When you search for a product or service on google, there are websites that appear on top. Have you ever wondered how that happens? In simple terms, google ranks these websites on top of the search results connecting to how good the SEO of the website is. Now what is SEO? SEO or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving your website’s performance and visibility, to the users as well as search engines.
What is the purpose of SEO in Digital Marketing?
Every business has a goal or objective, which can range from sales, leads, or purchases. And in today’s time, there is no one who would not search for the product, service or information online. Now SEO is an ongoing process, and right from the initial step it is important to keep track of what is working best in the process, depending upon the industry, the target audience and the business goals
Why is SEO Important?
SEO acts like the bridge between your website and your audience. For the product or service your business has, there might be several people who stand as your competition. With SEO you get your results on top, for users to choose you before any of your competitors. But what is SEO and its importance?
1. Increases Visibility and Organic Traffic
How can people find you in this whirlpool of websites and online searches? It is with SEO. An optimized website leads to search engines showing your website’s results on top, resulting in users choosing you for the product/service you offer.
2. Builds Credibility and Trust
If you search something, be it a product/service or any information you need, you automatically end up clicking on the top results. This is because people have a trust in what appears on top, and that’s what SEO gets you. People naturally assume that the top results are the best options, so SEO helps you gain that credibility with users.
3. Enhances User Experience
SEO is not done just for search engines. It is for the people as well, to give them a smooth experience on your website. SEO involves improving page load times, creating mobile-friendly designs, and organizing content clearly, to make your site more user-friendly. And how does this help? It keeps visitors engaged and stay longer on your site, reducing bounce rates.
4. Drives High-Quality Traffic
You can target a particular segment of audience through SEO, ones who are actively searching for products and services from your niche. This helps in driving quality traffic that turns into customers who would purchase your product/service.
5. Supports Long-Term Growth
aSEO is a strategy that gives you long term results. Once you start ranking on top search results, with continuous maintenance and tweaks whenever required, it is easy to retain that position. This means ongoing, sustainable growth in traffic and leads for your business over time.
What is SEO Process?
There are several steps involved in the SEO process, which include :
Understanding Your Business
The first goal is to understand the goals and needs of a business. The objective of every business is different, and each industry needs a different strategy that would work the best for them. It is important that the goals of your business are clear and determined in order to achieve optimal results.
Keyword Analysis
It is only with diligent keyword research and analysis that the website of any business can be SEO optimised. Keywords are basically the most searched words or phrases related to a product, services or information. By understanding the goals of a business, the right keywords can be selected and targeted so that when a user searches it, the website will appear on top search results.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is not a complicated term, it is just the backend of the website. This includes the structure, navigation and loading time of a website. Optimizing this means that the structure of the website is smooth, and it loads fast.
On-page SEO
When someone searches for something online, search engines go through tons of websites to find the best ones to show. On-page SEO is all about making sure that when they look at your website, they see all the right signals and understand what your site is about. This is done by :
- Using the right keywords
- Having clear H1 that tells what the main topic is
- Internal links
- Meta descriptions which is a short summary of your page that shows up in search results, which is what makes the user click on the page
Content Creation and Optimization
The content you see on a website is more than just words and sentences. It is the base of any website, and what search engines crawl through to understand what your website is about and if the information is rank worthy. The content you present should resonate with your audience and this involves understanding what your visitors are searching for, what questions they have, and what problems they need solving.
And when this content is optimised with the right keywords, it is optimized. The story you tell through your website should be presented in such a way that It offers something useful—whether it’s information, entertainment, or a solution to a problem.
UI/UX
UI is the user interface and UX is the user experience when it comes to a website. In simple words, UI/UX is how your website looks and feels. The smoother the website, the better the experience of users. Now what comes under the UI/UX of a website?
- Page load speed: If your website takes forever to load, users will not stay for too long, which signals to Google that your content might not be valuable.
- Mobile responsiveness: If your site doesn’t look or work well on mobile devices, you’re losing out on both visitors and SEO points.
- Navigation: A confusing or cluttered design can make users leave, lowering your SEO rankings.
How do Search Engines Work?
Search engines are what gives you results when you search for any information, product or service. Search engines are programmed to give you the best results on the basis of the keyword that you search for. There are three steps that can explain how search engines work :
Crawling
The first step is crawling where web crawlers record new information and pages. This is done to discover new websites that exist, and check the content on the page to see if it’s been changed or updated.
Indexing
In this second step, search engines decide whether or not to use the content that has been crawled. If the content that is crawled is found to be worthy, then it is put to the process of indexing. Websites and pages that offer unique and valuable content is put to indexing and is used at the last stage while ranking. Reasons that a website might not be indexed can be :
- If there is duplicate content
- If the content doesn’t seem to be valuable
- If the content looks spammy
Ranking
This step is the most important one where the website gets ranked on search results. Ranking can only happen once crawling and indexing is done. With the three pillars of SEO – Technical optimization, on-page optimization and off-page optimization. Some of the factors
- Keyword in the page and in the title tag
- Loading speed of the website and user-friendliness
- Quality and quantity of backlinks
- The quality of the content and its relevance to the products/services provided by your business
- Mobile friendliness of the website
Conclusion
There is no doubt that only a good SEO strategy will get your website to rank on top and get you traction. And it is important to remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it doesn’t just stop after getting your website on search results. When you reach on top, you have to work towards maintaining and retaining that position.
There can be a number of websites that are in the race to rank on the keywords you are targeting. And to stand out among all of them and reach on top, you need to understand how valuable SEO is.
