Search engines are tools like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Search engine optimization is the art of using certain key words and phrases that boost your online content in the natural search results, which are determined by the algorithm to find the most suitable result for the search phrase entered. You can use a combination of search engine optimization and search engine advertising (where you pay to push your result further up the list) to make your way to the top of the search page.
Five Tips for Search Engine Optimization
- Research Keywords. Keywords are mostly useful to search engines, as they include commonly searched items within your niche or genre. People who are interested in marketing might have specific interest in digital marketing, for example, or social media marketing. Find a couple of keywords (there are free keyword search engines online that will generate lists in order of popularity for you) and find ways to naturally integrate them into your content. Do not stuff keywords into your description, URL, titles, headings, or alt text for images, as this does nothing but make your website unusable for your audience—if anything, your site might be flagged for spam.
- Choose a Title That Makes Sense. Google defines a page title as an “element [that] tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is” (Google, 2023), and recommends that users create unique title text for each page on a website. Your titles should usually be short but relevant and should contain a few keywords without being overloaded with them. For example, this post is titled “Marketing and Search Engine Optimization,” not “Marketing and SEO Search Engine Optimization Advertising Digital Affiliate Social Media Facebook Influencers for Beginners,” because that would be ridiculous.
- Optimize Your URL. URL, or uniform resource locator, is a fancy term for the unique address of a given resource on the Internet. If a URL is valid, it takes you to a specific place on the Web, be it a document, a webpage, an image, or something in between or outside. Your URL needs to be simple, understandable, and easy to access. This goes for your website (What’s easier to remember? so-many-ocs.com or somanyocswebsitelinks.websitehosting.web.inc.html?), but it also goes for the content within your website. URLs for blog posts and similar content should be self-explanatory. If you’ve uploaded a guide to b2b networking, your URL should be something to the effect of website-dot-com-slash-b2b-networking-tips. This makes it easier to find and share, as well as pushing it up in the search results.
- Organize Your Content. Search engines read results top to bottom, so you should include your most relevant information—the things your audience is searching for—right off the bat. Try introducing your concepts within the first paragraph or so and delving into them in greater detail further down, so that your content both draws the reader in and delivers value.
- Utilize Headings. These are available in just about any word processing software and range from Heading 1 or <h1> to Heading 6 or <h6>. Search engines will prioritize headings based on their number—so when creating headings, you should format your most prominent keywords in <h1>.
References
Google. (2023, March 21). SEO Starter Guide: the Basics | Google Search Central | Documentation. Google Developers. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide
Scott, D. M. (2022). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting, Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly. John Wiley & Sons.
Sharma, D., Shukla, R., Giri, A. K., & Kumar, S. (2019). A Brief Review on Search Engine Optimization. 2019 9th International Conference on Cloud Computing, Data Science & Engineering (Confluence), 687–692. https://doi.org/10.1109/confluence.2019.8776976
What is a URL? – Learn web development | MDN. (2023). Developer.mozilla.org. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Web_mechanics/What_is_a_URL
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