A Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization

What’s the first thing you do when you want to check out the best restaurants in your area? Or when you want to want to fix a broken pipe? Or when you want to learn more about a certain topic you’re interested in?

In most cases, you turn to Google.

Anytime a page pops up on the first page of Google, you can be sure that the creators of that page put a lot of effort into their search engine optimization (SEO) game.

But what exactly is SEO?

Understanding SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a much misunderstood term because it sounds like a highly technical, complex subject. In reality, SEO is a lot simpler than many marketers make it out to be. Allow us to explain SEO using a simple analogy.

The internet is like a library with billions of books. You, the user, is a reader who is looking for one specific book.

Search engines like Google are like librarians. They help you find the book you’re looking for by organizing and categorizing books based on their content and relevance. But how do they do this?

By reading the title and summary of each book and ensuring that each book is placed in the correct section of the library.

In this analogy, SEO is designing an attractive book cover, writing a captivating title, and adding an informative summary. Anything that makes the librarian’s (search engine’s) job easier to categorize your books and recommend it to other readers (users) is search engine optimization.

How do Search Engines Work?

Like the librarian in our story, search engines have only one goal: to provide users with the most relevant information. Search engines do this by using complex algorithms to crawl, index and rank web pages based on two factors: relevance and authority.

Relevance refers to the relevance between the search query and the content on the page. Search engines assess relevance using keywords, meta-descriptions and the topics. In our book analogy, relevance refers to the title and summary of the book.

Authority refers to the website’s popularity online. Search engines assume that the more often a website is visited, the more relevant it is to users. In our book analogy, authority refers to the author's expertise on the field and their popularity among their readers.

So what happens when you search a query on Google?

The search engine scans its vast database and displays the most relevant and authoritative results for the user’s query. But that’s not all.

Search engines also prioritize pages that have a smooth user experience and provide high-value, quality content.

Search engines consider various factors such as keywords, on-page optimization, off-page optimization and user engagement metrics to rank results.

Confused? That’s alright.

As you can see, understanding how SEO works isn’t complicated. But figuring out how to rank higher on search engines takes time and investment.

The rest of this article will give you an insight on the various aspects of SEO strategy and teach you to leverage them for your business.

Creating the Best SEO Strategy

An SEO marketing strategy is an inbound marketing tactic to attract more visitors to your website through search engines. Basically, anytime you google “restaurants near me”, the first few restaurants that you see and visit have a solid SEO marketing strategy in place.

Keywords are an important part of any SEO strategy, but they’re not enough. To optimize a website for search engines, you need to improve three areas.

Technical Setup

A good technical setup ensures that search engines can find your pages on the web. This includes a simple URL structure, quick loading speed, removing dead links, removing duplicate content and creating a smooth user experience.

Content

When a user has a query, they’re searching for content. The more relevant, high-quality content you publish, the higher your page ranks. You can rank higher on search engines by using relevant keywords that your customers are searching for, on-page optimization, and using meta-titles and meta-descriptions.

Links

Links are references to your content on other websites. By providing high-quality content and collaborating with similar businesses, or by getting a positive reputation due to your services, your website will be referenced on other websites, which increases the authority of your website in the eyes of search engines.

We'll be covering each of these topics in further detail in our new series on SEO. Meanwhile, let's explore what the terms on-page SEO and off-page SEO mean.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to optimizing the various elements within your websites so that search engines can find it quicker. The main aspects of on-page SEO are

Content Optimization

Creating high-quality, engaging and relevant content that includes target keywords and addresses your audience’s needs.

Title Tags

Writing unique descriptive title tags for each page while using relevant keywords.

Meta descriptions

Creating interesting, keyword-rich meta descriptions that summarize the content of each page

Header Tags

Structuring your content using header tags so that search engines can establish a clear visual hierarchy of the content and identify most relevant information.

URL Structure

Creating brief, concise and descriptive URLs that include your target keywords.

Internal Links

Connecting related content within your website through internal links to improve navigation and establish content hierarchy.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to activities outside your website to improve its authority and relevance. To search engines, off-page SEO demonstrates your website’s value to users and the rest of the internet. Some of the key parts of off-page SEO include

Link Building

Acquiring high-quality back links from other similar websites gives search engines the impression that your content is trustworthy and relevant.

Content Marketing

Creating and distributing high-value content that educates readers on various platforms is an excellent way to attract and engage your target audience.

Influencer Outreach

Partnering with influencers to gain exposure, spread the word, generate traffic and acquire backlinks may have a positive impact on your search engine rankings.

Online Reputation Management

Monitoring and responding to online reviews, comments and mentions of your brand reflect positively on your business.

An Example of How SEO Works in Real Life

Imagine a fictional footwear company named “Fantastic Footwear” that’s aiming to boost its search engine rankings. As a digital marketing organization, here’s how Destiny AI Marketing would boost Fantastic Footwear’s online visibility.

AI-Powered Keyword Research

Using advanced artificial intelligence powered algorithms, we identify high-performing, relevant keywords such as “comfortable shoes”, “stylish shoes”, “running shoes for women” etc.

By targeting these keywords, Fantastic Footwear can target the right audience and attract organic traffic to its website.

On-Page Optimization

We work on Fantastic Footwear’s website and optimize it with the selected keywords. All title-tags, meta-descriptions and header tags are edited to include the target keywords.

We also improve the website’s URL structure and internal linking, making it easier for search engines to crawl the site.

High-Quality Content Creation

Our team of content marketing experts create engaging, informative content centered around these keywords. For example, we write blogs on “Choosing the Right Footwear for Running” and “Top 10 Running Shoes in 2023”.

This helps Fantastic Footwear rank higher on search engines and provide valuable information to its target audience.

Off-Page SEO Strategies

We reach out to various influencers in the shoe industry to promote Fantastic Footwear and similar companies to include us in their blogs, resulting in high-quality backlinks. This increases its online audience and attracts more potential clients.

Performance Monitoring

To ensure our results are on track with expectations, we continuously monitor Fantastic Footwear’s search engine rankings, organic traffic, and other KPIs. With the help of tools such as Google Analytics, we gather data which help us identify areas for improvement and adjust our strategies accordingly.

The Importance of SEO in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

We hope this blog underlines the importance of SEO to your marketing strategy. We understand that SEO might be intimidating to encounter at first, but we promise that it’s not that complicated. As with any subject, the deeper you go, the more complex it gets. SEO is no different.

If you don’t have the time to invest in learning more about SEO, we suggest you leave it to the experts.

Destiny AIM's comprehensive, AI-driven approach to SEO enables our clients to rise above their competition and dominate their respective industries.

With our expertise in keyword research, content creation, and off-page SEO strategies, we help businesses like Fantastic Footwear achieve higher rankings, increased organic traffic, and greater online success.

Don't miss out on the potential growth and success that SEO marketing can bring to your business. Contact Destiny AIM today and let us help you unlock the power of SEO marketing to propel your website to the top of search engine results.