Search engine optimization is a collection of best practices and software tools that marketers use to make a website and its contents “findable” by search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. While it might not sound as obvious as tech skills like coding languages or web design, SEO is a critical skill for almost any web-related role.
SEO is an ongoing process of optimizing a website’s content and structure to achieve high search rankings on Google (and other) search results pages (SERPs). This involves using keywords throughout the site, creating a well-optimized HTML
While the concept of SEO is fairly straightforward, it takes a lot of work and expertise to execute correctly. To that end, it’s no wonder that so many online businesses employ an in-house or outsourced SEO team to manage their websites and blogs.
One of the most important aspects of SEO is understanding search intent. When people search on Google, they’re typically looking for a solution to a problem or to accomplish a goal. If a website doesn’t provide that solution, or at least offer a step in the right direction, the user will likely bounce back to the search results and try another site.
This means that when writing SEO copy, writers need to focus on what the user actually wants from the article or page. Rather than using long sentences and complex words to impress, they need to understand that their audience isn’t necessarily highly educated and may only be at the 7th grade reading level. That’s why it’s so important to write headlines that are clear, interesting and make use of the keyword search volume. It’s also why it’s so important to have a clear, relevant meta description that tells the reader what they’ll find on the page.
On-page optimization is a large part of SEO, and it’s the area that’s most within the control of the website owner. This includes things like adding keywords to the URL, incorporating keywords in the title and metatag of each page, updating the
Off-page optimization is another big part of SEO, and it’s the aspect that requires relationships with other websites to improve a website’s ranking. This includes guest posting on other sites, creating link-building campaigns, and more. While the technical side of SEO can be time-consuming and frustrating, it’s vitally important for any business that wants to compete on the internet. A solid SEO strategy will help ensure that a company’s hard-earned traffic isn’t going to waste on a poorly optimized website.