SEO is one of those things that are easy to recognize when seen but impossible to accurately define out of the blue--other examples are the words ‘genius’ and ‘content marketing’.
The truth is SEO (meaning Search Engine Optimization) is a lot of things all coming together to create a desired result. Trying to sum it all in one sentence--or even one paragraph--would give a picture that is fuzzy at best.
For example, our friends over at MOZ define SEO as:
“...the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.”
Great, that’s a pretty good definition, if you were looking for the “what” of things and not the “how”. If you were looking for a definition that would tell you how to get your website noticed by search engines you would be sorely disappointed.
So what if you were looking for a definition that would fill you in on the down low of how to get your website up high on the search engine results pages?
That would depend on a lot of things (there’s a reason why SEOs are well-known for using this phrase). The processes that come together to make SEO depend heavily on the sort of business or project you are engaged in. What would define good SEO for you may be completely off for another.
For a relevant understanding of what makes for good SEO, turn to the ranking factors which Google uses to rank your website. SEO specialists use them to optimize your site and increase your chances of getting ranked favorably on search engines. There are hundreds of ranking factors, but the better known ones include:
- How relevant the content on your site is with respect to the searcher’s keyword phrase and intent.
- How good is the content on your website? Is it relevant and does it convey value to the reader? Or is it ‘thin’, short, or unnecessary? The importance of content as a ranking factor or SEO factor cannot be overstated.
- How many other websites on the internet are linking to your website and its content? Backlinks are also super important as far as SEO is concerned.
- How trustworthy are the other sites that link to yours? Not all links that point to your site are created equal, and some have the potential to work against you.
- Does your website load quickly (as in no more than a few seconds) and is it easy to browse and navigate?
- Do your headlines and the title tags you use have keywords that support the content found in the rest of your website. Search engines are big on understanding what a website is about so they can better understand how to index and rank it.
- How recently was your website updated? The more recently the better.
- For searchers doing search on mobile devices, is your website responsive to mobile screens?
- For local businesses, do you have great ratings from customers? Is your address consistent all across the internet?
- How many social shares do you get on your website?
So what is SEO to Eternity?
The process by which you favorably meet these ranking factors that determine your position on the results page. The process takes some time, but it does pay off in the long run.
As you can imagine, satisfying hundreds of factors can be daunting to say the least. That’s why many people leave SEO to the experts rather than taking chances and wasting time and resources with trial and error. At Eternity we specialize in taking the guesswork out of SEO so that you get the return you deserve from your website. We would love to chat to answer any questions you may have,
