What Is Search Engine Optimization?
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| Search Engine Optimization |
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing or ranking a website or web page to increase the quantity and quality of your traffic from regular or organic search engine results.
What Is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is any measure which are capable of improving a site's placement in the organic results of search engines and the traffic increase.
The peculiarity of this marketing strategy lies on the one hand in the high value of search engine traffic due to the proximity to the campaign. On the other hand, SEO is the only marketing strategy that can keep delivering traffic for a long time, even if no more is invested in it.
Google, as the leading search engine, tries to evaluate websites with the help of an algorithm according to the standards of a human reader. The ranking is also set up according to these criteria.
Search engine optimization can therefore potentially deliver very cheap and therefore profitable traffic. However, the competition is all the stronger these days, and the search engine's demand for high-quality content means that SEO is becoming more expensive and therefore less profitable.
With the rapid increase in mobile searches, the approach to SEO must also be changed or at least adapted. In addition, it should be emphasized that optimization should not be carried out once, but recurrently in order not only to improve the ranking on search engines temporarily but also to influence it sustainably.
Main Topics
The two main topics in SEO are:
On- page
Off-page SEO ( link building )
From Google's focus on unique, value-added content, content marketing has grown as a related discipline.
On-page SEO
The following on-page SEO measures must also be observed:
- On-page SEO analysis:
Before a page can be optimized for content, it is necessary to identify the target group keywords and the appropriate search terms for the page. At the same time, the website operator must be able to assess how his content is performing. This not only requires a comprehensive on-page SEO audit, but also an understanding of the right measures. For example, a high bounce rate suggests that the user will not find the content on the page that he/she expects from the meta description in the search results. Perhaps the added value needs to be worked out better - or other topics need to be dealt with. A comparison with the competition for the respective keyword is worthwhile in order to find clues for the right content.
- URL and website structure :
Experience shows that shorter URLs in the search engine rankings are more likely to be clicked on by users than longer ones and are also distributed more often. Thus, short and meaningful URLs (preferably with the keyword at the front of the URL as possible) indirectly contribute to higher traffic and better ranking. The following recommendation applies: the closer the target page is to the platform's homepage (i.e. it has a short click path from the homepage to the subpage), the more comprehensible it is for the search engine and the user.
- Canonical Text :
Especially with large websites, it can happen that identical content is published under several URLs. This makes it difficult for the search engine to select the URL. This can lead to a page unintentionally ranking for a certain keyword, while the actual page optimized for the keyword is not taken into account. The canonical tag communicates to the search engine which page is to be preferred; it defines the canonical side of a key concept.
- Internal linking :
Internal links are an important component in on-page optimization. Here, links in the content can be used to link to other sub-pages relevant to the content. A “hard” link, in which the main keyword serves as anchor text for the link, can increase the relevance of a page to a specific keyword.
- Page speed :
A high loading speed increases the user experience and at the same time represents a positive signal for Google. The file sizes of audiovisual media and server requests should therefore be kept as small as possible.
Off-page SEO
In order to improve the ranking of a website, it is important to optimize the on-page and off-page ranking factors equally.
Always remember that search engines like Google want to offer their users the best possible results.
External signals are extremely important because they show search engines how users perceive a website.
Off-page SEO helps to increase the relevance, reliability, and authority of a website.
If an external website links or even praises your brand or shop by recommending your products (and this external source is considered reliable and neutral), Google and other search engines will most likely see this as a positive ranking factor and your online Shop will rank higher!
This is especially true if, on the other hand, the recommendation does not come from someone who has a direct interest in the performance of your website or your shop in search engines.
Tip & strategy for off-page SEO optimization
Here are 1 most useful off-page SEO tip that will help you improve your online reputation, increase visibility, and increase organic traffic for your online store:
- Link building
Link building is an SEO technique that aims to increase the number of links on external websites that point to your website or individual pages.
Link building should form the basis of your off-page optimization strategy: the more links that are sent to your website, the better the authority of your domain.
Always remember that quality is more important than quantity here!
A link from an authentic web page is worth more than multiple links from less authentic sites.
However, as mentioned earlier, off-page SEO is something that you cannot directly influence.
Instead, what can you do to increase the number of links to your page?
