Introduction To Search Engine Optimization

Here is an interesting fact for you- About 75% of searches that take place are on Google, and the first five links gain the most traffic.

In the era of the internet, there are so many websites, blogs, videos, and apps offering similar content to the user. With that level of competition, how do we make our content stand-out and attract traffic? The answer to this is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

SEO is a process of gaining the right audience in large numbers, organically. In simple words, Search Engine Optimisation is a way for us to promote our content with the right audience, without paying for ads and paid promotional strategies.
For example, if I offer Home cleaning services in Delhi, I would want people from Delhi, who are looking for home cleaning services, to come across my website when they search for the same on a search engine.
Now coming to what exactly do we have to do to optimize?

SEO is divided into two parts- On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO

On-Page SEO:

On-page SEO includes all the search engine ranking factors that are determined by directly looking at the page you try to optimize, such as your headlines, content, and page structure, etc.
The first and the main concern for us should always be- Quality of our content, no matter how many SEO tools we apply, we still won’t grow if we don’t have something good to offer to the users.
 “Content is king”, Bill Gates said this in 1996, and it stands true to this date!
The second most important thing is- Visual Appeal and User-Friendliness, what we exactly want is more time spent on our website by the people who visit it. So, if we make our content visually appealing, well-curated, and easy to navigate on the website, they will keep coming back to it. The other important factors include- Accuracy of keywords used, titles, headlines, etc.
By focusing on these points, we create a valuable space for people to benefit from, and we are trying to make their experience as good as possible.

Off-Page SEO:

Off-page SEO refers to all variables that aren’t exclusively in your own hands. They depend on other sources, such as social networks, other blogs in your industry, and the personal history of the searcher.
To get started with Off-Page SEO, 2 important things are-
Bounce Rate– It is the number of times that a person came to your website, only saw one page, and left. The lower our bounce rate gets, the higher chance we have of getting to the top of the search engine.
Back Links– These are the links on other websites to your website. A higher number of backlinks makes your website look authentic to the algorithm.

Summing it all up, here are a few things to keep in mind when getting started with SEO-

1) Content is king
2) Use valid and appropriate keywords
3) Make your website user-friendly
4) Website title/ URL should be easy to remember and brief
5) Make your website worth sharing
6) Increase the speed at which your website loads
7) Try to have a lot of backlinks
8) Have a lower Bounce Rate
9) Be active on all other social media platforms

The most important thing, don’t fall for shady methods offered by unauthorized sources on the internet in exchange for your money. This will do more harm than good, as the search engine algorithms are getting smarter by every second. Very soon they will be able to fish out the websites using unethical methods for promoting themselves and it’ll push you further down and could even get you blacklisted.
Search Engine Optimization is an endless process, with multiple technicalities, but the points that are mentioned above are a good starting point for any new content creator. All the best!