Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the visibility of a website or webpage in search engines via “natural” (i.e., unpaid/organic) search results. SEO involves two basic strategies: On-page SEO and Off-page SEO.
On-Page SEO includes things like optimizing the content on your page, using keywords in titles and meta descriptions, and making sure your site doesn’t have any duplicate content issues. Off-Page SEO refers to actions you take off of your own site to help improve its ranking in search engines. These tactics include link building, social bookmarking, and forum posting.
The goal of both types of SEO is pretty much the same – to increase traffic to your website. However, they do so in different ways.
With On-Page SEO, you’re basically trying to get people who are searching for your products or services to find you. You want them to click on your listing and visit your site.
Off-Page SEO is about getting links to your site. When someone else mentions your business online, whether it’s on a blog, forum, article, or some other type of post, you want that link to go to your website. That way, when people who are looking for what you sell or offer actually click on those links, they’ll end up at your site instead of somewhere else.
There are many different factors that contribute to how well your site does in terms of SEO. One of the biggest ones is backlinks. Backlinks are simply links pointing back to your site. If you have a lot of high quality sites linking to yours, then Google sees that as a good thing. In fact, having lots of backlinks is one of the best indicators that your site is authoritative and trustworthy.
Another big factor is keyword usage. If you use specific keywords throughout your site, it makes it easier for Google to understand what your site is about. Using keywords in your title tags, headers, and metatags helps too.
Finally, if you write unique, useful content, people are going to share it. People love sharing stuff that’s helpful, interesting, entertaining, etc. So make sure you create content that provides value to your readers.
