Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the craft of arranging the data on your webpage so that it appeals to search engines, thus raising your ranking with them. The goal is to appear as close to the top of the first page of search results as possible.
The Technical Side of SEO
SEO has a technical side. It requires using keywords in proper numbers, employing proper text such as headings, bold type, quotations, and italics, and includes behind the scenes data entry, known as meta-data. The depths that people will go to optimize their site varies. Some will go quite far. To complicate matters, the means to achieve good SEO frequently changes and is often debated by experts.
Major Search Engines Want to Deliver Quality
Browsers want their results to be valuable to the public. Companies such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Silk, Safari, and numerous others constantly evaluate sites to determine their value. They rank websites’ importance and display them in accordance with that rank. That means bad SEO will put you at the back of the line and good SEO will put you at the front. The simple economics of the situation is that good SEO grants the potential to earn more money.
SEO and Metadata
A fair portion of SEO should fall in the hands of a website programmer. That person should craft all the metadata that goes behind the scenes on the site. Before all the user-visible information gets added, the programmer should have set up the site to win. Unfortunately, the metadata can’t carry the entire load. What goes on the visible end of the site matters a great deal.
Bounce Rates Determine Value
Search engines used to rely heavily on metadata, but that led to problems. Unscrupulous websites used metadata to trick browsers and gain visitors that had no need for their services. The major browser companies did not take kindly to the deception. That’s why, nowadays, you hear about the importance of bounce rates. A bounce is when a visitor comes to your site then leaves immediately. Giving poor ratings to sites with high bounce rates is intended to curb false or misleading links and metadata.
Metadata Is Only Part of the SEO Picture
Along with evaluating bounce rates, browsers also downgraded the importance of metadata. Browsers want the value of the site to be high to visitors, not bots or algorithms that read the site. While they still use metadata -or so we hope –they now rely more heavily on the visual side of the site to determine its value.
Browsers Read What You Write
Major browsers use the writing on your site to determine its intended goal and its value. The writing should describe your purpose. It should employ words that people use when searching for what you offer. When a person or a bot finishes reading one of your webpages, no doubt should remain as to its purpose. If not, you lose with both the bot and the person.
The More Writing, the Better the SEO
The more writing you have on your site, the better it will perform with search engines. First, the bots have more to read and so can better determine your true purpose. Second, the more writing you have, the more different ways people can find you. With more writing, you cover more subjects and more potential search words. Simply put, you have a chance to show up more. That’s why it’s a good idea to have plenty of writing one a page, have plenty of pages on your site, and to have a blog.
SEO Is Easier Than It Used To Be
SEO is easier than it used to be because it now relies on writing that’s appealing to the visitor. Instead of complex manipulation of metadata, website owners can extend their reach by presenting visitors with good website content and clear descriptions. Simply by sharing knowledge in a blog helps search engines to define the site and determine its value. The more a website shares, the more likely it is to be shared, and that includes the search engines. That means that nowadays, good writing, and lots of it, is good SEO.