SEO Optimization: What is it?

Definition in Basic Sense

Search Engine Optimization (often abbreviated as "SEO") refers to optimizing web content for search engines. It has its importance as it lets content creators and website owners have their pages ranked higher in search engines, thus letting web users find the relevant content they might be looking for. In the most basic and traditional sense, search engines (Google for instance) search for keywords and conclude that the information is relevant when a web page has the identical keywords as the user search query (what the user searched). However, over time Google developed different evaluation methods since web pages often use the same keywords. Therefore, the scope of SEO goes beyond the sole usage of keywords.

Optimizing Content: How is it done?

An old but efficient tip is to use the main keyword in the first 100 words of a piece of content. This is still important, as Google still gives importance to terms that show up early. Frequency is also important because if a keyword is used multiple times, it will be denied. A keyword should be mentioned a few times so that the search engine can confirm that the page is really about the topic. Therefore, it has to be used adequately without going overboard. The use of external links helps the topic of the content to be determined as well.

URLs can be optimized by making them shorter and including a single keyword in every URL. The description of a page plays a role as well. Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide recommends writing unique meta descriptions. If a page does not have its description, Google will take a part of the text on that site, which might not be completely relevant to the content. As terms that match the user query are bolded, it would be beneficial to include the keyword. In this sense, adding an H1 tag to the site's HTML code makes a positive contribution.

Other Factors to Consider

The process of creating content goes beyond the borders of keyword usage. For content to be ranked higher, it has to be unique and specifically optimized to address the user intent as well. Since there is a lot of content coming out covering a single term (or topic), a new page has to offer something new. In other words, it has to be valuable and stand out from the crowd. This can be achieved in various ways. These include (but are not limited to) adding different types of data such as images and videos to provide as many details as possible, having someone who is an expert in their topic to create the content, and strong writing skills that will make a page look neat and polished (and even embellished!). Following these steps, it is more likely to impress users and satisfy their search intent by giving them exactly what they are looking for. By doing so, click rates will increase, and more traffic will be directed to the page.