SEO: a complete guide to improve your strategies in 2024
Gone are the days when publishing articles on a blog was a simple task.. You might hear this phrase a lot if you talk to long-time professionals. In a way, it is not wrong at all, after all, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies have become increasingly complex in recent years.
Creating a content strategy has helped many companies reach the top, and that's a fact. But, looking from the outside, it may seem easy and, therefore, you may be very frustrated when opting for this solution without adequate preparation.
Currently, the internet has turned into a huge race track, with competitors advancing second by second to secure their place on the podium. But, there is a subtle difference when we think about this online dispute, after all, we are talking about an average of 1,9 billion websites present on the internet.
Obviously, we must understand that each one has their niche, and they may require specific actions. But one thing ends up being the same for everyone, the use of SEO resources.
If you reached our article, you will already know that SEO techniques are used to optimize your website. What does this mean?
It means that professionals like us must develop strategies aimed at recognizing metrics and evaluation systems used by search engines. This way, we can deliver content that meets users' expectations and achieves good positions in the main search engines. This is SEO!
But, we are very early in discussing what SEO can mean for the success of your online strategy. Let's go back in time a little!
What is SEO and why is it important?
A website is made up of several aspects that can dictate its success or failure. Each of these points has a huge influence on the results. Therefore, when we leave aside something that we consider “unimportant” we may be declaring the end of a strategy.
User experience, for example, is a key factor in good ranking on search pages. In fact, Google itself defines this as one of its priorities when delivering results for a given search.
According to a research released by the company Brightedge, currently 68% of all online experiences start with search engines. Google, mentioned above and the protagonist when it comes to SEO, holds almost 93% of all global traffic.
This is why understanding how these mechanisms work is essential for an online strategy. Not only that, you need to have knowledge of the techniques that transform this scenario into an environment for your business to grow. This is where SEO strategies shine.
How does SEO work in practice?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the set of strategies and practices that aim to increase a website's visibility in organic search engine results. Your objective is very simple: improve a website's ranking in search results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords.
But, to achieve satisfactory results, attention to many details is necessary. This involves optimizing various website elements, including content, structure, meta tags, images, and internal and external links, as well as considering technical factors such as loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and security.
Overall, this is a fundamental strategy for any online goal. In the end, improving user experience is synonymous with boosting engagement and conversions on your website.
Simplifying the idea…
To truly understand what SEO is, think of your favorite search engine as a large library. We know that the amount of content published daily is infinitely extensive, so we need a way to organize this material.
Furthermore, the “librarian” must define what is consistent with the research carried out by the user and what is not, preventing them from becoming frustrated with a certain answer to their question. So, if your content is designed for a certain persona, you want it to be shown as the best answer to what they are searching for, right?
In this case, SEO would be a way to help organize content on the internet. After all, there are more than 1 billion websites publishing tirelessly, think of the mess this would turn into if there wasn't an algorithm that picked the right book for the right question.
Therefore, your job as SEO experts is to understand what criteria the “librarian” uses to choose the best books, thus transforming their content into something worthy of being delivered as the best answer to a search.
SEO over time
SEO emerged around the 1990s, with the development of the first search engines. At the time, the platforms were based on simple algorithms, which remained focused, mainly on the relevance of the page content for the searched keywords.
The first time they mentioned this term was in 1997 in the book Net Results, written by Bob Heyman, Leland Harden and Rick Bruner.
With the increase in the number of pages on the internet, search engines began to develop more complex algorithms, which took into account a series of factors to determine a website's positioning in the SERPs.
These algorithms were the key to the need to establish strategies and techniques to improve a website's positioning in search results. As we saw earlier, these strategies and techniques are known as SEO.
In the beginning, SEO was a relatively simple practice, which was mainly based on the application of keywords to the website's content. Over time, complexity increased, thus involving a series of factors, including the quality of the content and the structure of the site.
How search engines work: crawling, indexing and ranking
Using Google as our study subject, in this story our “librarian” would be the Google Crawlers, working in their large library. To quickly find the best results, this type of robot works in three very important steps, namely:
1. Tracking
Before defining a position and delivering the content, the crawler must find the pages available on the internet, or update the information on pages already discovered. Therefore, the first task is to visit web pages in an automated way.
It's a complicated job, after all, this crawler follows links from one page to another, collecting data about each URL visited. No time for rest. Crawling is ongoing to ensure the latest content is discovered and updates to existing pages are captured.
2. Indexing
After a page is crawled, it goes through the indexing process, where the collected information is organized and stored in a large database, called an index.
During indexing, search engines analyze the page content (text, images, videos, etc.), structure (such as use of HTML tags), and metadata (such as title tags and meta descriptions) to understand what it is about. treats the page. This allows that site to be retrieved as a potential result for relevant search queries.
3. Classification
Finally, we have the classification. Here, indexed pages are evaluated and ordered in response to a specific search query. Search engines use complex algorithms to determine a page's relevance and authority based on hundreds of factors. You've probably already come across some of them.
- Content quality;
- Key words;
- External Links;
- User experience;
- Page loading speed;
- Compatibility with mobile devices;
- Among others.
The goal is simple: present the user with the most useful and relevant results at the top of search results pages (SERPs). The finish line of this great race is to be among the first results.
Thinking of Google as a service offered by a company, the delivery of poor quality or irrelevant content can generate negative experiences and, consequently, a drop in the number of users. In other words, to be among the first, you must meet the criteria of whoever is curating this research.
I think we can complicate things a little now, right?
Evolution and algorithm: Google and its influence on SEO
Since the emergence of the internet, we know that big tech They work day after day to further optimize the experience of users and brands that use this type of service. That's why we see an update all the time that promises to change the way we use the internet. Proof of this are the AIs that have boomed in recent years.
This update history goes back a long time, and many of them came from Google. As much as we try to expand the discussion of SEO practices, it's almost impossible not to mention the Silicon Valley giant in the conversation. After all, the company was a pioneer in combating what we know today as BlackHat (term used to refer to harmful practices in publishing a page on the web).
Therefore, over the years, Google has had to think about several factors that guarantee relevant results at the top of its SERPs.
Enlarge the image a little and change the font color to make it more readable.
Google Helpful Content
Helpful Content is a concept that was introduced by Google in 2022 and determines the need to produce useful content in order to rank. This is a measure that reinforces the need for content that is useful to users, that is, that meets their needs and expectations.
Sites that produce content based on these factors are more likely to rank well in Google search results. This is because the platform wants to provide users with the most relevant search results possible.
Understand the difference between on-page and off-page SEO
There is a very long road to reach what we know today as SEO. Along this path, numerous strategies and branches emerged, each of them adapting more or less to a certain content. Guidelines for optimization can be divided into two categories, namely:
SEO on-page
And it all what can be changed internally, that is:
- Optimization of titles and descriptions;
- Use of keywords;
- Site structure;
- Images and videos;
- Site speed.
SEO off-page
Off-page elements, as the name suggests, are related to external factors that can impact your website. Among them, we can mention:
- Link building;
- Guest posts;
- Social media;
- Paid publications.
SEO analysis tools to help you with this challenge
One of the main advantages of working with digital marketing is the multitude of tools that are at our disposal, ready to help in all processes involving strategies such as SEO.
We cannot continue this article without first revealing the means you need to start implementing SEO strategies. Therefore, we have separated some of the best tools that can make a difference in your daily life. Check out!
Google Search Console
This is a free tool that provides information about your website's performance in Google search results. Having guidance in the analysis process is essential, so having data on how the main internet search engine sees your website is the key to a promising future for the ranking of your pages.
Yoast SEO
This is a free WordPress plugin that helps optimize your website for SEO. To do this, it indicates, as you write, whether your content meets the main ranking factors, that is, those we saw previously.
- Use of key words;
- Distribution of the key term among the subtitles;
- Analysis of alt text, meta description and title tag;
- Content readability;
- Among other factors.
SEMrush
Unlike the previous ones, this is a paid option that offers a series of SEO features, including backlink analysis and keyword monitoring. You will probably use a lot of keyword research in your strategy. After all, the platform indicates various information relevant to this choice, such as: search volume with that term, difficulty in ranking based on the authority of sites that rank with it, among countless other factors.
4 advantages that SEO can bring to your marketing strategy
1. Increased organic traffic
If you have an intuitive website full of related posts, it would be bad if Google didn't show it in search results, right? And when a recommendation occurs, it will attract the right people to your page. Therefore, paying attention to SEO techniques will help your website get more traffic, and thus, bring in more potential customers.
You already know that most of your website visitors come from search engines. Therefore, this means that a good positioning on these platforms will attract a large number of potential customers to your page.
2. Sales increase
A well-defined strategy is capable of doubling the number of visits to your pages, that is, new potential customers.
3. Incentive in purchasing decisions
Brazilians avoid sponsored links, and tend to buy more through search engines. This way, you need to guarantee your website’s position in search engines.
4. Strengthening your brand and digital presence
The pages highlighted in search engines do not appear by chance. Therefore, to rank a website's content on Google, consider several factors. Users know this and, when they find your brand featured, they will definitely respect it more.
Therefore, SEO is essential to achieve good positioning in search engines and expand the scope of products or services.
So, did you like the theme of this post? Remember, being on top of the marketing world is good for your company, and can bring benefits to it!
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