Search Engine Optimization

 

Search engine optimization (SEO) means measures that make your company's website better found and attract more visitors.

The goal of search engine optimization is to be found specifically at the top of Google's free search results, so people can see your link and are more likely to click on it.

People search for information, products, and services on Google, and want to find them quickly. The pages at the top of the search results get the most clicks:

• 34% of Google searchers click on the first organic search result
• 17% of Google searchers click on another organic search result
• 11% of Google searchers click on the third organic search result.

That is, 62% of applicants click on one of the first three organic search results!

So it's worth investing in search engine optimization, because you also get customers through search engines - if they only find you in the search results!

You can do search engine optimization yourself

Search engine optimization can be done all by yourself - and for free. The key to search engine optimization is good content, and it can be done by anyone who is literate - no need to code or use any programs. And keep in mind that good content doesn’t have to be plain text - also harness the power of video and audio in search engine optimization!

There is no need for technical gimmicks in content search engine optimization . All you have to do is manage the content of your pages yourself, which means you have a publishing system like WordPress.

Content Search Engine Optimization

In this article, I will focus on  search engine optimization of textual content, as good, high-quality content that is of interest to your target audience is most important when you want to be found well in search engines . When you keep these things in this article in mind when writing website content, Search Engine Optimization is already in good shape.

Think primarily of your site visitors - your potential customer

The most important thing is to think about your page visitors and potential customers. Where would he like information? When you offer on your site the things a visitor wants to read (or look at), you are already well on your way to search engine optimization! In this case, the visitor wants to come to your pages and wants to browse them. With strategic choices, you can steer the visitor in the right direction, toward the goal of the pages.

Make the pages functional and easy to use for the visitor. Provide information in a clear format. If the pages don’t work properly or look cluttered, awkward, or unreliable, the visitor will leave. This is a sign to Google that the pages are bad and at least your visibility is not improving.

Make sure your website looks good and works smoothly on mobile devices and tablets as well. This will ensure that the visitor wants to explore your pages and progress in the direction you want on your pages!

Think about keywords

Define the keywords you want your pages to find. So you need to research what kind of search terms are used by those people who search the search engine for the products, services or information you offer. You need to think about which keyword or phrase you want your visitors to find on your page.

Once you have defined the relevant search terms, ie keywords, you will be able to use them on your pages, ie produce the right kind of content and optimize your content for these keywords. And when your pages are well optimized, Google offers them in better and better places in their search results.

Arrange the content of the pages logically

Write on one page about one thing, on another page about another thing. In this way, different topics are divided into different pages, and Google can redirect, for example, those looking for cat food to a cat food page and those looking for dog food to a dog food page.

Organize your pages logically - think about how you can get your visitor to find important things easily, with as few clicks as possible, without getting lost.

 

Write enough content

Write enough content. Google will not register a page if there are only a few words. There should be at least 300 words for Google to crawl the page. You can write more deeply about a topic than a topic. However, it’s not a good idea to stretch the text just for search engine optimization - if the content isn’t high quality, no one will read it either, and therefore Google won’t value it either. That is, no worries if there are not three hundred words on every page. It is enough if the main pages have.

 The length of blog posts can vary a lot. A blog is a great tool for providing content that a visitor can spend time on - and that you can also use to inform your customer and build trust - while optimizing your content for search engines!

And if writing doesn’t taste good, then…

Make videos or podcasts

Note that the content does not always have to be text. Videos are great content and work effectively as a search engine optimization tool: when a visitor clicks on an open video on your site or blog, he or she will also spend time on your page. And for search engines, this is a sign that your pages have interesting content - meaning your pages should show up in search results.

Videos are easy to embed in WordPress pages, so no technical knowledge is required here either.

Using YouTube videos also improves your search engine visibility in other ways:

• Many use YouTube as a search engine when searching for information on a topic. If you’ve optimized your YouTube video, you’ll also find it great on YouTube - which is otherwise part of Google.
• Google will also provide Youtube video content in its search results if relevant content is only found. Video is a quick way to get to the top of the search results - and it also hits your eyes better than just text!

Sound is content too! Creating and embedding a podcast on pages is technically easy. Since you probably know how to tell the customer things of interest, bring it to the fore on your website as well!

But keep in mind that you don’t make the video spin automatically as soon as someone arrives at that page. At least if the video has sound. A self-triggered video or audio increases the immediate bounce rate because it suddenly causes the visitor to close the window. Thus, the Autoplay feature also degrades search engine visibility . It also takes up a lot of bandwidth from slow mobile connections.

So when you post videos or podcasts, let the visitor themselves click on it when it suits them best!

Using important search terms in your content

When writing content, use important search terms, especially in the main title of the page, at the beginning of the page, in the subheadings, and at the beginning of the paragraphs. That's where Google specifically looks for them.

Headlines are important

Use words and terms in the titles that you hope to find on search engines. Google draws conclusions based on titles in particular. However, the content and titles must be related and belong to the same topic.

Arrange the headings logically and semantically correctly.

• H1 (Heading 1) is the main heading of the page, and use it only once.
• H2 (Heading 2) is the next subheading, under which there may then be H3-level headings, and below them H4-headings, and so on.

 

Make text content easy to read

Remember the division of songs and keep the songs short. Unlike paper, it is difficult to read complex sentences and long paragraphs on the screen. Especially on the phone, reading long snippets is difficult.

Use subheadings, lists, effects (Bold, Italic), and colors to make it easier to look and read.

Appropriately add images and other graphics that have also been optimized .

Use important search terms at the beginning of the paragraphs, ie the keywords you have defined. That is, in the first sentences of the paragraphs. Of course elsewhere, when necessary.

Use keyword terms elsewhere in the text - but in a natural way - don’t over-optimize! Keywords should not be overwhelmed, as the appropriate percentage is only a few percent. If there seem to be more, you should use more synonyms, for example.

In the old days, different search terms were crammed full of pages, and the layout was modified so that the masses of keywords may not be visible to readers, but visible to search engines. There may have been some that had nothing to do with the content of the entire site. Don’t do that, as Google will punish you for this.

 

 

Create quality content

Write content that is useful to the reader, and write it in an interesting way. If the text is a long stubborn or clumsy repetition of keywords, the visitor closes the page. So avoid over-optimization . But if the content is interesting and useful to the reader, the reader will enjoy it and Google will like it. In other words: If you get people to spend their time on your site, Google will improve your search engine visibility.

Although a person usually spends more time reading a long text than reading a short text, the mere number of words does not affect search engine visibility. Even minor content can be found if the pages are otherwise well search engine optimized and the content is of interest to the visitor . Similarly: even if there are thousands of words on the page, but no one can read it, at least search engine visibility won’t improve.

So while I always advise producing pages (with plenty) of content, it shouldn’t be any nonsense page fill. Make content that you want to read, watch, or listen to - that you want to spend time on. It is the best search engine optimization.

Proofread your text , and ask an outsider to check at least the content of the most important pages. Frequent spelling and grammar errors erode credibility and can arouse mistrust.

Do not copy text from other pages or even your own pages

Double content worsens search results. If every page has (roughly) the same content, the pages “compete with each other” for search engine visibility, so no page can be found and stand out properly.

And don't copy content from the manufacturer's site, for example - Google will soon drop you both off its list - or at least the copier. So Google sees which of similar content has existed first.

Blog Search Engine Optimization

If your site has a blog, you should optimize each new post. You can also optimize your old posts afterwards if you haven't done so before. Here's more information on blog search engine optimization.

When creating new blog post, pay attention to a few little things to easily improve your visibility:

1. Title of the blog post

Include an important search term in the title of the article - the one you would like the article to find in search engines. Take advantage of the information you gain from keyword research .

1. Article URL

Also include an important search term in the address!

However, do not edit the duration link of the old article, as you will change the title of the entire article at the same time! Therefore, edit the duration link only when you are creating a new article. (However, if you've gone to edit the article's duration link, redirect .)

Note that the duration link must not contain dashes or very special characters, as not all browsers understand them. On the other hand, when using WordPress, the suffixes automatically change to the alphabet.

And next, when writing content for your pages, be sure to use a search term ( keyword ) in the titles, at the beginning of the paragraphs, in the alternative text of the images, and so on - but naturally and easily . Don't force keywords. The text must be readable and interesting for the reader to feel comfortable.

When adding images, be sure to name the image the correct name before transferring it to the pages (see Optimizing Images ). Add a caption, description, alternate text, and caption if necessary.

Meta title and meta description

You are sure to hear about these if you are familiar with search engine optimization. They are important because they tell Google what’s on the page. They also appear in Google search results.

Meta title is the title that appears in Google search results, in blue.

The meta description is the text that appears under the title.

Make the metadata displayed on search engines interesting so that you stand out and entice visitors to click on your specific pages.

If you do not specify these separately in the page settings, the title of the page is automatically selected as the Meta title and the beginning of the body text as the meta description. For important pages, you may want to edit these “manually,” using, for example, the YoastSEO plug-in  or SEOPress (but not both at the same time!).

If Yoast SEO  or SEOPress is installed on your pages , you can influence how Google displays your page information in search results. So installing the YoastSEO or SEOPress add-on on WordPress does not in itself improve search results, but it can affect how Google sees your meta title and meta description, and how interesting your page looks to people there among other search results. If you have put a good title (meta title) and an attractive, meta description in the YoastSEO or SEOPress settings, they may entice you to click on your particular page!

Read the instructions for the Yoast SEO add-on here  and the instructions for the SEOPress add-on here .

Other things that affect search engine visibility

Many, many other factors affect how your site is found - right from the server. However, some examples:

SSL certificate. Make sure your site has SSL security and is working properly. If the lock image does not appear, use the Why Not Padlock page, for example, to find out the cause and correct the errors.

Accelerate and enhance discovery of sending a page to Google Maps Search Console through.

The age of the site is affected. New pages may not be immediately available on Google. Over time, the ranking will improve.

The domain also matters. If your site's domain has an important keyword, your visibility will improve. So if you haven't booked a domain yet, consider this too.

Fast server . If the pages are really slow - either due to the technology, content or server of the pages - or if the server doesn't always work, ie the pages are virtually out of sight, search engine visibility may also suffer. It’s not in Google’s best interest to direct visitors to a site that doesn’t even open - no matter how well optimized the content. So also consider this when booking server space and choosing a stable, fast server.

Responsiveness. If the pages do not display properly on mobile devices, the search results will deteriorate. Make sure your pages are responsive! Note that even today, there are still website creators who do not make mobile-optimized, responsive pages.

Linking. Linking from other pages (i.e. external linking or backlinks) improves ranking. Of course, you should share your content on your own. You can ask partners and others related to the topic to put a link to your own pages. And over time, many more will link to useful, engaging content - so create that good content.

SUMMARY

So search engine optimization is the writing of quality content and can be done by yourself and for free. Quality content is well-structured, easy-to-read, easy-to-see content that interests the target audience.

Tip: If you want to write interesting text, write as if it were one of your dream clients! Imagine telling things to this one person! This way, the text becomes more eloquent than if you directed your writing to “the whole world”.