Well, there could be endless reasons to have your own website.
Maybe you want to sell your product or services online or reach out to the higher number of people.
Maybe you are a blogger who writes on the topics of your choice, or you might be promoting yourself online.
Having a website is extremely important these days. Because a majority of the people when searching for a service or information check online.
Therefore, if you are not present there, you might be missing out on the business that it can bring to you.
Building a website itself does not serve the entire purpose, but putting an effort that it reaches out to the people is what is required.
For your website to show on these search engines, one needs to focus on SEO i.e. search engine optimization.
What is SEO? Why is it needed?
Search engine optimization or SEO is a process to achieve the website visibility on any search engine through organic or unpaid method.
Higher the rank of the website on the search engine, higher are the chances of click-through rate.
A lot goes in an SEO to achieve that high ranking because it requires fulfilling all the parameters set by search engines. Few things that are considered while working on SEO is given below:
• Updated and optimized content on the website.
• User-friendly website or landing page.
• Relevance of content to the website.
• Effective internal navigation and link building.
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines have an algorithm known as crawlers or spiders, which go through each and every page of the website.
As a matter of fact, search engines are text-driven, therefore, these crawlers read all the text on the site.
Crawlers, also known as spiders, then index the website content and shows up whenever the user types their requirement in the search engine.
It is here, that SEO comes into the picture, which requires constant modification and changes to be done. These changes are what the crawlers go through and show up as the topmost search result.
There are two types of SEO as mentioned below:
- On-page optimization
- Off-page optimization
What is On-Page Optimization?
On-page optimization mainly focuses on the coding of your web page, content quality, and content structure.
You can purchase your own domain or can host it on platforms like WordPress, which are SEO friendly and quite popular.
On-page optimization is an important part to develop your website’s SEO.
A good On-page optimization will increase the visibility of your website on the search engines, leading to higher click-through rate.
Here are few steps to achieve on-page optimization
Meta tags:
A meta tag or meta description is the one-liner which talks about the gist of your website. It gives the user a quick glance at what your website is all about.
Meta tag should be smartly written with relevant keywords. Otherwise, the chances of it being ignored by crawlers are high.
Example:
If you are offering a sale on your website, then mention “50% off on selected brands”. These terms provide a good overview of the webpage for a customer to browse.
Title tags:
Title tag of the website is extremely important, as this is the first thing indexed by the crawlers.
The title tag needs to be short, yet descriptive and relevant to your website content. It needs to be attractive so that the user is interested to click on it.
Don’t forget to mention the keywords in your title tag, which should be relevant to what people might look for your business. Also, mention your business name.
Example:
If your website is about fashion then it is good to use term ‘fashion’ in your title tag. And if under fashion your website is about shoes, then use the word ‘shoes’ in your title tag.
HTML tags:
HTML tags or the header tags are the highlighted content that you want your reader to look at.
It is written within square brackets as [h1]. Search engines give lot of importance to these header tags. These are mostly used as page titles or important section of a website.
Below are header elements:
Header 1:
It is generally used for site titles or header texts, which are the important section of the page.
Header 2 & 3:
These are also used as the important highlighted content of the website for the user to see. But it is considered less important than the header 1.
Image optimization:
Optimizing the image on your website is extremely important. Because it is easier for a human eye to understand the image context.
But for a crawler to read and index it, a text is needed.
Image optimization is good when a user is searching for a specific picture in image search option.
Below are the points considered for image optimization:
Alt text:
Also known as Alternate text, is one description of the image. If in case a browser is not able to show the picture, the alt text helps to inform the user about the picture.
Filename: While saving an image always write the correct name of the image, rather than a random name.
Example: If your picture is about a shoe then rather than saving it as “DSC78254.jpg”, name it as “chanel-red-heels.jpg.
Image title:
Whenever a user moves the mouse pointer on an image, it shows a name, that is title tag. Always give a relevant title tag to your image.
Image linking: If you decide to link your image to another page of a website, ensure to give a legible name to it.
Example: write “view Chanel Red Heels”, rather than “Click here to view”.
Canonical URL:
The URLs that you see in your address bar is the name of your website or the landing page of the website.
Canonical URLs are the search friendly URLs, which have the name of your business. They even are the product/service offered by your website. This is good for your user to connect with it.
Update your content:
Last but not the least, your website is content dependent. Always keep the website content fresh, relevant with simple language.
Do a good keyword research using keyword researching tools, which tells the popular keywords users are looking for.
Incorporate that into your website content for easy readability of the crawlers.
Benefits of on-page optimization:
With so many aspects included in on-page optimization, one cannot deny the benefits it brings with it. Below are some of the benefits of on-page SEO:
• Increases the website quality and content, hence, good website traffic.
• Helps build better UX, making the website user-friendly.
• It is a permanent way of building an effective website.
• Keywords are the main source for crawlers to go through.
• Provides local results for the users to look for.
What is off-page optimization?
Off-page optimization is the non-technical work of your website. It is more towards the promotional aspect on the website through various other online channels.
It talks about the content quality, trust, relevance and authority of the website. Off-page optimization brings the positive change of better search rankings.
It is website visibility on online platforms, better the visibility, higher will be the ranking.
It builds a better website traffic leading to higher conversion rate. Below are the off-page optimization techniques which can be applied:
Social media channels:
Social media platforms are a great way to promote your website.
DO a good research on which channels will work for you the best like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other platform.
They are one of the best ways to generate traffic to the website leading to better conversions.
Social bookmarking:
Using platforms like Reddit, Quora, StumbleUpon are a good way to promote your website content to them.
These platforms bring a huge traffic to the website, which gives a higher ranking on the search engines.
Blogging:
Blogging is one of the best ways to build website traffic. Write good and up to date content on your website. Visit other blogs and put your website links in the comment section.
While reading through a comment, many people tend to visit the website. Also, website crawlers tend to visit these links, which leads to better search engine ranking.
Link building:
Building your website links externally is one of the best ways to generate website traffic.
Higher the number of external links, better is website traffic leading to good search engine ranking.
Here are few ways to link building:
• Article directories: There are many online article directories where one can publish their articles. Most of these directories prefer original content which people are searching for. These are one of the assured ways of getting backlinks.
• Blog directories: There are various online blog directories, where you can mention your website.
• Forums: The online discussion forums are a great source of discussion on various topics. Posting your website link there and participating in these discussions leads to good website traffic.
• Comment section: Don’t forget to use comment section in any of the platforms. Be it any social media channels or some other blog, post your website link in these comment section.
Also, mention a line about your blog with the appropriate keyword for crawlers to read.
• Content directories: Online content directories like Hubpages or Infobarrel allow you to publish your content online. Here you can add your website link to generate website traffic.
• Link exchange: Exchanging your link to the other website is one of the best ways to generate traffic.
Ensure to share your website links with relevant websites, i.e. their product or services are similar to yours.
Just like on-page SEO, off page SEO brings another set of undeniable benefits for website traffic.
A good website traffic gives higher chances of conversions, better ranking on search engines. Most importantly, if you are selling something it is a way to generate better revenue.
Benefits of off page optimization:
• Increases the brand awareness of your website.
• Reaches to the higher number of audience.
• Helps in networking with other bloggers and influencers.
• Increases the domain authority of your website.
Difference between onpage and offpage seo
Many people tend to confuse between on page and off page seo, but both of them are widely different from each other.
Difference between on-page and off-page SEO:
| On-page SEO | Off -page SEO |
| It is the technical aspect of optimization. Which is related to HTML coding like website architecture, page speed, etc. | It is non-technical aspect of optimization like promoting your website on various other platforms. |
| Sometimes it may require a developer to make the necessary changes. | A person with non-technical knowledge can easily do it. |
| The crawlers see if your website performance is good for higher search engine ranking. | The crawlers can visit your website on other forums and directories. |
| On-page seo is the process of making your website structure better. | Off-page seo is all about brand awareness. |
One cannot decide as to which one of them is of higher importance. Since both of these optimization techniques are needed to build traffic to the website. Both are completely different from each other.
It is equally important to pay attention to both types of SEO. Having a good website architecture, with right tags and up to date content, guarantees a better traffic to the website.
Meanwhile, sharing your website and content to the different channels is needed. Because this is where, users will be aware of your website and its product.
Search engine optimization is an ongoing process, you cannot expect to do it one day and then leave for some other day. It requires constant effort to build your website, if you are looking to achieve better ranking on search engines.
Building it also requires some time, you cannot expect results within a month. At least 6 months to 1 year are needed to achieve the best results.