A guide to SEO
SEO is a type of online marketing - or, rather, it’s a marketing channel.
What SEO does is get more of the people who are searching for things on Google, Bing, etc, to land your site…SEO gets you more clicks.
SEO = optimizing your site for search engines (i.e. search engine optimization).
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Note that there are two type of online “traffic.” One is paid, and the other is organic.
SEO deals in ORGANIC traffic.
So, another way to describe what SEO does is to say “say grows your site’s organic traffic.”
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Here’s an example of how SEO works…Let’s say you have a website where you sell protein powder.
Okay, but there are thousands and thousands of other sites that sell protein powder as well…So, how do you get someone searching for “best protein powder” to land on your site instead of someone else's?
Two potential answers: One, you can buy ads on Google or Bing and they will list your site somewhere to ensure you’ll get visitors. This is classic paid advertising…Google and Bing have all the real estate, and you can pay them to rent a prime location that people are sure to visit.
The second way to get visitors is via SEO…And SEO works by giving people INFORMATION related to what they're looking for.
So, to get potential customers landing on your protein site you’d write a great article on the topic/keyword “best protein powder,” and then you’d publish this article as a post on your blog.
So now when someone searches for “best protein powders” your blog post will ORGANICALLY show up somewhere on Google. In the beginning, this will be on page 50 but as more people click the post, it will show up higher and higher in Google’s rankings…It’s just like a physical store - maybe in the beginning you only have a few customers walk in per-month. They browse what you have to offer and, if the offering is good, they stay in your store for a while and maybe even buy something. Google sees these interactions and rewards them by gradually giving your blog post better and better real estate (i.e. better search engine rankings), and the better your rankings, the more people visit, and the more people visit the better your rankings. This is the snowball effect of successful SEO.
…And yes, yes, there’s plenty more that goes into it, and yes “winning” for a highly-competitve keyword like “best protein powder” ain’t easy - but at its core SEO really is just this simple —as simple as offering good, relevant information which gets more and more people to land on your site. Everything else involved in SEO revolves around this fundamental concept.
SEO strategy examples:
Cosmetic brands writing topics around skincare: “How to protect your skin from UV damage.”
Health brands writing about wellness: “How much vitamin D do I need?”
Food brands around cooking: “Cesar salad recipe”
Fashion around style: “What to wear this summer”
How does SEO work?
Since SEO is all about how to optimize for search engines, another way to ask this question is how do search engines work?
Search engine basics
Here’s the easiest way to understand how a search engine works:
Whether you’re using Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, or whatever — the process of searching for something online goes like this: You type words into a search engine, the search engine pours through a huge “index” of potential “answers” to your query, and, finally, results appear that match what you’re looking for.
That’s level 1.
To go deeper you might ask an index of what? Well, an index of the world wide web.
But what’s the world wide web or, for that matter, what’s the internet? And how do search engines fit in?
…Okay, okay one step at a time. Let’s start with the web.
The world wide web
The world wide web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee…And no, the web is not the same thing as the internet.
The internet is how computers connect to each other, the web is an enormous set of digital information.
When considering the difference between the web and the internet it helps to look back to when computers used to make direct calls.
Some of you may remember the AOL graphic below — can you hear the iconic sound? Yeah, me too.
The image above says dialing because in the time before networks individual computers used phone lines to “dial in” to the world wide web. So back in the 90s, the internet was based on phone lines.
Okay, now for the web…And I promise all this relates to SEO because the more you understand how information lives on the web, the better it’ll all make sense.
What is the web?
Here’s a useful analogy
The web is like a giant city
Within the city, there are many buildings.
The buildings are servers, and the rooms within the buildings are individual websites.
On the web, every site has a URL, just like in the physical world where every business has an address.
World wide web = City
Servers = Buildings
Individual websites = Rooms within the buildings
URLs = the address of each individual website
Sticking with the analogy: In the physical world if you need some dog food, what do you do? You get in your car and drive to a pet store in the city.
So what’s the digital parallel to a car? It’s your computer’s browser — these include Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, AOL, which ever one you use.
Dog food scenario 1: You know where the pet store is located — in other words, you know the exact address, and so you simply drive there, no “browsing” the city necessary. In the digital world, this is what happens when you type in the exact URL (say, www.thebestpetstore.com) into your browser and are brought directly there.
Dog food scenario 2: What if you don’t know the pet store’s exact address? OR what if you want to look around at some different options?
Enter search engines.
The great and powerful Google
How does Google rank websites?
Google uses a complex algorithm to rank websites in its search engine results. The exact details of this algorithm are a closely guarded secret, but we do know that Google takes into account a wide range of factors when determining the ranking of a website. Some of the things that Google looks at include:
M
C
U
Q
R
& eeat
These are just a few of the factors that Google considers when ranking websites. It's important to note that Google is always updating and improving its ranking algorithm, so the specific factors that it takes into account may change over time.
What is Google PageRank?
Google PageRank is a score that is assigned to a website by Google to determine its importance or relevance. It was one of the first algorithms used by Google to rank websites in its search engine results, and it is still used as part of the company's ranking algorithm today.
The PageRank score is based on the number and quality of links pointing to a website from other sites. A link from a highly reputable and authoritative website is considered to be more valuable than a link from a less reputable or less authoritative website. Google's algorithm takes into account the PageRank of the websites linking to a particular website, as well as the number of links, when determining the PageRank of the website being linked to.
PageRank was originally developed by Google co-founder Larry Page, and it was named after him. It was one of the first algorithms used by Google to rank websites, and it played a significant role in the company's early success. While PageRank is still used by Google as part of its ranking algorithm, it is just one of many factors that the company considers when determining the relevance and importance of a website.
What is organic traffic?
Organic traffic refers to the visitors that come to a website through unpaid search results on search engines like Google. When a user conducts a search on a search engine, the results that appear are a combination of paid and organic search results. Paid results, also known as "sponsored results," are those that appear at the top or bottom of the search results page because a business has paid for them to be there. Organic results, on the other hand, are the websites that appear in the main body of the search results because they are considered most relevant to the user's search query.
Organic traffic is important for businesses and website owners because it represents the people who are actively looking for the products or services that they offer. These visitors are more likely to be interested in what the website has to offer and are more likely to make a purchase or take some other desired action.
Improving a website's ranking in organic search results can be a challenging task, as it requires a combination of high-quality content, a well-designed website, and a strong online presence. However, the rewards can be significant, as businesses and website owners can attract a large amount of targeted traffic to their website through organic search results.
How can organic traffic help your website?
Organic traffic can be beneficial for a website in a number of ways:
Increased visibility: By ranking well in organic search results, a website can increase its visibility to potential customers. This can lead to more traffic and more opportunities for businesses to connect with their target audience.
Targeted traffic: Visitors who come to a website through organic search results are typically looking for the products or services that the website offers. This means that the traffic that a website receives from organic search is highly targeted and more likely to result in conversions (such as a sale or sign-up).
Long-term results: Unlike paid search, which can stop driving traffic as soon as the campaign ends, the benefits of organic traffic can continue for a long time. As long as a website continues to rank well in search results, it can continue to attract organic traffic.
Cost-effective: While it may take time and effort to improve a website's ranking in organic search results, it is generally a more cost-effective way to drive traffic to a website compared to paying for sponsored search results.
By focusing on improving their website's ranking in organic search results, businesses and website owners can drive targeted traffic to their website, which can lead to increased visibility, sales, and other desired outcomes.
What is SEO?
There are many different components or "parts" to SEO, and the specific tactics that are used can vary depending on the goals of a business or website owner.
How does SEO work?
Some of the main components of SEO include:
Keyword research: Identifying the keywords or phrases that potential customers are using when searching for products or services related to a business.
On-page optimization: Making changes to the content and structure of a website in order to improve its ranking in search results. This can include optimizing titles and meta descriptions, improving the website's loading speed, and making the website mobile-friendly.
Content marketing: Creating and promoting high-quality, relevant content in order to attract and retain customers. This can include blog posts, articles, videos, and other types of content.
Link building: Acquiring links from other reputable websites in order to improve the authority and ranking of a website.
Local SEO: Optimizing a website for local search results, including by claiming and optimizing local business listings and building local citations.
Technical SEO: Making changes to the technical aspects of a website in order to improve its ranking in search results. This can include improving the website's loading speed, optimizing its structure and navigation, and fixing any technical issues.
By focusing on these and other components of SEO, businesses and website owners can improve the ranking of their websites in search results and attract more qualified traffic to their website.
Is SEO worth it?
SEO can be a valuable investment for businesses and website owners. By improving the visibility and ranking of their website in search results, businesses can attract more qualified traffic to their website and increase their chances of reaching their target audience. This can lead to increased sales, sign-ups, and other desired outcomes.
That being said, SEO is not a one-time fix and requires ongoing effort to maintain and improve a website's ranking. It is important for businesses and website owners to have realistic expectations and to be prepared to invest time and resources into their SEO efforts.
It is also worth noting that the effectiveness of SEO can vary depending on the industry, the competition, and the target audience. Some businesses may find that SEO is a highly effective way to drive traffic and conversions, while others may not see as much of a return on their investment.
Overall, the decision of whether or not to invest in SEO will depend on the specific needs and goals of a business or website owner. It may be worth considering SEO as part of a broader digital marketing strategy, alongside other tactics like paid advertising, social media marketing, and content marketing.
How long does SEO take?
The length of time that it takes for SEO to have an impact on a website's ranking can vary depending on a number of factors, including:
The competitiveness of the industry: If the industry is highly competitive, it may take longer for a website to rank well in search results.
The quality of the website: If a website has a lot of technical issues or low-quality content, it may take longer to see improvement in its ranking.
The strength of the website's online presence: If a website has a strong online presence, including high-quality links from other reputable websites, it may see improvement in its ranking more quickly.
The amount of effort put into SEO: The more effort that is put into SEO, the more quickly a website may see improvement in its ranking.
It's important to note that SEO is an ongoing process and it is not something that will happen overnight. It may take several months or even longer to see significant improvement in a website's ranking, and it is important to be patient and consistent in one's efforts.
However, it is also possible to see small improvements in a website's ranking relatively quickly by making simple changes like optimizing title tags and meta descriptions, or by improving the website's loading speed. These small changes can add up over time and contribute to a website's overall ranking in search results.
How much does SEO cost?
The cost of SEO can vary widely depending on a number of factors, including the size and complexity of a website, the competitiveness of the industry, and the level of expertise and resources required to achieve the desired results.
Some businesses choose to handle their own SEO in-house, while others choose to hire an SEO agency or consultant to handle their SEO efforts. The cost of hiring an SEO professional or agency can range from a few hundred dollars per month to several thousand dollars per month, depending on the level of service being provided.
It's important to keep in mind that SEO is an ongoing process, and businesses and website owners should be prepared to invest in it over the long term in order to see results. It is also important to be aware of SEO companies or individuals who make unrealistic promises or use unethical tactics, as these can ultimately do more harm than good to a website's ranking.
Ultimately, the cost of SEO will depend on the specific needs and goals of a business or website owner. It is a good idea to do research and get a few quotes from different SEO professionals or agencies to get a sense of the costs involved and to find the best fit for one's needs.
My SEO work
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A guide to SEO by Gerald Lombardo
Conclusion…
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