Search engine is a software program that help user to search for documents within a database. When a user type in a keyword or query, the search engine algorithm will present the most relevant documents which is indexed in the database within seconds.
There are many types of search engine in the world but the one we are most familiar with are internet search engines that find web pages that matches our keyword or query. Google Search, Bing and Yahoo are examples of such popular search engines. When we talked about Search engine optimization or SEO, we generally referred to improving our website so that we can rank well in Google Search.
Why do we want to rank in Google Search?
In 2023, based on statistic from Oberlo, Google Search dominate the search queries worldwide at 93.12%. Nine out of ten people search online for information uses Google Search. However, there are 4 countries that banned it. They are China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia.
For any businesses that wants to reach out to their target audience online, having a presence in Google Search plays a significant role as nine out of ten people will be using this search engine. For those that ranked on the first page of Google Search, it means more people will enquire about their services or products.
Ranking well on Google Search
To be searchable within the database of Google Search, the webpages must be search-engine optimized. This means that the webpages are modified through a series of processes to improve the searchability in search engine, particularly Google Search.
We termed these processes as On-page and Technical Optimization.
While On-page and Technical Optimization help webpages to rank, we need Content Marketing to expand the number of webpages we are ranking. According to Wikipedia, content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to achieve the following goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand their customer base, generate or increase online sales, increase brand awareness or credibility, and engage an online community of users.
Besides working on On-page Optimization, Technical Optimization and Content Marketing to improve our searchability in Google Search, we also need processes outside the webpages to act as a vote of confidence. When high-quality external websites mentions or link to our webpages, Google Algorithm sees our website as credible and authoritative, and this improves our ranking on Google Search. We termed these processes as Off-Page Optimization.
How does SEO work?
SEO works by following the process of these four pillars: Technical Optimization, On-Page Optimization, Content Marketing and Off-Page Optimization. When combined, they are known as the SEO Process.
Technical Optimization
Technical Optimization is a series of steps taken to improve the technical aspect of a website so that search engines can index, crawl, and rank the webpages.
These steps include:
- Creating a sitemap
- Submitting sitemap to search engines, for example, Google Search, Bing and Yahoo
- Create robots.txt to improve search engine crawl budget
- Ensure website speed is fast
- Check if there are any duplicate content
- Create an SEO-friendly site architecture
- Resolve 404 errors or 500 server errors
- Resolve any broken links or images
- Ensure the website is secured
- Ensure redirection is done correctly or fix any redirection issues
- Set up Schema Markup
On-Page Optimization
On-page optimisation is a series of steps taken to improve the meta tags, alt tags, file naming, content and internal linking on a website to improve the ranking on search engines.
Before we work on On-Page Optimization, we will need to research what are the best keywords to rank each webpage. A thorough investigation of the competitors is necessary to understand if we are able to out beat them.
The steps for On-Page Optimization are:
- Keyword Research
- Competitor Analysis
- Writing Meta tags, ie. Meta Titles and Descriptions with the chosen keyword
- Improve content with chosen keywords
- Create internal links with chosen keywords
- Write alt tags that describe the image
- Write a filename that is descriptive and concise
Content Marketing
Content Marketing as mentioned above, is a marketing tactic that uses articles, blogs, infographics, etc to reach out to our target audience online.
For content marketing, we will generally create blog posts and infographics on the websites to generate organic traffic. These blog posts are SEO optimised to be ranked high on search engines. We generate brand awareness when we ranked a lot of blog posts on search engines and then, convert these search engine users into customers.
The most important point to note is the topic proposal part. Before we write a blog post, we will do keyword research to find a suitable blog topic to write.
One of the most popular ways in modern SEO for finding topics is to create a content hub. A content hub will normally have 4 to 5 core topics, and each topic will create a cluster of 5-6 topics.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-page optimization is activities that happen outside of the website. When Google first started, its focus was on backlinking. PageRank was an algorithm invented by Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1997. It measures the relationship between each website by using a formula to determine the score of each website based on the links pointing to it. The one with the higher score will rank higher in Google Search.
However, PageRank has since been removed from Google Webmaster Tools (now known as Google Search Console). In Modern SEO, we are not able to know our Websites’ Page Rank from Google anymore. But there are SEO Tools that still measure our website authority based on our external links. Moz’s Domain Authority Score, SemRush’s Authority Score and Ahref’s Domain Rating/URL Rating (DR/UR) are some examples.
Despite PageRank being removed from Google Webmaster Tool, backlinks are still an important part of SEO. Backlink is a URL Link on a website that points to another website. We know backlinking is important because there are many studies that demonstrate this. One of the studies done by Brain Dean showed that a website link authority strongly correlates with higher search engine ranking. If we want to rank for highly competitive keywords, having high-quality backlinks are essential.
What constitutes high-quality links?
Not all backlinks are valuable. Links that are high in domain authority are considered high-quality. Domain authority starts from 0 to 100, 100 being the highest.
As the internet evolved, social signals is considered a ranking factor for search engines. A website mentioned on Social Media platforms can also act as a vote of confidence for the Google Algorithm. If a page had many likes and shares, it demonstrates popularity and relevance. This will help in search engine ranking.
The Strategies for Off-Page Optimization:
- Directories Submission
- Local Citations Submission
- Social Media Marketing
- Broken Link Building Technique
- Skyscraper Technique
- Content Promotion
- Digital PR
- Podcast
- Guest Blogging (Be careful here. Check this)
Conclusion
SEO is constantly changing. There is much information about search engine optimization. But the best way to learn is to practise. Try your hands on all the SEO Processes and know first-hand how the search engines work. Improving your website visibility on search engines will greatly improve lead enquires. If you prefer to get results without doing it yourself, let our SEO Experts get your website rank on the first page.
