SEO means search engine optimization, which is one of the most important digital marketing strategies. SEO helps improve the website and its online presence to improve its ranking on Google SEO helps improve the on-page and off-page presence.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the set of techniques used so that search engines like Google position our website above the competition when a user performs a search.
Come on, it is nothing more than being in the right place when someone is interested in the product or service that you sell.
One of the advantages that Google has in terms of web positioning is that it cares about showing quality results with value for the user.
The Google algorithm is complicated, and therefore a good SEO strategy must be defined.
The moment a website is published, Google’s search engines start working by sending the information to their spiders (robots) to analyze and track the information they find on it
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The three processes that search engines Optimization are:
Tracking → Is your website well published on Google?
Indexing → Is your website easily accessible from Google?
Publication → Is your website useful enough and with quality content to be relevant in the user’s search?
Surely by now, you are beginning to understand the importance of SEO for any website: on the one hand, appearing in Google and even more, appearing in the first positions.
With this post, you will realize that SEO is quite complex and technical and that there are actions that you can carry out by yourself, but other very advanced ones that, if you want to carry out in your strategy, it would be better to have a Consultant. Expert SEO.
Important concepts to understand what SEO is?
➡ Search Engine: It is the computer system that searches and analyzes the data of the pages, ordering them according to their quality and relevance based on algorithms.
Google with 91% is the most used search engine in the world today as we can see in the figure above obtained from StatCounter Global.
They are far behind: Microsoft’s Bing, Yahoo, Yandex which is used in Russia, and Baidu in China.
➡ Web Positioning: web pages are indexed by search engines and included in the search engine’s database.
The positioning refers to the place where they are within that database that can be good or not so good.
➡ Ranking: of your page in the results pages.
It is the position it occupies as a result of natural positioning.
➡ SEO : (Search Engine Optimization) is the set of techniques used to optimize the presence and positioning of web pages in search engines.
SEO involves optimizing, indexing, improving the popularity and relevance of that site, and tracking
➡ SMO (Social Media Optimization) is about optimizing your website’s presence on social networks.
This activity is not an SEO factor but it does complement it by making the pages more visible on the Internet through their dissemination on networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google +
➡ SEM : (Search Engine Marketing) search engine marketing.
The SEM Specialist is in charge of creating advertising campaigns on the Internet, upon payment, so that the brands appear in the first results of the search engine, above the free results, and have more opportunities to attract traffic and sales.
It is done through bids and once the campaign ends, the page falls to the place of natural positioning that corresponds to it.
➡ SERP : (Search Engine Results Pages) are the search engine results pages.
Organic links from SEO or natural positioning and sponsored links from SEM or paid positioning will appear on a results page.
➡ Keywords: in Spanish, keywords. It is the term you work with on your website to get more visits.
➡ Keywords Research: essential in an SEO strategy, it is about locating the most profitable keywords at the sales level and with the highest search volume to get more visits and increase conversions.
➡ Algorithm: they are a set of rules or instructions to determine what is more relevant or has a higher quality to offer to the user.
The Google algorithm changes about 500 times a year and it is difficult to know how it works.
➡ Backlinks: they are the incoming links that point from other pages to yours.
➡ Linkbuilding: seeks to increase the visibility of a web page through external links (relevant and popular) that point to it.
➡ Directories – Collect and organize websites into categories and subcategories. The directories are classified by subject and usually collect websites.
➡ Authority: or popularity of a website compared to other pages for search engines.
➡ Relevance: how consistent the content of the page is according to the keywords with which a user searches.
How does SEO work?
Within web positioning, we have to take into account two different, but complementary practices.
🔷 On the one hand, there is SEO on the page, which is made up of all the techniques and actions that we carry out within our website to make Google track it and position it much better.
🔷 And on the other hand, there is SEO off-page, which are the actions outside our site to increase our domain authority and that other websites refer to us as quality content, which will improve positioning.
Let’s see them in depth:
On-page SEO
SEO On Page focuses on optimizing your website. They are those improvements that you can make on your page to improve your search engine positioning.
Everything that depends on you since it is you who controls your page
It is about facilitating the work of Google search engines so that they can understand your web page and index your pages as quickly as possible to classify them according to the theme.
When you work on the optimization of your website you must follow the recommendations and guidelines of google.
But how does Google crawl and index my web page?
Search engines crawl all websites through their “robots” or “bots” which are programs dedicated to reading, extracting, and archiving the content of web pages.
For this, it is important to have a good link structure so that the robots can go from one link to another collecting data about those web pages (text, images, links, etc.).
Bots scour the Internet through the links they find to find new pages and check those already indexed for new content.
Therefore, optimizing everything that can affect that tracking (images, links, loading time…) and what can influence it is what we will consider SEO On Page.
Things you should keep in mind for your SEO on page
➡Google Search Console
Once you have created your website by choosing the appropriate CMS and hosting according to your needs, you must register your page in Search Console.
Google Search Console is a free Google service that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your website’s crawling, indexing, and appearance in search results.
➡ Sitemap
The sitemap is an XML document that contains a list of all the pages that make up your website and that should be indexed.
A sitemap makes it easier for Google to access the different elements of our website.
It must be updated with the new content that we publish to facilitate its tracking.
➡ Robot.txt
It is a file with the information to give instructions to google robots concerning the elements that they can track and which ones they cannot.
They also give information about the Sitemap and indicate certain places that we do not want to be accessed.
As for how to generate a robot.txt:
Do it by hand through a notepad
Via the SEO BOOK tool and robot.txt file generator,
what is robots txt?
➡ Set Language
It is important to configure the language so that Google understands what language we are targeting and categorizes us to show our results in the countries we want.
The language is declared with the lang and/or XML: lang attribute in the HTML tag
Links whose destination changes language are declared by “hreflang”
Also depending on the public we want to reach, the termination of the domain plays a fundamental role: .es (Spain) .fr (France) .org (non-profit organization). com (international)
➡ Set preferred domain
The preferred domain is the one you would like to use to index your site’s pages.
This is the domain you want to be used in your search results. It is referred to as the canonical domain.
To specify the preferred domain:
1. Go to Search Console.
2. On the main page of the Search Console click on the gear >> Site settings.
3. In the preferred domain choose with or without www.
You must verify the property with and without www but choose one of them as the preferred
how to establish a domain.
➡ Activate the HTTPS protocol and SSL certificate on your site
It is an Internet communication protocol that protects the integrity and confidentiality of user data between their computers.
To keep your customer information private, there is an SSL certification, which encrypts data between a browser and a web server.
That is why this technology is often called HTTPS.
➡ Structure of our website
A good architecture of our website allows the user to have a good or bad impression of the page at a glance.
The user experience (also called UX), although it is not a strictly SEO factor, is essential for both search engines and users to take our website into account.
It is essential to place a logical hierarchy when structuring the page.
We must bear in mind that a web page is intended for people and also where they connect to access it.
And above all, the web must be fast (even more so in the mobile version).
➡ URLs
URLs play an important role in the On-Page optimization of your website.
Some tips to optimize them are:
Search engine-friendly URLs: readable and without extraneous characters.
They must contain the main keyword that you want to position.
It should describe the content of your page or article.
Preferably short.
Do not use Stop Words, prepositions, or articles.
Separated by hyphens (-)
➡Title
It is essential concerning user experience and searches engine optimization as it is used in the results pages.
A good title will make the user want to click to see what the content is inside.
A bad title can make you lose clicks from users and potential customers.
Some tips to optimize the title:
At most 65 characters. If you overdo it, your title will be cut off at the end.
The title must be unique for each page.
It should contain the main keyword and be as far to the left as possible
➡Meta Description
It is not a factor that directly influences SEO, but it does influence the decisions of users when clicking on one or search results.
We must write descriptions thinking about the user and what they are looking for. We must know how to sell that you are going to get what you are looking for in our content.
To optimize your Meta Description:
Include your keywords (the main one above all) naturally.
The maximum length of 156 characters.
Create expectations but without cheating.
Make it unique, add value and add a call to action
➡ Headers
These are visible tags within the content of your pages. H1 to H6 is a great way to organize your page.
Some tips to optimize your headers
You can only use one H1 per page.
You must include the main keyword naturally.
The H2 through H6 are the subheadings. You can use synonyms of the keyword, semantic variations, or other words that you want to position and that have the same search intention.
From the H3 label for secondary ideas.
You must always respect the order.
Its function is to structure.
In your visual editor, there will be a way in which you can see your content in HTML and so you can see your headers
➡ Structured data
Structured markup is based on schema.org standards.
If Google correctly interprets the markup of your pages, you can use this information to add so-called rich snippets and other elements in the search results, something that will favor the user experience and therefore SEO.
For example, the price of the product appears, the “stars” of customer evaluation, etc.
As with almost everything, Google has a structured data testing tool where you can test the markup and see if it interprets correctly.
➡ Images
Multimedia content is also very important to position and gain visibility in search engines.
Google also indexes and analyzes images, and ranks them in order of relevance and quality in the “Images” tab when a user searches.
Therefore, not only do you have to try to position your articles and pages in the test results, but also because of the images they can click on your website.
Use original and good-quality images.
Avoid using already indexed images.
Complete all the fields: Alt and Title attributes. In the Alt tag, it is highly recommended to include the main keyword.
Surround the image with related content where those keywords to position appear.
Reduce and optimize the size of images so that they do not slow down the loading speed.
Some tools that will help you optimize your images without losing quality are:
Tiny png
Compressor.io
➡ Loading Time
Page Load Time or WPO (Web Performance Optimization).
It is one of the most important aspects of a web page because it improves the user experience and therefore makes your site more usable.
It is logical to think that a user who enters a slow website will get tired and leave. Hence the importance of your pages loading as quickly as possible.
Some tools to check the loading speed of your website are:
PingdomTools
PageSpeed Insights
➡ Internal Link
Internal links help to distribute the force between all our pages and it is the most interesting option to transmit domain authority between the pages of our website.
Some tips to optimize internal links within your on-page SEO strategy:
Link to internal pages using keywords above the anchor text.
Link to other pages on your website that are related to the topic your article is about.
The menu links are the visible structure of your website: from it should be given access to categories or sections. Add a title that describes the link
➡ External Links
Although external links affect off-page SEO, we must bear in mind that these links are related to our theme or sector and that they make sense when the user clicks and reaches our website.
Also, they are links to pages with an interesting volume of traffic, and those visits meet our potential client profile.
And of course, the website that links us has a certain domain authority and Google has it cataloged as a quality site, or else the link will be counterproductive.
➡ Create a useful 404 page
Sometimes users access links that do not exist.
At that moment the 404 error appears.
To improve the user experience, I recommend you design a personalized 404 page that surprises the visitor and has a wink that reflects the personality of your brand.
In that URL you will invite him to continue browsing other pages, read the blog articles or download free content so that he leaves his data in exchange.
➡ Write quality content
The use of SEO Copywriting techniques will help to write good content that is also suitable for Google.
Google determines the relevance of your page by analyzing whether your content is of quality
But to start, some tips :
a) Be original → You can collect information for your content but you must quote it.
Try to make the content new and of quality.
b) Know your buyer persona → Do you know who your target audience is? who reads you? their concerns What problems can you solve?
The idea is that you are clear about whom you are addressing to use one tone or another and be able to solve their concerns.
c) Create relevant texts → Related to the previous section.
d) Use links naturally
e) Length → There are many myths about this topic.
It depends on what you are going to write: if it is a tutorial, it seems necessary that it be longer than a simple article review.
In particular, I recommend not saying in 2,000 words what you can say in 1,500, but not falling short either.
f) Make a good selection of keywords → The keywords must help you to be included in the text naturally.
For this, you can use tools such as:
Google Adwords Keyword Planner
Ubersuggest.org
KeywordTool.io
SemRush or Ahrefs
Google search suggestions
Google Trends
Off-Page SEO
SEO Off Page is the set of techniques that are carried out outside your web page and that serve to enhance the popularity of your website on the Internet and that will help you position the domain within the search results through keywords.
SEO OFF Page tries to get quality links that point to your website.
Without going into much detail, we are going to see what Off Page SEO techniques you can use to help position your website:
➡ Linkbuilding
Link building comprises a series of techniques to get links that point to our website (backlinks).
It can be considered today that it is still one of the most important SEO factors.
What you must take into account in your link-building strategy is that you must ensure that external links related to your topic and to be of quality, and point towards you to increase the authority of your website and achieve better positioning.
Some link-building techniques are:
✅ Get other websites to link to us naturally for having quality content.
This is undoubtedly the most acceptable option and to which we should all aspire: that they link to us because we have very good quality content.
✅ Buy links from other websites in our sector with qualified traffic and good domain authority.
✅ Write guest articles on other blogs and link to the posts that interest us most.
✅ Share your links and articles in news aggregators.
✅ Participate in prizes and raffles by linking to the web.
➡ SMO (Social Media Optimization)
We must make it clear that social networks are not part of SEO in themselves; they are not factors per se.
But we do have to say that social networks play an important role in the Off-page SEO strategy.
To do this, we must take these steps into account:
Profile URL optimization. Ideally, it should match your domain name. Ex; Sarenza → https://www.facebook.com/sarenza.es
Optimization of the description and bio of social profiles. Bios must be complete with your cover and profile photo/logo with unique and original descriptions
Incorporate the web link in social networks.
Make it easy for users to share our articles. For this, we must add social buttons in the posts that allow them to be shared from the web.
Content strategy on each platform. We must share our publications according to a calendar and bring visits to our website.
How do social networks help us with SEO?
➡️ Social media are distribution and communication channels.
➡️Sirven provides content that is useful to the user, eliminates possible objections, or generates trust and brand authority.
➡️ Strengthen relationships with our community.
➡️ It helps us identify the most influential people who can serve us with our strategies.
Other Digital Marketing Strategies Work With SEO:
Digital marketing campaigns happen every day. SEO works independently as well as with other digital marketing strategies. The following are the other digital marketing strategies that work with SEO smoothly;
1. SEO and PPC:
SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) are the best combinations of Digital marketing. You can earn more real estate in search engine result pages when both work efficiently. You can double the real estate by placing the winning beds for a paid add-in search result. PPC helps place the ads related to your target keywords. You can use the same target keywords for both.
2. SEO and Email Marketing:
The goal of SEO is to increase the traffic and conversion rate. One of the most effective methods to increase traffic on your website is to send links by email. This helps the customers to land on your website directly.
3. SEO and Social Media Marketing:
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Instagram are extremely beneficial social media platforms to send links to customers and potential clients. This will increase the traffic and the conversion rate.
4. SEO and Web Design:
SEO ranks that website at the top, whose web designs are easy to understand and informative. If the lakes these aspects, the visitor is bound to navigate away from the website.
What is the white, gray, and black hat in SEO?
If you’re not sure where the terms “black hat”, “grey hat” and “white hat” come from, let me tell you that they originated in the movie industry.
In the old western cowboy movies, the bad guys wore black hats and the good guys wore white hats.
The terminology has recently started to connect with the Internet and technology. Today, the terms “black”, “grey”, and “white hat” are used to describe good or bad actions on the Internet, such as the actions of hackers (bad) or the actions of web developers (good).
As mentioned above, “grey hat” describes SEO tactics that fall between “white hat” and “black hat”.
Gray hat SEO tactics are technically legal in search engine terms, but ethically questionable in the public eye.
In an extension of the term “grey” hat, there are some gray areas when it comes to what SEO tactics are considered gray hats. For example, sponsored links and duplicate content are often referred to as gray SEO tactics, but they are black hat SEO tactics, as search engines consider them to be inappropriate.
White hat SEO, or White SEO, refers to any good practice that improves search performance on a search engine results page (SERP) while adhering to that search engine’s policies.
As far as Google is concerned, white hat SEO techniques follow their own published guidelines.
Some examples of white hat tactics are the use of keywords, quality and natural backlinks, link building, relevance-focused content writing, organic ranking, and audience engagement.
Black hat SEO tactics are unapproved practices that increase a page’s ranking in a SERP by going against that search engine’s terms of service.
Some improper actions, such as spin text, excessive use of keywords or keyword stuffing, the use of unrelated keywords in the content of the page, and link spamming to increase the authority domain, among others, are considered improper practices.
Opportunity black hat practices are very effective, (as long as they are done carefully and with knowledge) but they are risky and can get your site penalized.
Never forget that black hat techniques fall into disuse, because every day Google’s algorithms become more efficient, being able to detect such techniques and end up penalizing them.
On the other hand, Gray Hat SEO is an SEO practice that is “badly seen” and/or “badly advised” by the guidelines published by search engines and can be punished.
In essence, it is black disguised as white. For example, the “clickbait”. Clickbait refers to a practice where someone posts something like an eye-catching link or piece of content that encourages the reader to click and read more and as a result, the user does not find the content they expected to read
Documented Gray Hat SEO Techniques
Often gray SEO techniques become black hat SEO when they are discovered and blacklisted by Google or another search engine. However, at least at this stage, we should take a look at some SEO tactics that qualify as gray hat SEO.
Fake animal or social media accounts
Periodic forwarding of a website
Click your share buttons
fake news
Link exchanges from one page to another (feedback links)
Manipulating keyword associations
Fake/Copied Content
link chains
Spam in forums and blog comments
Why is SEO positioning important in Digital Marketing?
What is achieved by working SEO on a web page? Easy: be visible in the huge world of the Internet.
We must not forget that a search engine is a kind of digital showcase that allows the customer and company to connect directly.
Implementing SEO strategies is essential so that your website is well-optimized according to Google’s requirements and, therefore, the robots index it in search results when your target audience searches for the products or services you offer.
In summary: with SEO you will achieve greater visibility among your potential clients, you will be able to position yourself as a reference brand in your sector and, of course, you will obtain greater profits.
With SEO you will get:
More conversions
One of the main benefits offered by SEO positioning is that it helps to achieve a greater number of conversions, whether they are sales, leads, or the objective that the company has set.
The reason is that SEO strategies get a website to climb positions in the SERPS and, therefore, gain more traffic from its target audience; and, more visits translate to more conversions.
Effective long-term strategy
While Google Ads campaigns are specific campaigns and require an investment for advertising, SEO is a type of strategy focused on the long term, but much more effective.
Why? Because SEO is responsible for adapting the website at a technical level, optimizing content, improving the link-building strategy, internal linking, etc., intending to have a well-assembled website prepared for the Google algorithm.
Therefore, in the long term, you will get traffic organically and without the need to invest a single penny in conventional marketing campaigns. Although always, the recommendation is to make a joint strategy between SEO and Google Ads.
Reference in the sector
One of the most interesting points of SEO is that, in addition to getting organic visits, it also helps brand your brand. That is, if a user searches for information or products in your sector and, in many of his searches, your website appears, in the end, he will end up associating you as an expert in the field.
Over time, this will mean that the user no longer goes to Google to look for information, but instead goes directly to your website, thus becoming a loyal customer.