SEO: Think Strategic Integration Not Isolated Task List

Searching (often paraphrased as Googling) is an extremely important action on the World Wide Web, growing in double figures each year and driving most online and offline economic activities. So it’s no surprise that having one’s website appear at the top of search results is critical for visibility, traffic and instilling trust in consumers for any brand. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of boosting a website’s organic rankings on a search engine. It should not be thought of as just a task list for the IT department or a job to outsource, instead integrated with corporate strategy for a measurable impact. While a comprehensive SEO process might involve complex execution, from targeting keywords to improving backlinks, the basics are no rocket science.

Search engines are the paths through which websites reach the users, hence making the site understandable to search engines is the key to good SEO. The search engine titans include Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Of them, Google is the biggest and sends more than 90% of search traffic to websites, followed by Yahoo! and then Bing. For beginners, just sharing of relevant content for a targeted audience, compliance with Google’s Webmaster guidelines and exercising your ethical judgment should give you a good start.

Ready to dive into some details. Here’s a snapshot of some SEO essentials:

• Good URLs from a SEO perspective are short, human readable, void of keyword overuse and use hyphens to separate words instead of underscores, pluses or percentage signs.
• Clear text links are a must and each page should be reachable from at least one static link.
• Search engines cannot distinguish multiple versions of the same content and hence cannot figure out which is the original. Regular audit of page content and tags can ensure that for every unique content piece, there is one and only one URL pointing towards it. The process of canonicalization can help avoid duplication and ensure search engines display the page with most up to date content.
• Link building is one of the most critical and challenging aspects of the SEO process. Website owners should strive to receive links from high quality sources, which would in turn play a major role in boosting the rank and credibility of their own website.
• The manipulative process of showing different content to search engines and users is known as cloaking and is strictly against Webmaster guidelines.
• Important content should be in HTML text format since Search engines have difficulty reading rich media content such as graphics, videos and animations among others. Media that includes alt tags enable web crawlers to comprehend the content for SEO purposes, while additionally allowing screen readers to assist the blind or visually handicapped.
• Title tags are an important component of SEO and appear at the top of an Internet browser page. The first 65-75 characters of these tags are visible in search results and social media sites, so these should be precise and relevant. They should definitely include targeted keywords for even better optimization.
• Meta description tag is a short description of a page’s content and appears as a snippet of text beneath the search results. Though these tags do not affect the page rank algorithm, they can play a crucial role in attracting people to click on a search result.
• Keyword density is not a part of modern search rank algorithm, hence using a high quality keyword repeatedly to manipulate rankings will only harm the website. Its best to use well researched keywords that are strategically and logically in line with content on a particular page.
• Google AdWords is a great way of identifying good quality keywords to be used across the website. A lot of research and analysis is required to figure out the best running keywords and improve the search rank for a website.
• Search engines are getting much smarter each day so don’t take chances with any risky detours to quick online success. Refrain from keyword stuffing, manipulative linking, spamming, cloaking that can lead to the banning of a website from appearing in searches.
• SEO is a continuous two-way effort. While the search engines continuously strive to improve their search rank algorithm and provide users with the most relevant content, the website owners also have the responsibility to create pages that cater to user needs. Even a basic website should be easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasant and contain relevant content.

The above is a simple overview for all those bewildered by the jargon of the digital era. Take these basic SEO ingredients, add some technical expertise and give it time. As organic results are earned and not paid for, it’s best not to consider it a quick transaction but an ongoing process. A website with valuable content that is updated and relevant would go a long way in building user loyalty and naturally converge with SEO best practices.