SEO: What does it mean? A guide for beginners

Many businesses had to pay attention to their online presence after the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, there was a steady increase in all things moving online. Perhaps you are ready to jump on the bandwagon and want to create a website for your company quickly. You might be looking to update your website. That’s great! What now? SEO is one way to attract people to your website. You’ve probably heard this term before. What does SEO mean? We’ll be explaining SEO and how to get started in this article.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. SEO is the art of optimizing web pages to appear high in search results on Google and other search engines. It increases the likelihood that people will find your website online by optimizing their search results. SEO is about improving rankings in organic (or non-paid) search results. SEO is a must-have part of any marketing strategy if you have a website.

Google’s search result page for the term ‘neptune planet.’  

The image below shows the results of a search for the “Neptune planet” keyphrase. Wikipedia is the first result, which means their Neptune page ranks #1 for this search term. SEO stands for optimizing your site to be the best result. This will allow you to climb the rankings and make it one of the first results people see. This will increase traffic and clicks to your website.

This example shows only organic results. However, it is not always true. There may be beads at the top or rich results depending on what search term is being used. You might also see products from Google Shopping. There are many options, and Google’s display of products can depend on its information about the searcher (e.g., where they live).

Google’s algorithm

Google’s algorithm determines how high each result ranks. Although some parts of Google’s algorithm are still secret, our years of SEO experience have provided us with insight into the most crucial ranking factors. These ranking factors can be broken down into two groups:

SEO on-page factors

On-page factors are a part of the ranking of your pages. The on-page SEO factors refer to all aspects of your website that you can directly influence. These include technical aspects (e.g. site speed and code quality. Content-related aspects such as the structure and quality of the copy on your website. These are the most important on-page SEO elements you can focus on.

SEO off-page factors

Your rankings are not only determined by on-page SEO elements but also by off-page SEO factors. These include links from other websites, attention and other marketing activities that occur off your website. These factors are not difficult to influence, but they can be harder. These off-page SEO factors are most important. The quality and quantity of links that point to your website are crucial. Your Google rank will rise if you have more relevant, quality sites linking to your site.

Your competition in the niche you are targeting is another factor that can impact SEO. Ranking in some niches is more difficult than others. Your chances of ranking in the market are also affected by its competitiveness.

Holistic SEO

Yoast practices holistic search engine optimization. Your primary goal with holistic SEO is to create and maintain the best website. It’s not about trying to fool Google. Instead, you should invest your time and effort into a long-term sustainable strategy. Your chances of ranking will increase if you work on improving your pages and have a quality website. Google wants its users to find the best search results for their queries. The best results will have great content but also be user-friendly and quick to access.

A comprehensive SEO strategy is essential to rank well in search engines such as Google. It must be focused on all aspects of your website and marketing. Your website’s technical side, user interface (UX), and content all have to be of the highest quality. You need to develop what we call a holistic SEO strategy to rank well on Google.

We can help you get started.

Yoast’s mission is to make SEO easy for everyone. We have several plugins to help you do that, such as our Yoast search plugin. This plugin is available in both a premium and free version. It helps you create high-ranking, quality content. Get detailed recommendations from our SEO and readability analyses to make copy humans and search engines happy with our free service!

Premium versions of our plugin can help you reach the next level. You will optimize your content for synonyms and related keywords and improve your site structure using our internal links suggestions. Access to all SEO courses will also be available. These courses will teach you essential SEO skills that can be applied immediately.

Conclusion

SEO refers to the process of optimizing websites so that they rank high in search engines like Google and other search engines. Yoast believes holistic SEO is the best method to rank pages. It focuses on optimizing all aspects of your website.

Black-hat SEO techniques can have adverse effects on your rankings. You will reap the benefits of sustainable SEO if you keep your user in mind. Learn more about how to rank highly in Google, or if WordPress is your platform of choice, check out our Ultimate Guide to SEO in WordPress.