We’ve all heard of SEO – but what exactly is it? And how do you achieve “good” SEO? Before attempting to tackle your own search engine optimization strategy, take a look at these five SEO basics.

  1. What is SEO?

 While there are varying definitions for SEO, SEO can be thought of as increasing the visibility and traffic to your website, brand, or company through non-paid search results.

  1. Why is SEO important?

SEO is important for many reasons, but here are the top four factors a digital marketing agency considers in their optimization strategy:

  • The majority of online traffic is driven by search engines
  • Organic search has no direct cost to run
  • Visibility is determined by the relevance and utility of content, not your budget
  • SEO helps effectively communicate your content to search engines
  1. How do search engines work?

 SEO matters because it helps search engines determine if your site is relevant to users. But how does the search engine know? The specific search algorithms are complex and unknown — even to top digital marketing agencies —  but a premier SEO strategy firm will tell you that search engines pick up keywords by crawling websites. They arrive on the website, go through every link and all text on the site, and summarize and bucket the content into the search engine’s index. The index is updated, and search rankings are updated to match it. This process can take days, or even weeks, depending on the popularity and size of the website. 

  1. What is a good SEO keyword?

 In order for a search engine to give you a good SEO ranking, it is important to incorporate keywords into your site that the crawlers will pick up on. Here are four factors that Bluetext, a leading digital content marketing firm, recommends considering when selecting your SEO keywords:

  • Relevancy: Can you write multiple pages solely dedicated to this keyword?
  • Search Volume: Do people actually search for this word?
  • Competition: Is this keyword popular among your competition? Make sure your keywords are unique enough to you in order to show up on the first search results page.
  • Campaign: Are there plans for a paid campaign around this keyword?
  1. What is the best way to utilize my chosen keywords?

Content, content, content. Blogs are not just for recipes and personal stories! They actually serve a critical function to search engine optimization. This is why digital content marketing firms recommend before your site launches,  you have a solid repertoire of resources and blog posts. Here are some tips to help ensure that your SEO keywords are utilized in the most productive way possible:

  • Make sure your pages have a central focus. Select one or two keywords to write about and stay on topic. If you have other keywords to optimize around, start a new post! 
  • Regularly link back to relevant pages with internal links. Otherwise, the search engine crawlers will not know what pages on your website are relevant or important
  • Leverage the H1. H1 headings are especially weighted by search crawlers because of their visibility and size. The H1 is the single most important line of text on a page
  • Ensure that pages are long enough to have crawlable body text, usually 200 words or more

Search engine optimization is a tricky terrain to navigate alone. Google search engines use a number of complex algorithms to improve the end user experience, so it is recommended you consult a digital marketing agency in planning your SEO strategy. Digital content firms, such as Bluetext, are a strong asset to leverage in keyword research and content planning. Digital marketing agencies are experienced and skilled at selecting organic keywords that will be both effective and realistic.