Understanding Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine’s unpaid results […] In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a website appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users.
Somehow, amongst thousands of others, Wikipedia just got another article (this) to reference her content on search engine optimization — a big reason it shows up among the first three search results when you google “seo”. The relevance of a Page X is determined by how many web pages link back to Page X. Call it traffic.
Let’s Talk Keywords
We all want our websites to appear within the first 3 search engine results whenever someone googles certain keywords, but several factors are considered. Try to spend 5 seconds staring at each of the following words:
- Store
- Software
- Smartphone
What names came to your mind when you saw store? Amazon, eBay, Walmart? How about software? Microsoft, Google, Oracle? As for smartphone, I bet you recalled iPhone and Samsung before Techno and Infinix. Those big brands came first because you’ve heard, seen and watched people patronize them numerous times — the names are of huge relevance for those keywords.
There may be some connection between “Samsung” and “food” (you probably have a grocery app installed on your device), but there’s a stronger connection between “Samsung” and “smartphone”. Those names came up in order of relevance to each of the keywords you saw. The ones we have heard and seen several times rank higher than those we’ve come across lesser number of times. The more the references, the faster our minds recall them. This is also the principle by which search engines work.
The ones we have heard and seen several times rank higher than those we’ve come across lesser number of times. The more the references, the faster our minds recall them. This is also the principle by which search engines work.
The Basics of SEO
To fulfill conditions that qualify your website as one optimized for search engines isn’t difficult — getting your website to actually appear within top search results is. You most likely have big names and brands who already lord over the keywords you’ve chosen. Nonetheless, the following questions should help you decide if your website will rank high in search results.
- Does your brand have keywords it is known for?
- With what brands do you compete over those keywords?
- How many times do contents on your website mention those keywords?
- How many external web pages reference your content(s) on their website?
- How many daily views and clicks have your contents earned your website?
Those question will help you plan your SEO strategy. If you have carefully chosen keywords relevant to you website and brand, ensure that those keywords are strategically repeated in your contents. You should endeavour to get your contents referenced by hundreds of other web pages, thus driving more traffic (views and clicks) to your website. You may have to promote your pages through ads too, just to get more views and clicks. Did I just mention ads? Yes. Ads don’t get you a high search results ranking; they get you traffic. And if you read this article, then you already know the value of traffic. There’s no magic to SEO.
