Introduction To SEO

WHAT IS SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a powerful web marketing strategy developed by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and so on. Since the time Google became an essential part of the daily life, we use it to search for almost everything from restaurants in the nearby area to the weather or economic conditions on the other part of the world. Like food and water ‘Googling’ is an essential part of the routine now. Now the moment we hit the search button for a query, a list of websites are shown which contain the query term. Users normally tend to visit the first or second website on the list to get more relevant results. The reason for these websites to appear at the top of the list is due to ‘optimization’. Optimization helps these websites to rank better than the other websites and hence they appear on the first go of the search button. It is a technique which helps search engines find and rank a site higher than that of the other available websites.

BASIC STEPS IN SEO:

In order to understand SEO, we need to study the basic steps in optimization of a content. These are;

1. CRAWLING

This is the process in which the search engine scan through a web page to check for valid contents.

2. CATCHING

As a valid content is obtained while scanning through a page, Google captures a snapshot of this and saves it in the storage location or database for future use.

3. INDEXING

This is the process of classifying the web pages as per their content. As Google crawls down through each page and catches the content, the snapshot taken is then classified as per their content for easier access on a query.

BASIC TERMS USED IN SEO:

It takes some basic steps for Google to optimize a content in a web page. The content has to be a rich one in order to satisfy the query of the user. A web page can be developed by an institution/company/person etc describing their facilities/features/abilities etc. There are some common terms used in optimization which every SEO should be familiar with in order to get an introduction to SEO. These are;

Pogo Sticking

When a user enters a query, Google checks for the matching content in its database. When a web page without valid content is found, its page rank decreases. Thus on the next search, this site is removed from the top prioritized list.

Web masters

A person or authority controlling a website or having the credentials to change the content of a web page is called a web master.

Niche Specification

Niche refers to content. A page with accurate and relevant content related to the searched keyword is said to be more niche specified. It also depends upon the number of times the keyword is used.

SEO Starter Guide PDF

This is the starter guide for every new SEO containing the basics of optimization published by Google.

SEO ACTIVITIES:

On-Page Optimization

The contents are edited or optimized live on the website.

Off-Page Optimization

The contents are worked on or edited off line and then uploaded to the website.

For easier crawling,the page should load faster. If the pages are designed with too much animations or art works, the loading time increases. This decreases its credibility and ranking.

SEO METHODS:

Search Engine Optimization can be done in two ways either through ethical or unethical practices. These two methods are;

Black Hat Optimization

These are the unethical practices used by an SEO due to which he/she can be punished under the Google algorithm updates. They can be keyword stuffing or by using a smaller pixel size such as 1 and so on.

White Hat Optimization

The ethical practices which an SEO should be accustomed to  are categorized under this term.

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