What is SEO and how is SEO used?
WHAT IS SEO ?
SEO means Search Engine Optimization and is the process used to optimize a website's technical configuration, content relevance and link popularity so its pages can become easily findable, more relevant and popular towards user search queries, and as a consequence, search engines rank them better.
Search engines recommend SEO efforts that benefit both the user search experience and page’s ranking, by featuring content that fulfills user search needs. This includes the use of relevant keywords in titles, meta descriptions, and headlines (H1), featuring descriptive URLs with keywords rather than strings of numbers, and schema markup to specify the page's content meaning, among other SEO best practices.
How does SEO work?
While there is a way to maximize results, it is almost impossible to fully manipulate search algorithms. Businesses often look to the shortest path toward ideal results with the least amount of effort, but SEO requires a lot of action and time. There is no SEO strategy where something can be changed today with the expectation of clear results tomorrow. SEO is a long-term project, with daily action and constant activity.
Search engines use bots to crawl all website pages, downloading and storing that information into a collection known as an index. This index is like a library and when someone searches for something in it, the search engine acts as the librarian. The search engine pulls and displays relevant information from the search query and shows users content related to what they were looking for. Search engine algorithms analyze webpages in the index to determine the order those pages should be displayed on the SERP.
1.Meaning of the query. To return relevant results, the algorithm needs to first establish what information the user is searching for. This is known as intent. To understand intent, the algorithm is looking to understand language. Interpreting spelling mistakes, synonyms and that some words mean different things in different contexts all play into the algorithm understanding searcher intent. For example, search engines would need to be able to distinguish between "bass" as a fish and "bass" as an instrument. Intent would be based on additional search terms, historical search, location search and more to display the correct information.
2.Relevance of webpages. The algorithm analyzes webpage content to assess whether the sites contain information relevant to what a user is looking for. This comes after intent is established. A basic signal for relevance would be if the webpage includes the keywords used in the search. This includes showing up in the body copy or page headings. But beyond keyword matching, search engines use aggregated interaction data to determine if the page is relevant to the search query. This looks at anonymized data from previous searches to match the page with the query.
3.Quality of the content. Search engines' aim is to prioritize the most reliable sources available. The intelligence built into the algorithms can identify which pages demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness in relation to the intent.
4.Usability of webpages. Web design and accessibility play a big part in search rankings. The algorithm looks for how the site appears in different browsers, if it's designed for different device types -- such as desktops, tablets and phones -- and if the page loading times work well for users with slower internet connections.
5.Context and settings. Search engines and their algorithms use information from past search history and search settings to help determine which results are most useful to a user at that moment. Country and location can be used to deliver content relevant to the area from which someone is searching. For example, someone searching for "football" in New England would get different results than someone entering for the same query in England.
REFERANCES:
What is seo? (no date) Mailchimp. Available at: https://mailchimp.com/en-gb/marketing-glossary/seo/#:~:text=SEO%20means%20Search%20Engine%20Optimization,search%20engines%20rank%20them%20better. (Accessed: January 30, 2023).
LaFleur, G. (2022) What is search engine optimization (SEO)?, WhatIs.com. TechTarget. Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/search-engine-optimization-SEO (Accessed: January 30, 2023).
