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Understand How Search Engines Work
There are billions of websites and blogs indexed in Google. Google crawls the web to index them.
Google, therefore, pulls all relevant web pages when someone types a question into the search bar.
Google’s algorithm ranks web pages based on multiple factors since there are millions or even billions of relevant web pages. It is, however, difficult to know all the different factors.
SEO does not affect the ranking of paid ads. It only affects organic results.
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Know the Three Important Ranking Factors
A lot of people mostly optimize their web pages for multiple ranking factors. However, most of these ranking factors are not important.
It is, therefore, crucial to know the most important ranking factors before optimizing your web pages. Do not over obsess over title tags and page speed before you know the important ranking factors.
Here are the important ranking factors
- Relevance
- Authority
- Utility
Relevance
This is how well the web page matches the search phrase.
If you, therefore, type “how to paint a room” into the Google search bar, Google will return relevant results. It will not return web pages about bikes since it is not relevant to the search phrase.
The web pages will match the type of content the searcher wants to see.
For instance, if you search “how to paint a room”, you want to learn how to paint your room. So, you are more likely to get tutorials, such as video tutorials or blog posts.
How do you optimize search intent? You cater to the “why’ behind the search phrase. I would highly recommend you do a google search and see what SEO agencies you have in your local area just type SEO agencies near me or SEO agencies and then your area for example ”SEO agency in Surrey” if you live in Surrey.
Authority
This comes down to backlinks.
All search engines see links as votes of confidence. If you can build high-quality backlinks to your website, your website is more likely to rank higher in the search engines.
Here are the main attributes of the best backlinks: relevance and authority.
Authority is the power of the web page or website that links to your website.
It is better to get links from powerful websites.
Relevance refers to the topic of the linking web page and website. For instance, if you build two backlinks, one from a home improvement website and another one from a bike website, to your web page about painting a room, the one from a home improvement website is more relevant.
It is essential to consider page-level relevance. Focus on getting links from relevant web pages. If the topic on the home improvement website is not about painting a room, then the link may not be more relevant.
You need to build relevant backlinks.
Utility
The main aim of Google is to show the best results on top of their search results. That is why they do not just rank any content matching the search phrase. They rank content that deserves to be on top of the search results.
Once you find your search phrase, review the content ranking on the first page of Google. Reviewing the content can help you know what is lacking. You can now focus on creating better content.
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Master 3 Main SEO Pieces
There are so many SEO pieces you need to know and master. If can master the main SEO pieces, you can rank your website.
Here are the main four SEO pieces:
- Technical SEO
- Link building
- On-page SEO
- Keyword research
Keyword Research
Keyword research is mainly the process of searching for relevant phrases. People type these phrases into the search bar of the search engine.
It is, therefore, crucial target phrases that:
- Have business value – they are more likely to attract potential clients and customers
- Have traffic potential – they are more likely to generate free organic traffic to your website if you rank for them
- Are less competitive.
