SEO - Search Engine Optimization - Premium Tech Skills

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

Introduction

The process of improving a website’s visibility in search engines is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It involves improving your website so that it appears higher in search engine results, increasing the number of visitors from platforms like Google, Microsoft Bing, and others when people search for relevant information.

SEO is a remote-friendly skill—you can perform it from anywhere for clients around the world. When we enter a query into a search engine, we see some results on the first page and many others on the following pages. But how does Google decide which websites appear on the first page? It depends on the ranking factors of a website. The higher a website scores on these ranking factors, the more likely it is to appear on the first page. Through SEO, we work to improve these ranking factors to help a website rank better.

A successful SEO project typically involves several steps:

Keyword Research
Technical Optimization
On-Page Optimization
Off-Page Optimization

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying the most relevant keywords that can help a website appear on the first page of Google and attract more traffic. To choose effective keywords, focus on what people search for most frequently. You can use third-party tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to help with keyword research. When evaluating a keyword, consider:

Search Volume: If the search volume is too low, it’s better to avoid that keyword.
Keyword Difficulty (KD): If the KD is over 50, it may be too competitive.

Allintitle Keyword Research / KGR (Keyword Golden Ratio)

KGR stands for Keyword Golden Ratio, calculated as:

KGR = Number of allintitle results / Search volume

If the result is low, the keyword is easier to rank for; if it’s high, it’s more difficult.

Long-tail keywords (e.g., “best SEO tools for beginners”) generally have lower competition and are more specific. Short-tail keywords (e.g. “SEO tools”) have higher competition and are more generic. It’s a good idea to target both for better results, but long-tail keywords are often easier to rank.

Technical Optimization

Technical SEO involves ensuring your website can be effectively crawled and indexed by search engines. Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to audit your site at least once a month.

Common Technical Issues:

Crawlability: Ensure Google can crawl your site properly.
HTTPS (SSL Certificate): The presence of an SSL certificate is important. The padlock icon before ‘https://’ indicates that your website is secure. If your website does not show the padlock icon or use ‘https’, it means it does not have an SSL certificate. Without an SSL certificate, Google is unlikely to rank your website on the first page. You can install the ‘Really Simple SSL’ plugin from your WordPress dashboard to redirect your website from ‘http’ to ‘https’
Site Performance: Fast-loading pages improve user experience and rankings.
Internal Linking: Internal linking refers to linking one page to another within the same website. Proper linking helps both users and search engines.
Sitemap: A sitemap is the complete plan of a website. Creating a sitemap is important because it works like a menu. When Google sends robots (crawlers) to your website, they can easily find the information they need. By installing the Yoast SEO plugin, you can generate a sitemap for your website.
Robots.txt: Tells search engines which pages to crawl. Yoast SEO helps generate this file, but manual edits may be needed.
404 Errors: A 404 error means that a page cannot be reached or does not work. You need to identify which pages are showing a 404 error and fix them by redirecting those pages to a relevant working page.
ALT Text: Add descriptive text to all images so Google can understand the image content.
5xx Errors (e.g., 500, 501, 505): These are server issues. Contact your hosting provider.
Low Word Count: Pages should have enough relevant content to be understood by Google.
Broken Images: Fix or replace missing images to avoid poor user experience.
No Anchor Text: Always use descriptive text for hyperlinks, not raw URLs.
Long URLs: Shorten lengthy URLs and use keyword-friendly slugs.
Broken Internal Links: Update or remove links that point to non-existent pages.
Duplicate Content: Avoid having two pages with more than 90% similar content to prevent Google penalties.
Meta Descriptions: When we search for something on Google, we see elements like the title link, description, and sometimes an image. The title is called the meta title, and the description is the meta description. Changing the meta title regularly can help improve audience engagement.
Heading Structure (H1, H2, H3): Use proper heading tags to organize your content.
Orphan Pages: Link pages that aren’t connected from any other part of your site.

On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization refers to the practice of optimizing individual pages of a website. Key elements include:

Title Tags: Use target keywords and keep titles under 50 characters.
Meta Descriptions: Write a unique meta description for each URL.
Content Quality: Regularly update your content and use synonyms of your target keywords.
Headings: Use a logical structure (H1, H2, H3) for better readability.
URL Structure: Include keywords and keep URLs short and descriptive.
Internal Linking: Link to other relevant pages within your site.

Off-Page Optimization

Off-Page SEO refers to all the activities done outside of a website to boost its search engine ranking

Common techniques include:

Backlink Building: Getting links from other high-authority websites.
Social Media Marketing: Share your content to drive traffic and gain visibility.
Citation Building: List your business in directories and platforms like Yelp or Google Business Profile.

Analytics and Tracking

After implementing SEO, we can use Google Analytics to compare the data with previous months or years and monitor the performance of our website. Analytics is a free tool that helps us understand the overall performance of our website. It allows us to see how many visitors come to our site, which pages they visit, which pages they don’t visit, which pages they leave quickly, and the order in which they visit pages—such as the first page they land on, the second, and so on. All of this information can be accessed through Google Analytics.