Where does your website rank in the search engines for its target keywords? If it’s several pages deep, or nowhere to be found at all, it’s not going to receive much traffic. Thankfully, though, you can encourage higher search rankings through search engine optimization (SEO).
What is SEO?
SEO refers to any practice or set of practices that it’s used with the intent of boosting a website’s search ranking for one or more keywords. If you run a website that sells used wedding dresses, for instance, you’ll probably want to optimize your site for keywords like “used wedding dress,” buy used wedding dresses,” etc. These are highly relevant terms, meaning there’s a greater chance that someone will make a purchase if they find your site by searching for one of these keywords.
On-Page vs Off-Page SEO
SEO can be broken down into two different categories: on-page and off-page. On-page SEO, as the name suggests, focuses on practices that occur directly on the website itself, whereas off-page SEO refers to practices that occur off the website (usually on a different site, such as building backlinks). Both types of SEO are equally as important when attempting to achieve a higher search ranking.
Search Engines and Rankings
To better understand SEO, you must first look at the mechanics of search engines. Google, Bing, Yahoo and even the lesser-known search engines like Ask all use advanced algorithms to identify various “ranking signals.” These signals may consist of things like the backlink quantity, backlink quality/relevance, domain age, social signals, content freshness, use of keywords, etc. Search engines work by crawling websites with an army of bots, looking for signals such as these. Once the signals have been identified, search engines use an algorithm to determine the site’s ranking.
How to Boost Your Site’s Ranking
If you’re hoping to achieve a higher search ranking for your website, you’ll need to perform on-site and off-site SEO. This begins with the use of custom titles and meta descriptions for each and every page on your site. Page titles are arguably one of the most influential ranking signals, as search engines display this information in their listings (titles are also displayed in web browsers). And meta descriptions are displayed directly under the title in a search listing, making it almost equally as important.
Building backlinks is another essential step towards achieving a higher search ranking. The key thing to remember, however, is that you should attract backlinks naturally rather than purchasing them. Buying links may sound harmless enough, but it could have a negative impact on your SEO efforts by lowering your site’s rankings.
