What Is SEO? And How Does It Work?

What is SEO and how does it work? SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the process of increasing a websites search engine (google) ranking on the search engine results page (SERP). Google displays the pages it thinks are most relevant and authoritative on the searched topic first, which is why SEO is so important to a business, especially as 75% of people don’t get past the first page of results.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is any activity aimed at improving your website’s visibility in the search engines. But how exactly do you land your website at the top of the first page of the search results when someone searches for keywords related to your topic?

What Is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) And How Does It Work?

As SEO consultants in Birmingham, we get asked this on a daily basis. What is SEO and how does it work with Google? Search engine optimisation is a continuous process. You need to regularly update your content and keep on top of and understand how search engines, particularly Google are indexing information and evaluating website authority.

Generally, there are 3 basic stages involved in SEO:

1. Identify Keywords And Phrases Related To Your Business.

Once you have identified the keywords and phrases people are searching in relation to your product and service, you can implement them into your content. There are plenty of tools to help you do this, which makes life a lot easier. For example, to get started you can use Google AdWords keyword planner for free, this will tell you what terms people are searching for, and how many people are searching for different terms. There are other great paid tools as well, such as Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush.

2. Optimise Your Content For Keywords And Phrases

Great content is vital to the optimisation of your website, and it’s not just a case of populating your site with any old rubbish. Content needs to be interesting and relevant. You’ll want to have information that your target market is searching for. Content also needs to be easy easily digestible. Here are a few very quick tips we use at AIM Internet as part of our ‘AIM Marketing’  strategy to optimise your content:

  • Implement keywords in the body of your content, title tags, meta description tags, and H1 tags.
  • Layer your content using pillar pages that will contain an overview of your focus areas and a link to content of the same topic.
  • Keep content fresh and up to date, don’t leave low performing content dormant on your site.
  • Include other content such as quality video and images.
  • Whenever possible, use question keywords (e.g. optimise for “What is SEO and How it Works” instead of just “SEO”). According to SEMrush questions generate a 480% increase in the percentage of keywords with high Google rankings.

3. Make Sure You Have Links Back To Your Website

Links back to your website are important when your goal is to climb the ranks of Google.  As I mentioned earlier, Google ranks authoritative pages higher and links back are the key to authority.  Links show Google that your website is important and relevant. So by creating shareable and interesting content you’re already investing in your SEO strategy.

In Summary

When it comes to SEO, do your homework and understand what kind of content your potential customers are looking for. Create content people are interested in as well as optimising it and you’ll start to see your website traffic increase. There are so many benefits of a well optimised website that you can’t afford to ignore SEO.

If your website’s not performing and you need some help, why not call AIM Internet, an SEO Company in Birmingham on 0870 062 8760. At AIM Internet, Our SEO agency experts in Birmingham will be happy to chat to you to find out why. We have the answer to what is SEO and how it works! 

If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read our blog: 8 Ways to Improve your SEO and Drive Organic Traffic to Your Website.

what is SEO - Search engine optimisation

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