEO is an ongoing task. It may take several months to achieve the results you’re looking for on your site.

What Are the Most Common SEO Ranking Factors?

There are said to be 200 ranking factors used by Google to determine the position of your website in the SERPs. Some SEO ranking factors include page load speeds, website age, social signals (links to your page on social media), mobile friendliness, link structure, and user-friendliness.

Is It Possible to Optimise Existing Content?

Yes. You can edit and optimise pre-existing content so that it performs better in the search rankings. You may want to add more internal links, use new keywords, make your content longer, or revise the information to keep it up-to-date.

Will Blogging Help SEO?

Yes, creating content for your website using informative blog posts is one of the best ways of boosting your SEO.

Is It Possible to Buy Backlinks?

It is possible to buy backlinks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. A backlink is a link from another site to yours. By linking to your site, link juice will be passed between websites, and yours will appear more of an authority in the eyes of the search engine.

Buying backlinks is generally seen as being black-hat SEO, and your site may get penalised for doing this. Instead, reach out to bloggers and ask them if you can supply a guest post to their site. This will provide you with the chance of placing a link on a site in an honest manner.

What Are the Benefits of SEO?

Using SEO will improve your position in the search rankings and boost your organic traffic. If you sell products from your website or have a service to promote, SEO will help you reach more customers.

SEO isn’t just for big corporations either. Even small businesses can rank for their products and services using SEO tactics.

Managing Your SEO

So, what is SEO? It’s a practice used to maximize your website’s potential of getting more organic searches. Much of it relates to the content that you create. 

If you’d like help creating SEO-friendly content, get in touch today. 

What are your top SEO tips? Let me know in the comments below. 

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