In this article, we will be exploring SEO in the simplest possible way, bringing you to see how simple tips can present your website to the eyes of people who really need to see it.
Your website, a gem that has to be found
Siteefy says there are over 1.09 billion websites in the world right now. Even more astonishing, around one website is put up every three seconds.
People put up websites for different reasons. But primarily, they are made to be seen. I doubt anyone puts up a website and says: “Hey, I don’t want anybody to see this. I want this to stay hidden, whilst I keep putting in work to make it better.”
You have a website because you want it to be seen!
This brings us up one common question: “How do people see websites?”
The answer is simple: other websites and search engines.
People see websites through other websites, and through search engines. This is why the first step in understanding how SEO works, is understanding what search engines are and how they do their job.
Introduction to Search Engines
Think about the last time you wanted to make a meal but didn’t quite know the recipe, or the last time you tried to write an article but forgot how to spell a particular word.
You probably opened up your browser and typed some words into the search bar. When you hit send, a list of websites showed on your screen, making it easier for you to find what you had been searching for.
Up to 90 percent of people who have access to the internet make searches like that.
This means, people typically find information via search engines. They go in there searching for just about any kind of information: how to make coffee, how to prepare a meal, how to make their websites more visible. (This is probably what you typed in before reading this article).
Search engines are, therefore, the “engines” that link searchers to prized information on the internet. They are heavy engines that can find just about any information, regarding any subject, and present it to internet users.
How do they work? How are they even remotely able to scan these 1 billion websites on the web? Well, the simplest way to put it is this: they work using crawlers and bots.
Each time a person types a word into Google and then hits send, one is putting Google’s crawlers to work.
Search engines like Google usually search for websites in three stages.
The first stage is the crawling stage.
Crawling is the first contact a search engine has with a website. It is the stage where that search engine discovers some website, and tries to find out what has been put on that site.
Let’s say I publish my website on a cold afternoon in July. It is the first time that website has ever gone live. Immediately after publishing, Google lets its crawlers find my site.
It finds them by following a link. This is why proper linking, like I will show you soon, is such an important aspect of search engine optimization. When one links their website properly, one is putting themselves in a position where they are much easily found.
This means, as much as crawling depends on Google, it also depends on owners of websites. People who can make their websites seen easily, save search engines a lot of time and rigorous work.
After crawling, comes indexing.
When Google has been able to crawl through a page, and has gotten a hint on what it believes that page to be, it indexes the page.
Indexing involves going through that website, finding out even more details about it. Like what texts have been written into the site, or if the site is just a clone of another. Google does this for good reason: you’ll be surprised how many websites just copy each other.
Google keeps whatever indexed information they can find about a site. They would of course go to this information each time a search is made, and pull out what they had earlier found.
After indexing, comes the actual serving of results.
Now that Google knows your website and can say that you only have material on there that can actually add value to your readers, Google becomes able to show your website to searchers. It presents your website on a search engine results page.
The search engine results page is that page you see when you make a search on a search engine. It contains the URLs of different websites and some other data relevant to that search, data which actually exists on the website.
I know your question right now probably is: Why do some sites appear above the rest?
The answer? Search engine optimization! SEO.
What is SEO?
Two friends launch a website on the same day. The websites are both similar; so similar one can almost not tell the difference. But for some reason, one of those sites tends to be getting a lot of traffic and appearing more in searches.
What do you think the difference between those two sites is? Well, the key difference is that the site getting a lot of traffic is being found by users a lot more than the one which is not. Users are finding that site because it is optimized for search engine discoverability.
The first three results on Google searches get 70 percent of all traffic. That is to say: if 100 people make a search on Google, 70 of them will click on the first three sites that appear on the search engine’s first page.
Search engine optimization involves tweaking a site such that search engines not only find it easily, but also consider the site relevant enough to be displayed to users.
One thing you must note about search engines is that they are a service. And as a service, they owe it to their users to only show relevant websites and content. If this does not happen, users may easily turn away, seeking other alternatives.
SEO is a website owner’s way of saying: “Hey, so I just made this website. If anyone is looking for material in a particular subject, you can trust my site to deliver the best information and service.”
Just that you will have to do a lot more showing than telling. Since these search engine crawlers and indexers can’t listen to you, they can only act on what they see.
How to optimize your website for search engines
Optimizing your site is a process that takes some time to see results. Some results, however, show up faster than others. It all depends on what you are doing. Here are proven tips to help you optimize your site and make it get a lot of traffic from search engines.
1. Put up relatable and informative content
People use the internet to find information. Google shows them the best of the best information they can find. If you are putting up relevant information in your niche, then you are one step closer to being found.
Notice how I used the word: niche? This is because your niche is very important. Who is reading you? Who do you think will be very interested in what you put up? That is your niche.
You have to make sure you give them the best material they can find.
Five tips to help you do this include:
- Put up facts only: everytime you write an article and key it into your website, ask yourself this: “Is this true?” If the answer is no, then it may be a bad idea to hit publish. If it is maybe, then you need to do some more research. Make sure to check everything that makes it to your site. If you don’t, someone will. Readers on the web are great with sieving information. They know when something is not true. And they would try as much as possible to stay away from nonfactual websites.
- Make Sure your works Are Unique and informative: it is always a bad idea to lift off someone else’s idea without properly referencing them. Readers look out for unique works. Make yours as unique as unique can possibly get. Also make sure that you don’t have duplicate content on your website.
- Make sure your content is readable: some content is hard to read. Don’t put up those. Be sure that you find ways to entice your readers to keep reading you. This may mean changing some words, structuring your writing in paragraphs, etc.
- Don’t use depend solely on AI: search engines like Google only recommends the appropriate use of AI. They only prioritize human generated content and ideas. If you see AI as a way to help you produce helpful and original content, then it might be okay to consider.
- Put up material often: especially now that you are trying to rank on search engines, try to put up content often.
2. Use keywords
Keywords are typically what people in your niche are searching for. What they type into a search query.
Let’s say you write articles about yoga. If many users are typing in: “How to do yoga perfectly,” in their search boxes, those are your keywords.
It is important to know what your keywords are, and input them in relevant areas of your website. Like your URLs, the body of the work, and as titles of your images.
Keywords are so important because search engines look out for them when they look through your website. If they find a keyword on your website, they go: “I have found this word a couple of times. This article must really be an answer to the question this searcher asked a few seconds ago.”
One must, however, be careful with keywords. No one should depend on keywords alone to rank their site. In fact, too many keywords on a particular topic may be a bad idea especially if the placement of those keywords affect the readability of that content. Google and other search engines prioritize readability.
It’s a bad idea when keywords begin to affect the readability of your website!
3. On site optimisation
Search Engine Optimization also involves optimizing your website so that it stands out. What kind of sites are people clicking on?
I’ll tell you. Fast and responsive sites. Beautiful sites. Sites that are easy to navigate.
People will be more likely to click your site and stay on it if you can find ways to tweak that site to fit into useability standards.
40 out of every 100 people who visit your site might abandon it if it takes more than three seconds to load.
It begins with choosing the right theme. The right colors. Every niche has colors and styles, even something as subtle as fonts, that perform better for that niche. If you have an art website, for example, it is often great to build your site in a way that samples your most beautiful art works.
You can optimize the speed of your site by making sure there are no large files making the site sluggish. And for easy navigation, make sure there is something to give readers a sense of direction. Like menus, categories, etc. Those do help.
A good thing to also bear in mind is that too many advertisements may be distracting and not helpful to your readers.
Another amazing on site optimization technique is using proper URLs. Google likes it when your URLs have keywords that describe your content at least to an extent. Rather than use numbers as your URLs, use words.
4. Off site optimisation
These are tweaks you do off your website as a means to get traffic to your and help search engines find you.
Search engines will often prioritize sites that are visited a lot. If many people are clicking on a website, search engines know that there’s something interesting there.
You can perform off site optimisations on social media, by promoting your website. Make sure your followers on social media get links to your site.
You can also do this by email marketing. Good emails will always bring traffic to your site.
Guest linking works amazingly to rank your site, too. If you can get a relevant site which is well known in your niche to include a link to your site in their post, you will get a lot of clicks and continue to rise on search engines.
5. Hire a professional
A professional is an expert at handling the SEO needs of your website. They’re usually able to make onsite and offsite changes that will bring lots of traffic your way.
Coreserp SEO Agency is one of such professional agencies. At Coreserp, we are committed to elevating your website search engine rankings. We perform comprehensive keyword research, optimize your pages, and help you create relevant content. Book a consultation and we can get started.
We are located at 38 Opebi road Adebola House (CubeHub, Suite 100, Rear Car Park Wing) Ikeja, Lagos 100281, Nigeria.
Summary
SEO is something websites cannot do without. You really need to rank on search engines, and you can start now.
