Researched and written by Marina Ghazaryan and Beata Janaszkiewicz-Cavalcanti.
The SEO know-how
In the ever-changing world of digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to successfully boosting online visibility. Nowadays, the fight for visibility is even fiercer, with thousands of new websites being created all the time and search engines – such as Google – updating the rules of the game and the algorithms more often. To achieve the anticipated results, it is crucial to understand how to properly conduct SEO, develop a strategy, and find the best people to do the job.
Source: Siteefy
Naturally, all brands want to be more visible to potential customers than their competitors. As most brands nowadays have an online presence, a key asset is online visibility. SEO is a process that can facilitate receiving more web traffic and have a higher chance of customers becoming acquainted with a company’s service or product - which can translate directly into more growth in the targeted markets. Having a good SEO performance has never been so crucial (not forgetting about meeting the customers' needs;)).
This article explores SEO know-how, starting with the basics regarding the concepts behind it. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to conduct keyword research, develop a strategy, and implement the newest trends.
What exactly is SEO?
Let’s start by explaining some key concepts: Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the processes to enhance the visibility and positioning of web pages in organic search results. SEO can be divided into three main subcategories:
On-page SEO: Optimization of the website around keywords that the target customer searches for in search engines. It is essentially making the website appealing to both search engines and people. This includes creating engaging content, using the right keywords, having clear titles and descriptions, structuring your URLs well, and making sure the images are labeled correctly.
Off-page SEO: Activities done outside of the website to increase the website’s credibility. This refers to getting other reputable websites (sources) to refer to the website, and it can be achieved via building high-quality backlinks, solid social media engagement, and managing online reputation.
Technical SEO: The process of making sure that the website is easy for search engines, such as Google, to crawl and index all of the website's content. This includes making the site mobile-friendly, fast, secure, and well-structured with sitemaps and schema markup.
Another component that can influence SEO is user interaction signals - the way that users interact with the site helps search engines figure out if the page is a good match for someone’s search. Some of the main user signals are:
- Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page, which can indicate how relevant and high-quality the content is.
- Click-through rate (CTR): The rate at which people click on a search engine result to visit a page. That refers to the effectiveness of the title and description.
- Time on site: The duration of a visitor's stay on a site. It can be an indicator of the value and engagement level of the content.
- Pages per session: An indicator of the number of pages a user visits in one session, which can bring information on how compelling and navigable the site is.
Search engine results pages (SERPs) are pages that display the results (websites found) when a user types in a search query in a given search engine.
SERP views in Google on August 7, 2024
There are also two types of search results:
- Organic: Search hits that are not financed and their position depends on relevance and successful SEO. They receive the majority of web traffic.
- Paid: Advertisements are typically displayed above or alongside organic search results, marked with labels such as "Ad" or "Sponsored”. They are the results of paid advertising campaigns.
The ways search engines collect, organize, and show search results are crawling or indexing. It resembles the work of librarians and how they organize their books and collections.
Crawling refers to the process in which a search engine sends teams of robots (called crawlers or spiders) to websites across the internet to discover new content and update the information on existing web pages.
Similarly, a search engine needs to organize information to respond quickly enough to the queries. It does so by giving indexes to information present on the websites - in a process called indexing.
When a search is initiated, the search engine ranks the websites according to their relevance and usefulness against the search query, and displays the most relevant results. It is rather important that a website ranks high on search engines like Google, ideally on the first page. According to Forbes, less than 1% of users get to the second page of search results.
Key SEO success factors
Given the incredible amount of online information created every day, it has become crucial for content rankers to develop solid guidelines that help them to rank content in accordance with their importance or relevance to the topic and to provide users with information they can trust. These factors may not always directly affect a website’s positioning, but awareness of them is useful for developing a proper SEO strategy.
Experience - Expertise - Authoritativeness - Trustworthiness (EEAT)
This concept comes from the Google Website Guidelines developed for human rankers to evaluate content quality. It is not a confirmed direct ranking factor, but SEO strategies that meet the criteria may lead to better website performance in the long run.
Experience: Refers to first-hand experience with the topic. One way to show it on one’s website is to include a bio in which the expertise is highlighted or to refer to a real-life example straight in the content.
Expertise: Measured by how knowledgeable and accurate the piece of content is. The right credentials given to the respective authors and sources are also highly regarded.
Authoritativeness: Best expressed by creating and publishing high-quality content regularly and earning reputation and mentions from other respected websites and creators. The rule is simple: the more coverage from others, the better.
Trustworthiness: This can be the trickiest to put into practice. It refers to clarity and transparency regarding the creator, contact information, reputation, and ethical practices.
The E-E-A-T rule is perhaps most important when it comes to the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) category of content and content creators – more on this later. Google particularly pays close attention to this because it can significantly impact a person's health, financial stability, happiness, or safety, thus protecting users from harm from an unauthorized opinion. It can help any brand to position itself as having the expertise and solution relevant for the searcher.
Now that we have explored the key concepts, it is time to dive into specifics. SEO can be performed at a variety of levels: it can be done on-page or off-page, more technical (search engine-oriented) or more user-oriented. The way to choose will depend on the website itself and how well it already performs.
What are the essentials of an optimized website?
For effective SEO optimization, it is advised to prioritize landing pages that feature relevant, useful, and original content tailored to the users' needs – the ones that already meet the EEAT criteria and do not require creating new content, SEO, and user experience from scratch.
Pages should also be designed with transparency in mind, where information such as additional features or pricing is easily accessible. And last but not least, excellent user experience is crucial. This can be achieved through simple, intuitive navigation and quick load times, both of which are critical factors for retaining user engagement and reducing bounce rates. High-quality landing pages that provide substantive content and a positive user experience are more likely to be rewarded by search engines, resulting in improved visibility and higher organic traffic.
It is best to avoid low-quality landing pages that offer no real value to users. Pages that only include a call to action and a conversion link without any meaningful content or engagement opportunities tend to perform poorly in search engine results and can also negatively impact the overall credibility and reputation of the brand. Investing in the development of valuable content and user-friendly design not only aligns with best SEO practices but also fosters long-term user loyalty and customer trust.
TL;DR
The keyword research step-by-step
Ready to start? Use an SEO checklist to validate whether you have done all that really matters and whether the site is actually meeting the expectations.
About “ideal keyword density”
While there are some guidelines and recommendations regarding the number of keywords to include on a website, the core message is to let the text flow naturally.
SEO internationalization matters
SEO is all about words and the right meaning – and sometimes, choosing a synonym may end up getting no web traffic at all. Internationalization is no longer optional – it’s a must.
SEO localization project from scratch
To get a full grasp of how to get started with SEO projects, it is best to understand the workflow and how to find the right people to put on this mission. Audit done right, comprehensive SEO (off-page, on-page, technical, and user interaction types) and its monitoring are crucial. Invest in native-like fluency and SEO expertise.
Risky business - YMYL
YMYL refers to topics of health, safety, finance, or well-being. As these directly impact user health and safety, they are given the highest priority and come under the biggest scrutiny. Take extra care to avoid misinformation and ensure high-quality when creating such content.
SEO KPIs
Create the metrics that will tell you if your SEO efforts pay off. They should relate to user engagement, organic traffic searches, keyword research, and performance, among others.
SEO checklist
Ready to start? Use an SEO checklist to validate whether you have done all that really matters and whether the site is actually meeting the expectations.
This has been a preview. The full report can be accessed online by Nimdzi Partners.
The article was researched and co-written by Nimdzi's localization researcher and SEO expert, Marina Ghazaryan.
The article was co-written by Beata Janaszkiewicz-Cavalcanti.
