Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the backbone of any successful online presence. It’s a multifaceted approach to improving your website’s visibility on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Understanding the basics of SEO and implementing an effective strategy is impossible if you don’t know the basic terminology and strategies used in search engine optimization. In this blog, we’ll cover 10 important terms to understand as you dip your toe into the world of SEO!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you’re new to SEO, this is the most important term to fully understand! SEO is the abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization, which is the culmination of different practices that have the goal of acquiring more organic traffic from search engines.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO are practices and improvements that occur on your website. This includes optimizing content, meta descriptions, headings, URLs, and more.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO focuses on off-website optimizations including link building, Google Business Profile, social media marketing, email marketing, and more.
Keywords
Keywords are vital for successful SEO. Keywords are words that are related to your business that search engines with look for on your site. For example, if you run a plumbing company, a keyword that you want to include on your website is “dripping faucet”. Keywords should be related to services and products that you offer which are also things potential customers will be typing into a search engine.
Long-tail keywords
Long tail keywords are keyword phrases that contain 3-4+ words. Based on the length of these keywords they are likely to have a lower search volume but typically yield higher results since they are more niche searches. These keywords are often posed in the form of a question like, “Where can I find a personal trainer near me?”. These are great to use as inspiration for blog topics or FAQ sections on your website.
Keyword density
Keyword density is the balance of the amount of keywords in a section of content. Stuffing content full of keywords with no concern for readability is not helpful for SEO. Keyword density focuses on the balance of content that is keyword-rich while still being informative and readable.
Keyword research
Keyword research refers to efforts done to create a list of keywords that are relevant to your business, are being searched for by potential customers, and are being used by your competitors. Keyword research is critical for successful SEO.
SERP
SERP stands for search engine results page. This is the page of results displayed on a search engine like Google after a query is submitted. Showing up on the first page of results is very important for generating organic traffic as many users don’t click to the click second page.
Page rank
Page rank refers to the position your website appears on a SERP. The higher up your website appears the better as users typically only look at the first few results before clicking on a website.
Meta description
A meta description is a brief description of a website page that appears under the page title on the search engine results page. These descriptions need to be less than 160 characters and should incorporate relevant keywords while enticing users to click on the link to find out more information.
I Need Help With My SEO Strategy, What Do I Do?
If you need help creating an actionable search engine optimization strategy, Blackbear Marketing has got you covered! Get in contact with us so we can discuss what your business needs are and how we can help get you there!
