Search Engine Optimization [Learn SEO]
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Once your website is ready, make sure it is visible to your potential visitors on search engines to achieve the highest ranking. At this point, you should aim for search engine optimization (SEO). This SEO guide is designed to help you navigate the wonderous world of search engine optimization.
Beginner's Guide to SEO Vocab
Algorithm - search engine algorithms are complex systems used to recover data from their search engine index and deliver the best possible results for a query.
Alt Text - a text description added to an image's HTML tag on a Web page to be shown when the image in the Web page cannot be displayed.
Anchor Text - a clickable link in a hyperlink.
Backlink - incoming links to a webpage.
Black Hat - an unethical practice against search engine guidelines used to get higher site rankings. Referred to as Black Hat SEO, these practices usually end up with search engine penalties.
Crawler - also known as a spider or a bot, crawlers are programmed to visit web sites and read the pages to create entries for search engine index.
Destination Page - a page your users visit after using your internal site search box.
Nofollow - a link that does not boost the linked page rank.
Dofollow - a link that does boost the linked page rank.
Meta Description - a snippet of about 155 characters which summarizes a page's content (a very crucial part of SEO).
SERP - Search Engine Results Page.
XML Sitemap - a sitemap lists all the URLs for a site allowing search engines to crawl your website comfortably.
Why is SEO important?
Search engine optimization is a process of ensuring high rankings for specific keywords. Although Google is the most popular search engine, it is not the only one. There's also Bing, Yahoo, Baidu and AOL, but most traffic still comes from Google.
The main reason we consider search engine optimization to be one of the more challenging aspects of digital marketing is that it takes time. Search engines value quality, and quality cannot be determined instantly. Not only that, but the rules of SEO are constantly changing, so search engines ensure that websites that do not apply to the top ranking spots cannot fool the system.
Ultimately, every marketing manager has their eyes set on the top position on any search engines. After all, on average, 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine (SEO Tribunal).
SUBMIT YOUR WEBSITE TO GOOGLE
First things first, you should submit your website to Google through its Search Console. According to Google, "these tools and reports help measure your site's search traffic and performance, fix issues and make your site shine in Google Search results."
Of course, Google will discover your website even if you do not submit its URL, but it will take more time. Since every search engine crawls the internet to index pages, submitting your site will speed things up.
An important SEO guide recommendation: if you make changes to your website, you should re-submit it. By re-submitting your website, you will keep Google in-the-know and encourage the indexing of your latest version.
You should also submit your website to Bing and Yahoo to reach a bigger audience!
How to choose
the right keywords
Now, shifting our focus to website content, unlock the full potential of words and phrases that best reflect your business by choosing your keywords carefully.
How it works: Google collects and analyzes words and phrases on your website, as these words show what your site is about, and then ranks your pages for these keywords.
Choosing the right keywords will not only improve your organic rankings on search engines, but they will also be your starting point for search engine advertising (via PPC).