The Term SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization, so what it means is that, whenever we are doing those activities which increase our ranking in google or any other search engine organically without using any direct paid marketing activity then we are doing the SEO.
To further understand the concept, simply put Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art of increasing the organic (i.e. unpaid) online visibility and therefore traffic to a website or website by achieving higher rankings in the search engines maybe it be Google, Yahoo, Bing or for that matter any other search engine. SEO tries to identify prominent search words and phrases being utilized by users that are specific to the websites content, tries to identify the algorithms being employed by the widely used search engines, strategically places those keywords and phrases onto the important pages that need to be ranked (higher than its competitors) and finally and most importantly tries to establish links ‘from’ other websites. The ‘links’ act as recommendations for your website. Better quality and greater the number of links you have will translate into higher rankings in the search engines index.
Why is SEO so important for the Success of a Business?
Although for most of the internet users, the concept behind search engine indexing and cataloging does not hold much interest.
However, for website owners, businessmen, online businesses and online marketers the SEO is very important considering today’s competitive business environment.
While social media and other forms of marketing do play a part in traffic generation but a Great majority of the online users are directed to different websites by various search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, Ebay, Ali Express, Alibaba, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Gumtree, OLX, Daraz, Souq etc.
Search engine rankings play a vital role in generating high quality traffic for different types of businesses & many businessmen consider SEO as the make or break element in a business’s success.
Search engines employ multiple algorithms and content indexing techniques to evaluate all the websites and are repeatedly updated to latest parameters, but they still have their limitations & that’s where the role of SEO comes in.
SEO Experts aim towards attracting these search engines algorithms to favorably boost their websites ranking, therefore attracting multitudes of, yet targeted online visitors leading to increased traffic on website & ultimately increase business revenue generation, bench marking of product and exponential client exposure.
Types of activities in SEO:
There are hundreds of activities which one can do in SEO to improve the rankings of the website organically but categorization wise or hierarchy wise the SEO is divided into 2 major categories listed below:
· On Page SEO
On Page SEO refers to all the activities which are performed on the website such as Meta Tags optimization, Content Optimization, SEO copywriting etc. The On Page SEO consists of about 30% to 40% of SEO tasks that needs to be performed on website.
· Off Page SEO
The term Off Page SEO refers to all the activities which are performed on the other websites to get links, referrals etc. to boost our website authority in search engines. The Off Page activities consist about 60% to 70% Tasks that are needed to be performed to rank a website.
How SEO works:
In addition to word placement, HTML script restructuring, content analysis and other promotional activities the most important SEO activity is generation of links. Links are generated by promoting the site to attract other websites towards your page, by generating internal links to increase the quantity of inbound links for an important page thru cross linking, using prominent keywords, regularly updating page content to attract ‘crawlers’ and by maintaining an updated meta data. Backlinks and inbound links are the two variants where former is a kind of reference to some other website while later is a reference form some other page to your page. Among other factors, the quantity and quality of these links are an important factor considered during ‘Page Rank(ing)’ by search engine’s algorithms. No doubt the quality and relevance of content, structure of headings, website layout, keyword selection, word structuring all play an important part in attracting and retaining visitors, however web ‘crawlers’ and ‘spiders’ during their website analysis critically evaluate these links to accordingly establish the ranking of a website search engines indexing system.
In addition to the above briefly mentioned methods, many SEO techniques and tools exist that can be either be self-taught and employed or can be professionally contracted. SEO plays a key role in highlighting the online profile of an organization which can actually translate into greater revenue generation and product promotion making SEO investment a justified endeavor.
Categorization of SEO in Search Engines:
The Search engines classify each piece of content into following for sections or categories for properly structuring the types of content,
- Search Optimization
- Image Optimization
- Video Optimization
- News Optimization
