What does SEO include?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2024 9:34 am
Website optimization (SEO) involves a series of activities (on-site and off-site) that make a website more visible in Google and useful to its recipients. On-page SEO is something that you have full and complete control over, while off-page SEO is not always the case. But let's start from the beginning...
On-page SEO
On-page SEO (also referred to as on-site SEO) is the process of adapting a website for search engines . On-page activities include content optimization, improving the structure and technical aspects, i.e. optimizing the HTML source code (and not only in HTML ) of the page. On-page SEO is a key element of positioning, because it helps search engines index and understand the content and structure of a website, and consequently display it in the search results displayed by the search engine for the most popular queries.
on page seo
Below I will briefly present examples of on-site ranking factors.
On-page content optimization
Website texts have a direct impact on positioning and are a ranking factor. Moreover, professionally implemented content marketing involves creating valuable content and has a positive impact on user behavior, determines the time spent on the site and reduces the bounce rate. The length of the visit is one of the factors that influences whether Google considers the content on your site to be valuable.
The content on the site should both answer user queries and provide comprehensive information about the offer and be presented in a clear, easy-to-understand form. Good content is the kind that search engines rank high in popular keyword phrases.
Content optimization at SurferSEO.
Content optimization at SurferSEO.
In addition to interesting information, content optimization is important:
Uniqueness - the content on the page cannot be a duplicate of content from other sources, e.g. the manufacturer's website. If you want to check if the text on your page is unique, use the Plagiarism Checker or Copyscape tools.
Content architecture - the use of HTML tags in the form of H1, H2, H3… headings allows you to determine their structure.
Keyword density - the number of occurrences of keywords in exact and broad match (exact match and partial match) is one of the main ranking factors that affects positions.
Common words - not only the use of keywords in the content is of great importance. The content of a service or store page should also include words closely related to a given topic, which appear on pages ranking in the TOP10. You will find a list of these words for any phrase in the audit in the Surfer tool.
Page structure
The structure of the website is one of the things that you should think about before you even launch your website. Editing the structure later can be difficult.
Good, easy-to-understand website architecture is important for two reasons:
helps robots index the page,
makes it easier for users to navigate the site.
Remember, the page structure should not be too deep.
SEO optimization in code
Meta title
Title tag is an important ranking factor. It is an HTML element nested in the head section. It defines the title of a given subpage. It is important that each page on the site has a unique title. This tag is displayed in search results, so make sure it contains keywords and encourages clicking. It also appears in the search bar and when you share a link to your site with others.
Example meta title.
Example meta title.
What influences the effectiveness of title:
using a keyword - placing a positioned phrase in the title allows users and search engines to indicate and understand what a given page is about, it is recommended to place a given keyword at the beginning.
length - Google search engine displays title tags up to 600 px long, which is about 60-70 characters.
brand - including a brand at the end of the title tag builds brand awareness and ensures a higher click-through rate, especially for well-known brands. Sometimes it's worth placing the company name at the beginning of the title tag, near keywords.
Meta description
Like the meta title tag, the meta description is an HTML element and is nested in the head section. Describes the content of the page it is on. Meta descriptions are not a ranking factor in SEO, but their content is displayed in search engines and affects click-through rate ( CTR ).
What influences the effectiveness of meta description
a concise presentation of the offer along with the benefits of using it,
length - we can use about 150 characters,
CTA (Call To Action) - an encouragement to go to your website, usually placed at the end of the tag, e.g. Buy now!, Order online!
Friendly urls
The url is now displayed in SERPs above the meta title, so it is now viber database even more visible than before. When creating urls, make sure they are as short as possible and contain the keyword you are positioning your page for. This is a better solution compared to urls with a long string of random numbers and characters.
Graphics optimization
Graphics on a website often have a huge impact on the speed of loading the page and positioning. It is worth remembering a few elements, such as:
Compression
Suitable format - if you do not need to keep high image resolution, use jpg or svg, for thumbnails and background images choose png.
Show visitors that the graphic is loading or use a lady load, i.e. delay the loading of the graphic until the user scrolls the web page to the place where the graphic appears.
Friendly graphic name
Alternative Testing - Although search engine bots can use AI to determine what's in a photo, they also index alts, which provides the added benefit of better image context for search engines. The alt description is also intended for blind people using special readers. Remember to make alts seem natural to people - avoid keyword stuffing.
Rich Snippets
These are structured data elements that allow the appearance of a website to stand out among organic results in the Google search engine by providing users with additional information, such as the number of reviews and average ratings, photo, video, knowledge graphs, site links, place and date of the event, date of publication, author, and others.
Rich snippets extensions.
Rich snippets extensions.
They show users even more precisely what they will find on a given page, their display increases the click-through rate. The implementation of rich snippets as part of SEO services does not guarantee that extensions will always be displayed in the browser.
Internal linking
Well-made internal links make it easier for robots to index, which is important for SEO and positioning of pages. The internal link structure allows robots to reach all subpages within the site and keep potential customers on the site for longer. Internal linking consists of: a well-designed site menu, a robot schema, a site map (in the case of large sites, it is better to divide it into several parts), pagination, a similar products section, recently on the blog, other Customers also bought, and links in the content between the blog, categories, products, and the main page.
Mobile version
Due to the pandemic, Google has decided to postpone the deadline for implementing the Mobile First Index algorithm from September 2020 to March 2021 to give website owners more time to prepare their sites. The mobile version of the page will be indexed first. So, if your site loads quickly on a computer but slowly on mobile, Google will treat it as slow. In Search Console, it is worth checking if your site has any usability issues on mobile devices. To see if all resources are loading correctly, use the Google Mobile Optimization Test tool . You can check the speed of your mobile and desktop pages using Page Speed Insight .
Page speed
Google officially announced in 2010 that page speed is a ranking factor . What's more, a large portion of Internet users leave a page if the page load speed is longer than 3 seconds. If you want to check the speed, use PageSpeed Insights to check the speed, the tool will provide you with personalized recommendations on how to speed up your website. It is also worth changing to a faster hosting and following some proven methods for page speed, such as compressing images, eliminating unnecessary code, removing unused scripts. See our guide on how to speed up a website and make your website load faster.
Off Page SEO
While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing websites, i.e. improving the quality of websites, off-page SEO focuses on using other factors that affect search engine rankings.
We include here:
link building - acquiring links directly to the positioned page from other pages on the web
social signals and user behavior on the site - social media activity, use of CTA messages
domain trust - building brand image and taking care of online opinions
offsite seo
You can influence some of them, for example, if you acquire many valuable backlinks. However, you only have a limited influence on how users behave on your site and whether they link to it.
While Google’s algorithms and key ranking factors are constantly changing, the consensus in the SEO community is that link building still plays a major role in ranking websites in most industries . Backlinko’s 2020 Ranking Factors Study found a clear correlation between the total number of backlinks and a website’s ranking in Google.
In summary, remember that SEO factors work in synergy. Well-optimized title tags will not compensate for a lack of SEO content optimization. Good site speed will not help if search engines cannot easily index your pages. That is why a comprehensive approach to SEO is so important.
Web analytics
Web analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data on traffic sources, visited subpages, and user behavior on a website. Analyzing the collected data allows you to get to know the potential customers your company can acquire and determine actions to improve online visibility and conversion (sales, registration, newsletter subscription, etc.). An SEO specialist should check at the beginning of the cooperation whether Search Console and Analytics have been verified and create a Data Studio report for the client.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO (also referred to as on-site SEO) is the process of adapting a website for search engines . On-page activities include content optimization, improving the structure and technical aspects, i.e. optimizing the HTML source code (and not only in HTML ) of the page. On-page SEO is a key element of positioning, because it helps search engines index and understand the content and structure of a website, and consequently display it in the search results displayed by the search engine for the most popular queries.
on page seo
Below I will briefly present examples of on-site ranking factors.
On-page content optimization
Website texts have a direct impact on positioning and are a ranking factor. Moreover, professionally implemented content marketing involves creating valuable content and has a positive impact on user behavior, determines the time spent on the site and reduces the bounce rate. The length of the visit is one of the factors that influences whether Google considers the content on your site to be valuable.
The content on the site should both answer user queries and provide comprehensive information about the offer and be presented in a clear, easy-to-understand form. Good content is the kind that search engines rank high in popular keyword phrases.
Content optimization at SurferSEO.
Content optimization at SurferSEO.
In addition to interesting information, content optimization is important:
Uniqueness - the content on the page cannot be a duplicate of content from other sources, e.g. the manufacturer's website. If you want to check if the text on your page is unique, use the Plagiarism Checker or Copyscape tools.
Content architecture - the use of HTML tags in the form of H1, H2, H3… headings allows you to determine their structure.
Keyword density - the number of occurrences of keywords in exact and broad match (exact match and partial match) is one of the main ranking factors that affects positions.
Common words - not only the use of keywords in the content is of great importance. The content of a service or store page should also include words closely related to a given topic, which appear on pages ranking in the TOP10. You will find a list of these words for any phrase in the audit in the Surfer tool.
Page structure
The structure of the website is one of the things that you should think about before you even launch your website. Editing the structure later can be difficult.
Good, easy-to-understand website architecture is important for two reasons:
helps robots index the page,
makes it easier for users to navigate the site.
Remember, the page structure should not be too deep.
SEO optimization in code
Meta title
Title tag is an important ranking factor. It is an HTML element nested in the head section. It defines the title of a given subpage. It is important that each page on the site has a unique title. This tag is displayed in search results, so make sure it contains keywords and encourages clicking. It also appears in the search bar and when you share a link to your site with others.
Example meta title.
Example meta title.
What influences the effectiveness of title:
using a keyword - placing a positioned phrase in the title allows users and search engines to indicate and understand what a given page is about, it is recommended to place a given keyword at the beginning.
length - Google search engine displays title tags up to 600 px long, which is about 60-70 characters.
brand - including a brand at the end of the title tag builds brand awareness and ensures a higher click-through rate, especially for well-known brands. Sometimes it's worth placing the company name at the beginning of the title tag, near keywords.
Meta description
Like the meta title tag, the meta description is an HTML element and is nested in the head section. Describes the content of the page it is on. Meta descriptions are not a ranking factor in SEO, but their content is displayed in search engines and affects click-through rate ( CTR ).
What influences the effectiveness of meta description
a concise presentation of the offer along with the benefits of using it,
length - we can use about 150 characters,
CTA (Call To Action) - an encouragement to go to your website, usually placed at the end of the tag, e.g. Buy now!, Order online!
Friendly urls
The url is now displayed in SERPs above the meta title, so it is now viber database even more visible than before. When creating urls, make sure they are as short as possible and contain the keyword you are positioning your page for. This is a better solution compared to urls with a long string of random numbers and characters.
Graphics optimization
Graphics on a website often have a huge impact on the speed of loading the page and positioning. It is worth remembering a few elements, such as:
Compression
Suitable format - if you do not need to keep high image resolution, use jpg or svg, for thumbnails and background images choose png.
Show visitors that the graphic is loading or use a lady load, i.e. delay the loading of the graphic until the user scrolls the web page to the place where the graphic appears.
Friendly graphic name
Alternative Testing - Although search engine bots can use AI to determine what's in a photo, they also index alts, which provides the added benefit of better image context for search engines. The alt description is also intended for blind people using special readers. Remember to make alts seem natural to people - avoid keyword stuffing.
Rich Snippets
These are structured data elements that allow the appearance of a website to stand out among organic results in the Google search engine by providing users with additional information, such as the number of reviews and average ratings, photo, video, knowledge graphs, site links, place and date of the event, date of publication, author, and others.
Rich snippets extensions.
Rich snippets extensions.
They show users even more precisely what they will find on a given page, their display increases the click-through rate. The implementation of rich snippets as part of SEO services does not guarantee that extensions will always be displayed in the browser.
Internal linking
Well-made internal links make it easier for robots to index, which is important for SEO and positioning of pages. The internal link structure allows robots to reach all subpages within the site and keep potential customers on the site for longer. Internal linking consists of: a well-designed site menu, a robot schema, a site map (in the case of large sites, it is better to divide it into several parts), pagination, a similar products section, recently on the blog, other Customers also bought, and links in the content between the blog, categories, products, and the main page.
Mobile version
Due to the pandemic, Google has decided to postpone the deadline for implementing the Mobile First Index algorithm from September 2020 to March 2021 to give website owners more time to prepare their sites. The mobile version of the page will be indexed first. So, if your site loads quickly on a computer but slowly on mobile, Google will treat it as slow. In Search Console, it is worth checking if your site has any usability issues on mobile devices. To see if all resources are loading correctly, use the Google Mobile Optimization Test tool . You can check the speed of your mobile and desktop pages using Page Speed Insight .
Page speed
Google officially announced in 2010 that page speed is a ranking factor . What's more, a large portion of Internet users leave a page if the page load speed is longer than 3 seconds. If you want to check the speed, use PageSpeed Insights to check the speed, the tool will provide you with personalized recommendations on how to speed up your website. It is also worth changing to a faster hosting and following some proven methods for page speed, such as compressing images, eliminating unnecessary code, removing unused scripts. See our guide on how to speed up a website and make your website load faster.
Off Page SEO
While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing websites, i.e. improving the quality of websites, off-page SEO focuses on using other factors that affect search engine rankings.
We include here:
link building - acquiring links directly to the positioned page from other pages on the web
social signals and user behavior on the site - social media activity, use of CTA messages
domain trust - building brand image and taking care of online opinions
offsite seo
You can influence some of them, for example, if you acquire many valuable backlinks. However, you only have a limited influence on how users behave on your site and whether they link to it.
While Google’s algorithms and key ranking factors are constantly changing, the consensus in the SEO community is that link building still plays a major role in ranking websites in most industries . Backlinko’s 2020 Ranking Factors Study found a clear correlation between the total number of backlinks and a website’s ranking in Google.
In summary, remember that SEO factors work in synergy. Well-optimized title tags will not compensate for a lack of SEO content optimization. Good site speed will not help if search engines cannot easily index your pages. That is why a comprehensive approach to SEO is so important.
Web analytics
Web analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data on traffic sources, visited subpages, and user behavior on a website. Analyzing the collected data allows you to get to know the potential customers your company can acquire and determine actions to improve online visibility and conversion (sales, registration, newsletter subscription, etc.). An SEO specialist should check at the beginning of the cooperation whether Search Console and Analytics have been verified and create a Data Studio report for the client.