What is SEO?

This article offers a brief on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It also highlights some important topics like:

1. SEO Techniques
2. Impact On Business
3. Free SEO Tools
4. Role of Search Engine Crawlers

Increased website traffic indirectly equates to increased sales opportunities. When you offer quality content desired by your target audience, you tend to have more website traffic. Here, SEO plays a crucial role.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is a process of increasing and enriching your website traffic as well as escalating your brand visibility online, through organic (unpaid) search engine results. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. drive enormous traffic. SEO offers to effectively utilize these search engines to drive traffic to your website. Effective SEO is customer-centric. You are required to create what they demand, to rank good on these search engines.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is the activity of optimizing web page content to rank better in search engines. You are required to enrich your website with content that is demanded by your audience. Keyword research can help you to analyze what your target audience wants to read about. You can focus on a few keywords and include them in your blogs and articles. The title tag displays a brief about your website on the search engine pages. Include a keyword in your title tag and make it as concise and clear as possible to attract your target audience. The URL of your web pages should mention the precise title of your content. It should reflect the title of the information you are providing. Internal linking makes your other content easily available for your audience. You can link back the homepage or other relevant blogs. Hence your content, title tag, URL, and internal linking form the base of your On-page SEO.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO, unlike on-page SEO, is the activity to optimize your website without impacting the website itself. It involves generating backlinks. Linking to high authority pages matter more than just linking. They enhance the credibility of the pages being linked. Credible websites link other credible websites that help Google to capture quality URLs. Creating content that is shareable eases the trouble of your audience. You can engage with other relevant websites and answer the searched questions or involve in commenting. Try to bring in some value to your audience through your engagement.

SEO TECHNIQUES

SEO techniques present an effective outline on how to proceed in increasing your website traffic. Here are a 5 effective ones that deliver fruitful results:

1. Audience-Centric Content: The goal of your website content should be to attract your target audience. To attract your target audience, you need to publish content that is required and searched by them. Focus all your efforts on learning about your customers. Produce engaging content and distribute it regularly through relevant channels. You can ensure engaging content with

- visually-appealing infographics: Our eyes move more towards eye-catching graphics than at textual content. And where our eyes go, attention flows. Creating captivating graphics including social media creatives increases your chances of having visitors.

- Online Monitoring: Learn about your audience by monitoring their likes and dislikes. Pay attention to the comment section. Often customers share their queries and problems through comments. Expand your social media research to study the behavior and interests of your target audience. Adhere to Quora and Google Analytics for relevant data of your audience.

2. Increase Word Count: A research from Backlinko suggests that longer content tends to rank higher in Google’s search result. Research suggests that long-form content fairs better than the shorter ones. The audience today wants to read about a subject in detail. They are ready to invest time in a quality read. Long gone is the notion that consumers have a short span of attention when it comes to website content. The SEO expert Neil Patel believes that longer posts usually perform better on every level. The more value you contribute to the reader, the better you will register in his mind.

3. Responsive Website: A responsive website can effectively work on several devices with varying screen sizes. The easy availability of smartphones and the internet has to lead the maximum audience to search for their requirements with the help of a mobile phone. It is not only important but mandatory for the success of any company to have a responsive website. A few advantages of a responsive website are:

- visually-appealing infographics: Your audience is more mobile-friendly. They search for precise solutions to their queries and desire precise information as well. With a handy smartphone, they can easily access the information. A responsive website gives your company the advantage to entice the customers effectively as done on the computer desktop. The appearance of the website should not be compromised.

- Increased speed: Your mobile audience does have a short attention span. If your website fails to load within 3-4 seconds, your user might abandon your site. A responsive website ensures that the website pages when accessed through any other device, load in within a short time. It also ensures a lower bounce rate as an engaging website will not keep your visitors waiting. If the site is not optimized for other devices, it will take a much longer time to display than required.

- Enriched User experience: A responsive website will eliminate the need to zoom the mobile screen for a better visual. Your visitor will not be happy with the constant adjustment of the text size. You need to create a seamless user experience for them. This quality experience will allow them to stay with your site and in some cases promote it as well.

4. Update Old Content: Fresh content is believed to enhance your user experience. The inclusion of fresh images or in trend videos related to your article or blog helps in enhancing the user experience further. As the old content may contain outdated information, it is advisable to update your content. Fresh content provides you with an opportunity to involve new links. You can also analyze your content and segregate the non-performing ones. The non-performing content can be given a new life to make it work for your audience.

5. Research Competitors: Researching a competitor is one of the vital elements in updating your information relevant to your business. As keyword forms an important part of SEO, researching for keywords used by your competitors also becomes critical. You can make use of their research and use the relevant keywords in your content.

These techniques are more like requisites to make your website stand out from the crowd. They are basic but the most effective and efficient ones to follow.

1. Google Analytics (Analysis)

Google analytics showcases important and required internet statistics with reference to your website. These insights can efficiently contribute to the further development of your website. Its analyzed data promotes new changes that bring productive results for the company. The analysis provides us with insights like

Source of traffic: Analytics outlines the source of your visitors. It differentiates the traffic generated through paid advertisements, referral link, organic search or any other website. This helps you to track your sources effectively and strengthen the ones that generate the maximum result.

Visitor details: Google Analytics offers detailed information on your visitors. Details like their location, average age, gender, interests, and device are arranged in a statistical format offering a quick view of your webpage insights.

Enriched User experience: It informs you on the popularity of the distinct pages on the website. The response of your visitors helps you to analyze which pages are working successfully and which require more work. It allows you to channel your efforts to the required areas and enhance their usability.

Bounce rate: The bounce rate is calculated when visitors abandon your website right after their first-page visit. They might not find your website engaging or relevant to their search. Irrelevant content, improper layout, and slow loading speed are also a factor for increased bounce rate.

2. Ubersuggest (Keyword Research)

Ubersuggest is a keyword research tool that generates keyword ideas related to your search. It also displays monthly search volume, cost per click, PPC, and relevant suggestions. A Keyword is a vital element for your content. Website content like blogs should include the use of relevant keywords in the correct ratio. You should include keywords that have maximum search volume.

3. Answer the Public (Questions)

Ubersuggest is a keyword research tool that generates keyword ideas related to your search. It also displays monthly search volume, cost per click, PPC, and relevant suggestions. A Keyword is a vital element for your content. Website content like blogs should include the use of relevant keywords in the correct ratio. You should include keywords that have maximum search volume. Answer the public provides you with various questions that you can create with your keyword. Audience search online for questions that can solve their query. When your content adheres to that format, it can better rank on the search engines. Answer the Public prepares questions like What, Which, Where, Who Why, How, and Vs with respect to your keyword. Displaying your content in the form of questions and answers helps you to better feature on SERPs.

4. Detailed.com (Competitor search)

Detailed.com provides you with a list of several industries and popular websites related to the particular industry. It gives you the opportunity to deeply research your competitors at one location. This reduces your hassle of research. You can easily access their content for inspiration or updating your own information. You can go through the content for a fresh perspective on your idea about a similar topic.

5. Wordtracker Scout (Competitor Keyword Search)

Wordtracker is a Chrome extension that highlights the common keywords used by your competitor. It offers insights on the major keywords used by a particular website. This tool segregates the important keywords relevant to your topic and what opportunity they hold. It comes handy while researching your competitor and their content. The tool lays out the keywords used by your competitor which comes handy while creating a blog or article.

What are Search Engine Crawlers?

A search engine makes your content available to your audience. Search engine crawlers include a team of robots that help Google discover new content through URLs. The content can vary according to different formats like text, image, video or pdf. They crawl through available links and also follow additional links associated with it. The database is then stored to the server to make it available when required. This process allows them to discover the maximum of publicly available content. You can submit your website individually to the search engine for crawling or request for a recrawl. Search Engine Optimization is a critical part of an online business. With humongous competition in the digital space, it becomes mandatory to update your information and sway your tactics according to the updates brought in by the Search engines.

Sources:
https://www.keycdn.com/blog/benefits-of-responsive-web-design
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate
https://neilpatel.com/blog/10-advanced-seo-techniques-thatll-double-your-search-traffic/