What is SEO?
Considering its full name is somewhat of a mouthful, search engine optimization is most commonly referred to as SEO, and it is indeed referenced quite often these days. The purpose of SEO is to manipulate search engine results so that your domain ranks high, is seen by more people, and will get a high amount of traffic. The focus of the strategy put into play in order to achieve that purpose should be organic search results. In other words, you want your website to rank high based on your efforts, not on paid advertising opportunities.
There are two main types of SEO – on site and off site, but they work cooperatively together to establish a solid and successful SEO strategy. On site SEO refers to any activity on your own website, while off site SEO focuses on obtaining back links that direct to your domain. This process is also known as link building.
Areas of interest for on site optimization:
- Text (titles, sub-titles, location of text bubbles, keyword rich content, etc.)
- HTML meta tags
- Website design and structure (categories, labels/tags, multiple pages, etc.)
- URL’s (should include keywords and phrases)
- Photos and images (descriptions and tagging for optimization)
Since off site SEO does not pertain to your own domain, which you have complete control over, the process is a bit more complicated. However, obtaining quality back links can reap great reward in regards to boosting search rankings. When other trustworthy and quality sites allow a link that points back to your domain, search engines view this as establishing authority. The concept is actually quite simple – the more authoritative your site becomes, the more clicks and visitors you will get.
Areas of interest for off site optimization:
- Web directory submissions
- Blog commenting on relevant articles
- Guest posting on quality blogs in your niche
- Publishing shareable content on your own blog or website
- Creating accounts across a variety of social media platforms