Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing both the quantity and quality of visitors to a website through organic (unpaid) search engine results. More traffic from relevant searches can lead to more leads, sales or loyal customers; SEO is an ongoing practice encompassing both on-site and off-site strategies.
Optimizing websites for search engines means building them with structure in mind, including organizing content into pillar pages and clusters that contain more in-depth subtopics on any given subject, linking these pillar pages together and covering every facet of that topic on each page – this process is known as Topic Clustering and is an integral component of SEO strategy.
On-site SEO refers to optimizing elements on a web page or website so as to increase its visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). On-site SEO involves matching the content on your site with what your target customers are searching for – this involves identifying keywords used by potential customers when looking for products or services similar to yours and inserting them strategically into website content. Furthermore, on-site SEO includes technical aspects like coding so search engines can read it effectively.
Gaining more traffic from search engines is great, but that alone won’t bring business growth if it doesn’t translate to leads, sales or new loyal customers. Conversion rate optimization comes into play here.
Consider SEO like a sports team: To win, it takes strong defense, offense and fans (a.k.a. a loyal fanbase). Therefore, there are three types of SEO: technical, content and off-site. Each requires specific techniques and approaches for success but all work together toward helping a website rank well on search engines and achieve its business goals.
Technical SEO: This type of optimization involves installing the necessary HTML tags on each webpage on a website, optimizing titles and descriptions with relevant search terms, adding alt attributes for images when necessary and making sure all links work correctly on that page. Furthermore, an XML sitemap helps search engines crawl your content more effectively.
Content SEO: Content SEO involves writing high-quality, relevant and informative blog posts, articles or other forms of content that address questions posed by potential customers. Keyword research helps identify which terms customers are typing into Google; with this knowledge in hand it becomes possible to optimize each piece of content so it will show when those terms are entered.
Off-Site SEO: Off-site SEO involves employing external resources to increase website visibility, such as link building, social media marketing and directory listings. Additionally, this may also involve claiming and optimizing brand assets across platforms like wikis, review sites or social media.
Keep this in mind when applying any of these tactics: they must always focus on serving customers first and foremost. It can be easy to become overwhelmed with search engine optimization tactics and fall prey to “black hat” tactics which could actually backfire and harm website rankings in SERPs.