You’ve probably heard of Search engine optimization(Sökmotoroptimering), or Search Engine Optimization. But what is it, really? In its simplest form, SEO is a way to improve your visibility online. The goal is to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), like Google and Bing, for certain queries related to your business.
Think about it this way: when you type something into a search engine, you’re presented with a list of results that are relevant to your query. The higher up on that list your website appears, the more likely people are to click on it. That’s why SEO is so important—it helps you get in front of your target audience and improve your chances of driving traffic to your website.
But how does one go about optimizing their website for search engines? It’s not as simple as just sprinkling in a few keywords here and there (in fact, that could actually hurt your rankings). There are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to SEO. Let’s take a look at some of the most important ones.
Keywords
As we mentioned before, keywords are an important part of SEO. But what exactly are they? Keywords are the words and phrases that people use when they’re searching for something online. For example, if you sell shoes, some relevant keywords might be “shoes,” “sneakers,” “athletic footwear,” etc.
It’s important to choose the right keywords—ones that are relevant to your business and have a good amount of monthly searches (more on that later). But beware: stuffing your content full of keywords will not only turn off potential customers, but it could also result in search engines penalizing your website. The key is to use keywords thoughtfully and sparingly, sticking to a more natural feel.
Search Volume
Before you start using certain keywords on your website or blog, it’s important to check the monthly search volume—this will give you an idea of how many people are actually searching for that particular keyword. There are a number of tools out there that can help with this, like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Moz Keyword Explorer.
Just because a keyword has a high monthly search volume doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right one for you. You also want to make sure that the keyword is relevant to your business—otherwise you’ll be getting a lot of traffic from people who aren’t interested in what you have to offer. And lastly, you’ll want to consider how difficult it would be to rank for that keyword; if there’s already a lot of competition out there, it might be tough to break through.
Authority
Another important factor in SEO is authority—essentially, how trustworthy and credible your website is considered by search engines. There are a few different ways to build authority, but one of the most effective is through link building. Link building is the process of getting other websites to link back to yours—the more high-quality links you have pointing back to your site, the better. Not only does this show search engines that your site is worth linking to, but it also drives traffic from those other websites directly to yours. Win-win!
Content
Last but not least, we have content—arguably one of the most important aspects of SEO (and definitely one of our favorites). Content includes everything from blog posts and articles to product descriptions and infographics—basically anything that lives on your website or blog. Creating quality content helps show search engines that your site is worth ranking highly because it provides value for users. Plus, good content can keep people coming back for more, which can help improve brand awareness and loyalty over time.
These are just some of the basics when it comes understanding SEO! As we mentioned before, there’s a lot that goes into optimizing your website for search engines—but hopefully this gives you a better idea of where to start. Stay tuned for more articles on all things digital marketing!