What is SEO?
Look, for a start I’ll say this: I couldn’t think of a better way to define it than the way digital marketing behemoth (and my heroes for learning the nitty gritty of digital from), Moz, have:
“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic* search engine results.”
But, what is it literally? What is actually done to create these ‘optimisations’ on your website? Well, it’s quite logical, really.
Optimisation of a website to give it a better chance of being found in Google by the right people is carried out by implementing the following things (one of, or a combination of) on the website itself:
ONE: The Written Word
Or ‘copy’, as us ‘copywriters’ call it. Literally what is written on the website. This is the most fundamental type of content that search engines , like Google, are interested in.
Google’s tentacles crawl the internet looking for what we call ‘keywords’ that match up with or closely relate to the things we search for.
But we don’t just slip keywords into any old text. Google’s systems are very good at differentiating useful content that better-accommodates the user’s query, from the fluff that old-school SEO ‘professionals’ use with the odd ‘keyword’ crammed into ‘stock’ text.
Copywriters and SEO providers have some basic rules for how to implement copy and keywords on a page that helps Google to recognise a good page of content easier. It’s called keyword mapping , but that’s for another time.
For now, just take it on face value, and let us nerds worry about that.
TWO: Video
In the last few years, this has become more important for digital marketers.
In addition to the written word, video has become a valuable tool for helping your web page to get found. Video is a great way of entertaining a searcher while informing them or answering their original question.
And when embedded on a webpage, it can keep the user on your website for longer (Google likes this; staying around for longer is often seen as an indicator that the user is very engaged by your content or that they find it useful).
And: Google owns YouTube, so they favour videos hosted there if someone uploads their video to it. Listings on other video services often appear, too, like Vimeo, for example.
You can sometimes see it of you search for something: a mixture of links to pages on people’s websites with some YouTube links alongside them.
THREE: Off-Page SEO
Google also likes to see links from other websites going back to your website. It is seen as an indicator of trustworthiness; if another site provides a link back to you from their site, it is seen as a kind of ‘recommendation’.
This type of backlinking can be a laborious task, as one really needs to have developed a real-life relationship with a relevant third party in order obtain a link from their property.
This is why in the past, less-than-reputable agencies offered backlinking as part of their SEO services via the use of ‘link farms’ and other devious practices.
Link farms are created by adding sneaky text links on their clients’ websites that go to other clients’ websites. What you will get, for example, is a cake shop sending backlinks to a mechanical workshop — two completely irrelevant and unrelated entities ‘recommending’ each other’s services.
This used to (kind of) work, but now Google hates this and will penalise you for doing it, so don’t do it. Some agencies will even have offices full of people in another country who spend all day putting phoney comments in unrelated forums with a link to your website, just to say that they are providing the service.
Links can also come from offsite locations that you control, too, like from your social media channels or directories like service.com.au. If the content is related on each entity, it all helps.
Get It?
These are just a few of the types of activities undertaken to help your website be found in search engines. There are more technical aspects that relate to SEO, but to be honest, I let web developers worry about it more.
In my job as a copywriter and SEO specialist, I spend most of my time on the written word for getting client pages found for chosen keywords or key phrases. And I approach it as a ‘page by page’ prospect: every time my client wants to try and be found for a service or product, I will dedicate one web page to that keyword (again, Google likes clarity).
I find this to still be the most valuable SEO practice as of this writing, along with directing a content producer to create related videos to bolster or complement the content, and even possibly occupy more than one place in Google search results by doing so.
So what is SEO, Again?
Search Engine Optimisation, or the practice of optimising your website to give it a better chance of being found in search engines for particular user queries.
*’organic’ means that you don’t pay for ads in order to be found.