SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a topic from the caddy of the digital marketing field but is often mistaken to be too technical and complicated. So, we will break that stereotype, wipe that myth clean, and understand from scratch, what Search Engine Optimization is!
What is SEO?
The million-dollar question!! Well, not really, but maybe…
According to research, the SEO market is worth $46,656.2 million as of the Dec’20! Now, that does make it a million-dollar question. So, what is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is simply explained as a process through which we make it easier for our websites to be found and directly and indirectly drive genuine and quality traffic on our website.
Now, before we dive deep into the pool of SEO and how it works, let’s track some ket terminologies that will help us understand the concept better and faster.
Terminologies:
Bots
Also known as crawlers or spiders, bots are automated software, that read, track and collects information that is floated on the internet
Crawling
It is the action of the bot reading through the web pages with the intention to track and collect information
Caching
Caching is the process of proceeding crawling. It is the saving of information and data locally. CSS, Java Scripts, and certain images are often cached.
Keywords
Certain words or phrases are the main subject matter, which is the center of the mass of information and all the other data revolves around it. These are termed “keywords”. The best keyword planner tool is “Keywords Everywhere.“
Keyword Density
It is the ratio or proportion of the total amount of data in comparison to the intended or targeted keyword.
SERP-Search Engine Result Page
An abbreviation for Search Engine Result Page, SERP is the page that appears when you search for a keyword on the search engine.
Inbound Links
These are hyperlinks that are created within the website, either within the webpage itself or linking one webpage to another.
Outbound Links
These are the hyperlinks that link your webpage to another webpage, a property you do not own.
Now that we have taken a look into all the terminologies, we can now proceed to understand just how SEO works and how search engines like Google work their magic to show you exactly what you are searching for.
How does SEO work?
It all starts with content!
Once the content is created, it is published on your webpage. This shows up on the sitemap of your website. This means that it is now an extension of your website.
Then, the bots from the search engine’s algorithm crawl through the website. These bots determine what the content is based on the keywords they crawl through while also doing a duplication check. While the bots crawl the webpage for content, they will also go through all the sites that have been linked on and through the page. This will include both inbound and outbound links.
Once the data is crawled through by the bot, it shall cache the data, which means that it intends to understand the data better.
This cached data is then indexed by the bot. Indexing is the recording of this deciphered or cached data. As in the context of Google, the algorithm that it uses is called Google Hummingbird. The gazillion bots that crawl and cache websites save all this data on their data farms.
The next step in SEO is the ranking of the website. Ever wondered how Google shows you personalised results for exactly what you searched for? Well, Hummingbird does its magic. These tiny little bots, while crawling, also quality check the content. This content is set against parameters like keyword density, ease of readability, the number of backlinks, etc.
To rank your website on the SERP, you should set objectives for your website and work towards these goals.
Thinking out loud though, don’t you think SEO is a little like life as well, twisted yet simple, fun yet complicated! What do you think?
Tell us in the comments below. This is all for today, see you next week and until then
Toodles👋
