What Is SEO? - A Beginner's Guide

SEO is embedded in every digital marketing strategy with a potential for success. 

The SEO magic starts when we enter a query on Google, and it follows us through every online decision we make.

It influences which websites we will see first in search results. How we perceive credibility, find new businesses, and behave as consumers - all these actions can be traced back to SEO. 

Google processes 99,000 searches per second. Those searches translate to people looking for information, products, or services.

This is where SEO comes in. It acts as a bridge between your site and people searching for whatever your business offers. 

In other words, taking advantage of SEO can be a turning point for your business. 

In this article, we will go into detail about what SEO is and what it does. More importantly, we'll tell you how to use it to improve your rankings, increase your online presence, and ultimately grow your business.

🎯 What Is SEO? 

SEO is an umbrella term, which stands for search engine optimisation. 

SEO covers a wide range of tools and techniques used to improve a website's search engine rankings. 

All this technical information might sound confusing. But, it will make more sense when applied to a real-life example. 

Imagine you have a small bakery. You want people in your neighbourhood to know about your delicious cakes and pastries. 

You put up signs, hand out flyers, and tell your friends to spread the word. SEO is kind of like that but for the internet.

Instead of flyers, you use specific words (keywords) in your website content that people might type into Google. For example, "best bakery near me" or "fresh cakes."

If someone types "best bakery in Melbourne" into Google, SEO helps your bakery's website appear higher in the search results. 

The higher your site shows up, the more likely users will click the link and visit your bakery. It's like how a big, bright sign helps people find your store in the real world.

Potential customers are going to look for businesses like yours online. They'll use popular search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.

Google is the number one search engine, with an astonishing 92% of the search market. 

Your job is to optimise your website for Google. What this means is that you're making your website "SEO-friendly" so that Google will want to show it to users. 

🏆 What Are the Benefits of SEO?

You might not be interested in investing in SEO because you still don't see the benefits. Why should you use SEO?

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SEO has many benefits for both small and large businesses. These are some of the most important ones:

1. More website traffic

One of the most important benefits of SEO is the increased website traffic, which comes from organic searches. The people who visit your site translate to site traffic. Each of these visitors is a potential customer. 

2. Cost-effectiveness

Unlike paid ads, where you must pay for every click or view, SEO brings in visitors organically. SEO involves an initial investment, but once optimised, it will continue to produce results for free. 

3. Better user experience

SEO makes your website easy to use, fast, and mobile-friendly. This improves visitors' experience. They are more likely to stay longer, come back, or recommend you to others.

4. Increased visibility and brand awareness

SEO can help your website show up much higher in search results. The higher you are, the more likely people are to click on your site. This increased online presence means better brand awareness. 

5. Trust, credibility, and authority

When your site pops up at the top of search engine results, users are more likely to trust your business. It's like being recommended by a friend. Search engines are saying, "This site is relevant and trustworthy."

6. Long-term results

SEO is an ongoing process. In other words, the results you see from your SEO efforts will be long-term. 

🤔 How Does SEO Work?

Understanding how SEO works is important if you want to know how to use it properly. But, to understand SEO, you need to know how search engines work first. 

The process of positioning your website somewhere in the search results involves three key steps:

1. Crawling
2. Indexing
3. Ranking

Search engines, like Google and Bing, are always searching for new content on the web. 

They do this by scanning old and new web pages with the help of special bots. These automated programs are also known as spiders or crawlers. 

These bots visit websites, scanning and reading the content on each page.

Once the crawlers scan your site, they store the information in an enormous database called an index. 

It's like Google's massive library of all the websites it has read. 

When someone searches for something, Google looks through this library to find the most relevant pages.

The third and most important step is ranking. 

When someone searches for something online, Google goes through this library to find the most relevant pages.

Google considers factors like keywords and search intent. 

Once Google understands the query, it ranks all the pages in its index to find the best answers. 

But that doesn't mean that the websites are presented in a random order. Instead, Google has a set of ranking factors that are applied to each website. 

After ranking the pages, Google shows a list of the best matches. These are also known as the search results. 

The most relevant and trusted pages are listed at the top, while others are lower. 

Ideally, you want your site to be one of those top results because that's what most people click on. This is where SEO comes in. 

📌 What Are the Three Different Types of SEO?

There are three main categories of SEO: 

1. On-page SEO 
2. Off-page SEO 
3. Technical SEO

🖼️ On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is all the things you do on your website to help it rank better in search engines.

When you hear someone talking about SEO, they're most likely referring to on-page SEO. Of course, standard SEO packages include all three types of SEO.

Here's what on-page SEO usually includes:

• Keyword research

Using the right keywords people are searching for in your content, titles, and headings.

• Content creation

Writing helpful, relevant content that answers visitors' questions or solves their problems.

• Optimising images

Making sure images are the right size and labelled correctly so they load quickly.

• Internal linking

Adding different links to other pages on your site to help visitors navigate and keep them on your site longer.

The reason on-page SEO is important is because it helps search engines understand your site.

It can also help you improve user experience, which has a direct impact on site visibility and traffic. 

Keyword Research

Keyword research plays an integral role in a successful SEO strategy. 

The first step is to figure out what words and phrases potential customers may be Googling. These words and phrases are also known as keywords. 

Keywords are used to describe products, services, or information related to your business.

Keyword research includes:

1. Identifying search terms relevant to your business
2. Analysing keyword volume
3. Assessing keyword difficulty
4. Finding long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer, specific phrases users would search for online. While they may have a lower search volume, they are often easier to rank for. 

Let's say you run a business installing green roofs. You do keyword research and find that many people in your area are searching for:

• green roof installation Melbourne
• cost of green roofs
• benefits of green roofs
• how to maintain a green roof

The next step is to create a page or blog post for each of these topics. You can then use those keywords in your titles, content, and meta tags.

Doing so brings you closer to higher search engine rankings. 

This process is also called keyword targeting. 

There are various keyword research tools you can use. For instance, Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush. 

Content Optimisation

Another important part of on-page SEO, and SEO in general, is content. 

Your website must have valuable, relevant content that resonates with your target audience. 

The reason content is so important is that Google prioritises websites with high-quality content. Good content means better rankings on SERPs and more traffic. 

The best way to add quality content to your website is through your blog. Here are some different types of blog content you can write:

• Informative articles
• How-to-guides
• Listicles
• Industry news and updates
• Case studies
• FAQs
• Product descriptions
• Customer testimonials

Well-written and informative content keeps visitors on your site longer. It also encourages them to explore other parts of your site, which is a positive ranking factor.

The great thing about content creation is that it doesn't only apply to blogs. There are various types of content you can add to other parts of your website, including:

• Landing pages
• Product pages
• About us page
• Portfolio or project pages
• Resource or downloadable guides
• Testimonials and case studies
• Videos

Writing high-quality content might not be enough. You also have to provide content on a regular basis. 

Writing a few blog posts a month is a good starting point. But how often you should publish blog posts depends on your industry.

Bear in mind that quality is much more important than quantity. So, for starters, focus on writing engaging content, and you'll see results soon enough. 

 💬 Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to all the things you do outside your site to improve its visibility and authority.

The most important elements of off-page SEO include:

1. Backlinks: Getting other trustworthy websites to link to your site. 
2. Social media: Sharing your content on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter to bring more people to your website.
3. Guest blogging: Writing articles for other websites and linking back to your own site.
4. Influencer marketing: Reaching out to influencers in your industry to promote your content

Off-page SEO involves building your site's reputation, authority, and trust outside of your own site.

Link Building

Building links is very important for SEO.

This process includes getting other websites to link back to your website. These types of links are called backlinks.

These are like "votes of confidence" for your content. 

Not all backlinks are equal. Just like blog posts, quality goes before quantity. You will want links from trusted, authoritative sites. 

For instance, a major news outlet or an industry-leading blog. They're much more valuable than links from unrelated sites. 

The more high-quality, relevant websites that link to your site, the more search engines trust your site.

🔧 Technical SEO

All the behind-the-scenes work on your website is called technical SEO. This type of SEO helps search engines find, crawl, understand, and index your pages.

Key elements of technical SEO include:

1. Website and page speed
2. Mobile-friendliness
3. Secure website (HTTPS)
4. Structured data (schema markup)
5. Fixing duplicate content
6. Optimising URLs
7. Avoiding broken links

All these elements are important for SEO for many reasons. Keeping your website "clean" makes it easier to crawl and index. This improves your rankings.

It also improves user experience. 

A fast, mobile-friendly, and secure website keeps visitors engaged. It also reduces bounce rates and encourages more people to go through your content. 

📳 Mobile SEO

Almost 60% of all searches are done on mobile phones. That's why all businesses must adjust their marketing strategies for mobile SEO. 

Google also prioritises websites that provide a mobile-friendly browsing experience.

This means making sure your website has a mobile-friendly design. 

Your website must automatically adjust its layout, images, and text. That way, it can fit the screen size of any device, whether it's a phone, tablet, or desktop.

Mobile page speed is another factor. 

Mobile users expect websites to load quickly. Slow-loading pages frustrate users, leading them to leave. This translates to a high bounce rate, which has a negative effect on your rankings.

It all boils down to user experience.

Good mobile SEO means ensuring a smooth user experience. This includes large, readable text, easy-to-click buttons, and intuitive navigation.

🛒 Local SEO

Local SEO focuses on a specific location. It's tailored to small businesses with a local customer base. 

Local SEO includes many tactics you will also see in regular SEO campaigns. But it also includes unique features designed for location-based searches. 

These include creating localised content, directory listings, and local reviews. 

Local SEO makes it easier for you to appear in local search results. This helps you find customers who could be looking for your business in the same area. 

An effective local SEO strategy includes:

• Understanding your target audience and their needs
• Figuring out which keywords are searched locally
• Creating content based on the search intent of potential local customers
• Updating business profiles on different directories
• Analysing customer feedback on sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor

When done the right way, local SEO can make a huge difference for small local businesses. 

Local SEO helps them reach new audiences who may not have known about them.

🚀 Should I Get SEO For My Website?

If you want to succeed in the online world, you need to understand how SEO works. But this might not be enough. 

You also need to develop a good SEO strategy tailored to your business. This is easier said than done. Many businesses don't have the experience or resources to do SEO.

Consider the case study of Trek Hardware. 

Trek Hardware struggled with organic ranking. They had outdated content and a lack of site structure optimisation. 

After working closely with RankRise, Trek Hardware saw significant improvements in rankings. And we made this happen within just 14 months. 

This case study shows how SEO can benefit a business with the help of an expert team.

If you would like to know more about our SEO services, feel free to contact us.