With large number of business websites and ecommerce applications, the concept of SEO continues to take higher priority for building the visibility and popularity of any business among target audiences across the world. SEO or Search Engine Optimization can be described as the method of earning traffic by using organic or free listings that are offered by search engines. Web pages, websites, videos, and online documents are presented before the user by search engines, based on ranking that is decided as per the relevance of the page in terms of user’s query.
Two Main Areas of Focus in SEO
- On-Page SEO
This process includes various optimization techniques that can be done on web pages itself, so that compatibility with search engines is improved. Keyword research and selection, their density, meta description tags, sitemaps, and URL structure are some of the important on-page techniques.
- Off-Page SEO
As suggested by the name, it includes various techniques involved in optimizing web pages that are beyond the scope of a website. Popular techniques used include link building, and social media marketing.
Expert SEO companies make use of such effective techniques so that organic search results can be improved, thus building popularity and visibility of the website. Some of the steps that are used in optimizing a web page with search engines are mentioned below.
- Meta Description and Keywords in Meta Tags
Meta description tags play a significant role from the perspective of search engines as well as online users. Used as a means to represent the website, the descriptions are also seen by online users when the site is displayed on the search engine results. Keywords used in the meta tags should have high relevance, and they should also be used in the web page content.
- Use of Keywords in Image Alt tag
Images are used extensively in websites to make them rich and interactive. However, search engines only understand the Alt tags to comprehend the images, rather than translating them directly. Hence, a proper description of images with relevant keywords is important as a step to optimize the page.
- Relevant Keywords and Quality Content
When selecting keywords or phrases, it is important to ensure that they are relevant to the website, and they should be used optimally, with strict attention to density. The content should also be unique and well written, as standard in content is an important factor for search engines.
- Link Building
This process involves building links from other popular, high-traffic sites and blogs that point back to one’s website. The quantity and quality of links are important factors to be noted in the process, to ensure effective optimization.
Using different anchor texts, title tags with keywords, social bookmarking, submission of articles and blogs are also some of the SEO techniques that are used. It is important to make sure that the SEO techniques used are ethical, so that they can have long term benefits for the websites.