Search Engine Optimization is the action of optimizing your blog or website to be found by search engines. Good SEO equals good rankings, which equals more money! SEO is beneficial for to any online business, but it takes some know-how to do it correctly. The main thing you need to know is what the search engine wants so that your website or blogs are compliant.
What Search Engines Are Looking For?
In short search engines are looking for content, and not just quantity but quality. The search engines overall goal is to provide users with the most relevant information possible. The quality of your website and content is going to determine whether the search engine shows your site or not.
Here Are Some Factors That Contribute to Your RankThere are many factors that contribute to your search rankings but here are the most important:
How Your Site Domain Effects SEO
Your domain name is the precursor to your website. Its a relevancy factor that lets people know what to expect on the other side. Although you could get away with a domain like moz.com its recommended that your domain be related to your blog or website. Having your target keywords in your domain can help boost your rank too, and having it listed first is even more helpful. Search engines also see private whois domains to be sketchy. I guess they feel like you have something to hide and that your site may not be safe.
If you want to benefit from your domains SEO try to have your target keyword in your domain and if possible have it be the first word in your domain. If you’re comfortable with having public whois information than I suggest doing that as well. Personally I haven’t don’t either of those things, I guess we’ll see how that goes.
How Content Effects SEO
Your content is going to contribute to your page level factor. Content is, or at least should be, the bread and butter of your site, and search engines pay close attention to this.
First and foremost is your title optimized? Does it contain the keyword you’re trying to rank for? Does it start with that keyword? It seems as though search engines like keywords at the beginning so make sure you have your titles right.
Does your keyword appear in the headings of your content? Headings, like the one above, are beneficial to rank because they show what your text is going to be about. When you see a heading you know what the topic of the paragraph is going to be, search engines work the same way. Is your keyword in your Heading 1 tag, Heading 2, Heading 3? If there’s a way you can incorporate it into those without it being obnoxious then do it. Remember that overdoing SEO will not boost your rank.
How long is your content? This is very important for SEO. You can’t expect to have 300 words of content and rank on page 1 of Google. You need well over 600 words, I would say 1,000 words is the minimum for decent results. When creating my posts I shoot for 1,000 and usually do well over. The more content the better but quality is still a factor. Don’t have 1,000 words that say nothing.
Do you have high keyword density? I’ve read that keyword density isn’t as important as it used to be, but in my opinion it still matter. Have we stopped using keywords to search? I would say no. Anyway, the density of your keywords plays a role in your sites SEO, but you can’t go overboard with it. There is a secret sauce in which you have the right ratio of keyword to content. Don’t stuff your pages with keywords thinking you’ll get ranked higher, it’ll actually hurt you.
Do you have images on your page? Although not the most important factor, optimized images do help with your SEO efforts. If you have images on your page make sure you use the photo tag and descriptions. Search engines can’t see so they need you to tell them what your photo is about.
Lastly, is your content of high quality? Is your content full of errors and hard to follow. Will the user experience be good or bad. Search engines want to provide users with the most relevant information, so your content has to be at its best if you want it to rank. Don’t write posts that are hard to comprehend and proof read your material before you post. Also make sure that your post isn’t spammy, no one hates spam more than search engines.
How Site Quality Effects SEO
The quality of your site is determined by a few factors. Do you have a good layout that is easily navigated? Do you have clean pages or are they cluttered with links and banners? Do you have multiple pages and a sitemap? Do you update your site regularly? Lastly does your site have a Terms of Service and Privacy page, search engines see this as your site being trustworthy so its important to have them.
All of the aforementioned contribute to your sites quality rank. If your site isn’t of high quality than you can’t expect to have good rankings. Search engines are devoted to user experience and a quality site is of high importance to a good experience. The most important resources for quality would be a terms of service, a privacy page, and a sitemap. Its also beneficial to update your site regularly.
How Backlinks Effect Rank
Backlinks are still powerful for SEO. Whether you build your links or gain them organically, they still contribute to your site ranking. Quality of your backlinks are key. 100 backlinks from shady sites aren’t going to be as useful as 5 backlinks from trusted sites. The relevancy, rank, and location of your backlinks play a role as well. If your backlink is on the page, or in the content, then it is going to be of more valuable as compared to the footer or sidebar. Its also beneficial if your link is in the beginning versus the end of the page.
Google uses backlinks to measure the authority and quality of a site, so they are a must have, but make sure you build quality backlinks.
How User Interaction Effects SEO
The usability of your site is a huge contributing factor to your sites rank. Not only will the user be satisfied but you will also gain authority in the search engines. Factors such as how long someone stays on your site, how many pages they go through, and how many people return to your site all relate to user interaction. To ensure a good user experience make sure that your layout is very comprehensible. What I mean by that is don’t make it difficult for people to find what they’re looking for. Break up your site into categories such as Home, About, Products, and Blog. Have the necessary information placed in those categories as well, don’t put products in the blog section. The better your site looks and works the lower your bounce rate, the rate at which people immediately leave your page, which also increases rank.
Your main goal should be to provide value with your website. In today’s market content and value are what makes the internet world go round, and your site must contribute. If your not providing value then there’s really no need for your site. Make sure your site has purpose and you should have no problem getting a good rank.
Tip: I use YoastSEO plugin for WordPress to get my SEO data. It shows me inside of my posts what I need to change in order to improve my SEO and it is super easy to use. There’s a free version of YoastSEO and that’s the one I’m currently using.
In short search engines are looking for content, and not just quantity but quality. The search engines overall goal is to provide users with the most relevant information possible. The quality of your website and content is going to determine whether the search engine shows your site or not.
Here Are Some Factors That Contribute to Your RankThere are many factors that contribute to your search rankings but here are the most important:
- Domain
- Content
- Site Quality
- Backlinks
- User Interaction
How Your Site Domain Effects SEO
Your domain name is the precursor to your website. Its a relevancy factor that lets people know what to expect on the other side. Although you could get away with a domain like moz.com its recommended that your domain be related to your blog or website. Having your target keywords in your domain can help boost your rank too, and having it listed first is even more helpful. Search engines also see private whois domains to be sketchy. I guess they feel like you have something to hide and that your site may not be safe.
If you want to benefit from your domains SEO try to have your target keyword in your domain and if possible have it be the first word in your domain. If you’re comfortable with having public whois information than I suggest doing that as well. Personally I haven’t don’t either of those things, I guess we’ll see how that goes.
How Content Effects SEO
Your content is going to contribute to your page level factor. Content is, or at least should be, the bread and butter of your site, and search engines pay close attention to this.
First and foremost is your title optimized? Does it contain the keyword you’re trying to rank for? Does it start with that keyword? It seems as though search engines like keywords at the beginning so make sure you have your titles right.
Does your keyword appear in the headings of your content? Headings, like the one above, are beneficial to rank because they show what your text is going to be about. When you see a heading you know what the topic of the paragraph is going to be, search engines work the same way. Is your keyword in your Heading 1 tag, Heading 2, Heading 3? If there’s a way you can incorporate it into those without it being obnoxious then do it. Remember that overdoing SEO will not boost your rank.
How long is your content? This is very important for SEO. You can’t expect to have 300 words of content and rank on page 1 of Google. You need well over 600 words, I would say 1,000 words is the minimum for decent results. When creating my posts I shoot for 1,000 and usually do well over. The more content the better but quality is still a factor. Don’t have 1,000 words that say nothing.
Do you have high keyword density? I’ve read that keyword density isn’t as important as it used to be, but in my opinion it still matter. Have we stopped using keywords to search? I would say no. Anyway, the density of your keywords plays a role in your sites SEO, but you can’t go overboard with it. There is a secret sauce in which you have the right ratio of keyword to content. Don’t stuff your pages with keywords thinking you’ll get ranked higher, it’ll actually hurt you.
Do you have images on your page? Although not the most important factor, optimized images do help with your SEO efforts. If you have images on your page make sure you use the photo tag and descriptions. Search engines can’t see so they need you to tell them what your photo is about.
Lastly, is your content of high quality? Is your content full of errors and hard to follow. Will the user experience be good or bad. Search engines want to provide users with the most relevant information, so your content has to be at its best if you want it to rank. Don’t write posts that are hard to comprehend and proof read your material before you post. Also make sure that your post isn’t spammy, no one hates spam more than search engines.
How Site Quality Effects SEO
The quality of your site is determined by a few factors. Do you have a good layout that is easily navigated? Do you have clean pages or are they cluttered with links and banners? Do you have multiple pages and a sitemap? Do you update your site regularly? Lastly does your site have a Terms of Service and Privacy page, search engines see this as your site being trustworthy so its important to have them.
All of the aforementioned contribute to your sites quality rank. If your site isn’t of high quality than you can’t expect to have good rankings. Search engines are devoted to user experience and a quality site is of high importance to a good experience. The most important resources for quality would be a terms of service, a privacy page, and a sitemap. Its also beneficial to update your site regularly.
How Backlinks Effect Rank
Backlinks are still powerful for SEO. Whether you build your links or gain them organically, they still contribute to your site ranking. Quality of your backlinks are key. 100 backlinks from shady sites aren’t going to be as useful as 5 backlinks from trusted sites. The relevancy, rank, and location of your backlinks play a role as well. If your backlink is on the page, or in the content, then it is going to be of more valuable as compared to the footer or sidebar. Its also beneficial if your link is in the beginning versus the end of the page.
Google uses backlinks to measure the authority and quality of a site, so they are a must have, but make sure you build quality backlinks.
How User Interaction Effects SEO
The usability of your site is a huge contributing factor to your sites rank. Not only will the user be satisfied but you will also gain authority in the search engines. Factors such as how long someone stays on your site, how many pages they go through, and how many people return to your site all relate to user interaction. To ensure a good user experience make sure that your layout is very comprehensible. What I mean by that is don’t make it difficult for people to find what they’re looking for. Break up your site into categories such as Home, About, Products, and Blog. Have the necessary information placed in those categories as well, don’t put products in the blog section. The better your site looks and works the lower your bounce rate, the rate at which people immediately leave your page, which also increases rank.
Your main goal should be to provide value with your website. In today’s market content and value are what makes the internet world go round, and your site must contribute. If your not providing value then there’s really no need for your site. Make sure your site has purpose and you should have no problem getting a good rank.
Tip: I use YoastSEO plugin for WordPress to get my SEO data. It shows me inside of my posts what I need to change in order to improve my SEO and it is super easy to use. There’s a free version of YoastSEO and that’s the one I’m currently using.