What is SEO?
Yes, Search Engine Optimization.
If you break it down it will tell you that optimize your content on the search engine. But for whom? For the user and for the Robots that scan your website for related keywords.
If you are looking to make your career in SEO then you have to first read this article. Here, I am going to cover the basics of SEO that you should know if you want to rank on Google. Also, if you want to make the users visiting your website/content happy.
If users are happy then google is happy and if google is happy then it will give you SEO benefits and boost your organic traffic.
This article will help you understand what you should actually be doing if you want to perform SEO for any website, content, or anything. So let’s get started with the basics of Search Engine Optimization.
State of SEO today
First, understand what is the state of SEO/Search today. SEO today is
- Mobile (Means Optimize for mobile devices)
- Structured (Means keep your website organized. Put proper tags, categories, descriptions, etc)
- Technical (If something is wrong with your rankings or visibility on Google, then you must know the technical part of SEO to get it sorted) PS: This is not compulsory. You can hire a technical person for the same.
- White hat (Means use only legitimate ways to build your SEO. Google has become smart)
- Everywhere (Means Search engines are everywhere and hence SEO can be done everywhere. Not only on Google. SEO can even be done on Amazon, Social Media, and even your T-Shirt eCommerce website. Because all of them are search engines)
You can read the complete article on the state of search here to understand this in detail.
The Three Players in Search/SEO
The three Players are:
- The searcher who wants relevant results
- The Robot/Bot who wants revenue by searching for relevant content which the searcher wants
- The Business Owner who wants rankings, traffic, leads, and an increase in sales.
So as an SEO expert you must optimize your content for the bot and the searcher. How to optimize it? Well, this is a topic for another blog post.
Search for On-Page and Off-page optimization on Google
Being Discoverable vs Available
Let me explain the difference between being discoverable and available wrt the Fundamentals of SEO.
| Discoverable meaning in SEO | Available meaning in SEO |
| You are found when someone is not looking exactly for you | You are found when someone is looking exactly for you |
| Non-Branded Query
For example, Someone is searching for” the best bicycle shops in Mumbai” and your business comes up. This is being discoverable |
Branded Query
For example, Someone is searching for “xxxxx (Your business name) bicycle shops in Mumbai” and your business comes up. This is being available |
Your goal as a SEO marketer should be to be discoverable and available in the right places.
This means that if someone is searching exactly for you your business should come up and not anyone else who has better optimized for the same keyword.
Similarly for being discoverable
What should be your SEO Goal?
Your main goal should not be to rank on Google and bring a lot of traffic. Yes, instead, it should be what you are going to do with that traffic.
How are you going to bring in leads and sales for your business or your clients business? Answer this question. For this, you must understand about building marketing funnels.
Read this article on building funnels.
Robots vs Humans
Optimize your or your client’s website for the Human user as well as for the Robots. Your first priority should be humans.
Because
If Google’s user is happy then Goggle is happy and hence Google will make you happy but boosting your rankings.
Don’t try to stuff in more keywords in your content if it is not natural and readable for the user. Be welcoming and user friendly first.
Intent-based search optimization
While optimizing your article for SEO and while doing keyword research, always remember these two words “Intent” and “Context”.
What is someone’s intent behind searching a query and the context which means why is he/she searching this query?
For example, in this article, the INTENT is “Basics of SEO” or “Fundamentals of SEO” and the CONTEXT is “rank on Google”.
Now there can be many contexts for the same intent but I have optimized for these keywords. For example here the contexts can be to “drive more traffic”, “build backlinks” or whatever.
So, optimize your content for the intent and context that your user has.
Conclusion
My final words for SEO for beginners would be SEO is easy without the technical part. But, what is difficult is understanding what the user wants and delivering relevant results for them.
Relevancy is very important in SEO. Yes, having more an authoritative website will definitely help you but that will come with time as you build your brand.
I hope you understood the basics of SEO to rank on Google. Comment below your thoughts and till then take care.
Also, read SEO in 2020. 6 facts that you should not forget
Watch this amazing video to learn how SEO works in real life