Week 1 - SEO
Search Engine Optimization:
● Factors contributing to google search, why is SEO so important?:
○ Volume of searches: 40,000 search queries every second on average/ 3.5 billion
searches per day/ 1.2 trillion searches per year.
○ Growth in search volume
○ Accessibility: almost 50% of the world population has access to internet and
search engines.
○ Time spent on internet:
■ An average person conducted 3-4 searches every single day which
translates to 1 hour, 46 minutes and 42 seconds.
■ Unique visitors: google gets about 1.53 billion unique visitors per month
on an average.
■ Unique searches: 15% of all searches have never been searched before
on google.
○ Role of search in website traffic
○ Importance of search in shopping behavior
○ In summary:
■ Google search is an integral part of life.
■ We are spending more time on google search
■ Increase in search volume + growth
■ Integration of search in shopping behavior
■ Search contribution in website traffic
● SEM= SEO + SEA
○ Search engine optimization (SEO)- Organic
■ How do I make my website relevant for the searched keyword?
+
○ Search engine advertising (SEA)- Paid:
■ How can I be at the top of the page when someone searches for specific
keywords e.g. Sushi in Amsterdam.
● How does Google search work? “Search engines have one objective- to provide you with
the most relevant results possible in relation to your search query”
○ Crawling: Scanning all the webpages in the network of internet
○ Indexing: adding the web pages to a database, similar to creating a dictionary
○ Ranking: google uses its own algorithm to determine the order of the page results
based on about 200 factors.
● Main Ranking Factors Used by Google:
○ PageRank was one of the first algorithms used by Google. It works by counting
the number and quality of links to a page to a determine a rough estimate of how
important the website is.
○ Other updates- Hummingbird (low quality content), RankBrain (User experience),
featured snippets (most relevant content).
, ○ Over the years google has constantly updated its algorithm to provide a
seamless user experience.
○ Some of the website factors are:
■ Domain factors: age, keywords, title tags, description tags.
■ Technical mechanics: page speed, mobile friendliness
■ Content: google released an update called caffeine a few years ago,
Keywords in the website.
○ Reputation: authority status of the website, visitors, historical performance of a
listing (clicks, bounce rates, etc.)
○ Trustworthiness: backlinks/ outbound links/ internal links, social signaling
○ User profile: geographic location, web history, language.
● Search engine optimization: SEO is essentially the science of designing your website to
maximize your search engine rankings. This means that all of the elements of your
website are created with the goal of obtaining high search engine rankings.
● SEO Goals: will help you create plans, direct your day-to-day tasks, and, of course,
motivate you to rise above your competitors.
○ Analyzing the underlying needs of your business
○ Converting these needs into well-defined goals
○ Assigning key performance indicators (KPIs) to these goals to assess if you’re on
the right track to achieving them.
○ Types of goals include engagement, visibility, and the most common goal,
conversions.
● On page optimization: can be done in two ways: content optimization and optimizing the
technical mechanics of your page.
○ Content optimization:
■ 1. Understanding consumer’s intent to search
● Figure out the types of words and phrases, called keywords, your
consumers use when looking for your product or service on a
search engine.
● Save the terms you come up with in a list - this will be a great
place to start when beginning your keyword research. It’ll be super
helpful to go ahead and put your keywords into an Excel
document or google sheet.
■ 2. Keyword research: few things to look for when researching keywords
● Monthly searches: monthly search volume of a particular keyword
in a give location.
● Keyword difficulty: the higher the number, the more difficult it will
be to rank on that keyword. AN ideal keyword has high monthly
searches and a relatively low keyword difficulty.
● Competition: what keywords are your competitors using and what
are there organic ranks for those keywords?
● Different tools are available for each purposes such as google’s
keyword planning tool, Mangools keyword finder, search volume.io
■ 3. Integrating keywords in the site content:
, ● Now its time to figure out which pages of your website you want to
optimize for higher search engine results.
● A good rule of thumb is to have each keyword you’re trying to rank
for used in your website copy at least 5-7 per page.
● Idea is to integrate the keywords in different parts of the webpage.
● Maintaining up-to-date content while catering to what your website
visitors want is most important.
○ Optimizing the technical mechanics of the page:
■ 1. Site navigation:
●
■ 2.URL Structure
■ 3.Titles, headings & description
●
■ 4.Meta tags:
, ● A web page is made up of hypertext markup language (HTML).
Within the HTML are special tags, known as meta tags.
● Meta tags don’t affect the web page layout, but rather provide
important information about the page’s content, which is used by
search engines to index your site.
■ 5.Site speed, compatibility
● Google’s algorithm has shifted to include greater ranking
emphasis on mobile friendliness,
● Responsive sites contract and expand to the screen dimensions of
the devices searchers are use- whether they are smartphones,
tables, or computer screens.
● An alternative to a responsive website would be a mobile-specific
website, wherein you choose to build an entirely separate mobile
website with its own unique URLs.
● Site loading speed is another dimension
● Site compatibility with different browsers is important for a
seamless user experience.
● SEO: Off page optimization
○ 1. Setting up a google my business page: also a tool that will help your business
pop up in localized searches. Its free to set up, and requires a physical address
for your business.
○ 2. Link building:
■ Links are an important part of organic search engine optimization.
■ Popularity of a website or page can be increased by upping the number of
links to your page, called backlinks.
■ Links to your pages from authoritative sites indicates popularity and
trustworthiness.
■ Inbound links are links that keep viewers on your website. You can link to
your blog posts and other information pages or service pages, for
example.
■ Search engines use links to discover new pages, as well as to determine
how a page should rank, so don’t skip over this process.
● SEO: Advanced optimization:
○ 1. Blogging :
■ Improve ranking and traffic: writing blogs for your website helps with
organic search engine optimization, and also provides valuable
information for your potential customers.
■ Smart use of keywords: writing blogs about the industry you service will
provide a place for you to insert your keywords plenty of times, while
keeping the information relevant and helpful.
■ Authority status of your website: a well-written blog makes you look more
credible because of your level of expertise. Blogs that optimize for
keywords will ideally be anywhere from 500 to 2,000 words
