SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” The web environment, like a living organism, grows and develops, and, due to this reason, it necessitates a systematic control mechanism. At this point, how does the mechanism proceed? What does SEO mean? In what ways is it incorporated into the system?
In the broadest sense, SEO denotes the optimization of websites in accordance with the criteria of search engines. There are some important rules to rank in search engines including Google, Yandex, and Bing, and to move up in ranking. In line with these rules, the websites developed have more visibility in searches and product and service inquiries as well as they come to the forefront. In short, those who play the game by its rules win whereas those who do not lose.
First, it is necessary to state that search engines are the rule makers in projects regarding SEO. At this point, primarily Google, as a search engine that dominates 85% of the SEO environment, comes to one’s mind. Since it has a high share, Google sets forth more than 200 ranking criteria with regard to SEO projects. The purpose of Google is to exhibit high-quality contents that satisfy its expectations/criteria most accurately.
SEO counselor or SEO expert drafts reports (SEO analysis reports) for the relevant website about varied subjects including technical optimization, rich content production by benefitting from and using proper keywords, and useful and quality linking production as well as he/she works to realize them. Therefore, working with any SEO agent will pave the way for your success in a professional sense.
SEO is an indispensable element to be able to exist in the digital world. SEO projects, which are the parts of digital marketing strategies, help potential clients meet suppliers organically. For information and commercial exchange, there must be bilateral interaction. The commodity marketed should be delivered to the right client in the right ways. The web environment provides the broadest platform necessary to find the right clients and suppliers. Search engines are mediators that help one get into this environment. It is not enough to exist in search engines by itself. Instead, ranking at the top is more important. In so doing, the digital presence is demonstrated, and success is achieved.
It is important to know where the product or service is, which will be delivered to the clients. To exemplify, let’s say, you have a product line that you want to sell, and these products are for ski tourism. It is unlikely to sell snow boots or snowboards to those who live near the seaside. To be able to sell, you need to be at the right location. That is the point at which SEO gets involved. The product you have or the location you live in loses its significance which is replaced with an accurate marketing strategy, namely, SEO. Through a decent SEO project, you have a chance to move your rank up and reach out to a wider mass. You can introduce your brand not only locally but also worldwide. Moreover, you can have a chance to spend your money, which otherwise would have been spent on advertisements, for different purposes.
Search engines serve as a mediator in digital marketing or information transfer. It consists of three stages/parts: scanning, index, and result.
Scanning is a stage during which any type of data existing on a website is scanned by search engines. Search bots do scanning regularly to keep each new data up-to-date.
The index is a stage during which a website is incorporated into an index after it is scanned. This stage is completed between 1 and 10 days. Each new update is saved to the index as a result of a regular scanning of search bots.
The result is a stage during which the most proper results are obtained from the index and displayed in the search engine when the keywords are inquired. To get the result, numerous websites are scanned, and the data filtered based on security and quality are presented to a user.
Considering all these stages, an SEO project that is done decently and accurately will bring you to the forefront of the algorithms of the search engines.
In its algorithm, Google gives an SEO point to every website that they are ranked based on this authority point. Google has more than 200 ranking criteria. Although it may not be possible to satisfy all of these criteria, fulfilling some of them will help your website move up on the list. What should you take into consideration, then?:
Original Content: Contents used in websites should be produced firsthand. In other words, they should not be copied/imitated. If this criterion is violated, your website can be removed from the list.
Speed of the Website: A website that does not operate fast enough can lead users to leave it. Moreover, it can be difficult for the website to get incorporated into the index as Google search bots stay there for a long time.
Keyword: It is important that the keyword entered should be compatible with the search itself. The selection of a keyword that is not used frequently can cause your website to move down on the list. Also, long tail keywords can create a positive impact as they increase the duration of one’s stay on the website even though their search ratio is not frequent enough.
Mobile Compatibility: Based on the latest research, a significant share of search traffic is realized via mobile devices. As a result, Google has announced that mobile compatibility is among its criteria. Therefore, if a website does not have mobile compatibility, that may prevent it from having a rank on the list.
Session Time: The duration of a user’s stay on a website is an important criterion for Google. There is a direct correlation between session time and the likelihood of moving up in Google ranking.
Rate of Website Visitors: There is a strong connection between the number of high-quality visitors and the likelihood of moving up in Google ranking. Recurring visits by a user are also considered a criterion.
Black Hat SEO Prevention: Google implements varied sanctions on those who get involved in any type of SEO project to be able to move up on the list. That can lead your website to be removed from the list.
A website cannot be ranked on the Google list without developing it through an SEO project. To be on the list of Google or other search engines, there are certain conditions, and websites should fulfill them. Google does not give a rank to any website or move it up by being paid. Having constant traffic is the mere and organic way for a website to be on Google and move up on its list. Therefore, it is important to satisfy the criteria existing on Google’s list. These criteria are fulfilled through SEO projects, so your website can move up on SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
To rank a website, it has to be added to the index. Google provides website owners with a free Google Search Console service through which websites can be added to the index and can be improved/enhanced.
The speed of a website is undeniably important. A majority of users are highly likely to decline to use websites if it takes longer than 2.5 seconds to go. You can measure the speed of your website by using tools including PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, Test My Site, and Google Analytics, and you can develop ways to enhance your website in that sense.
Mobile compatibility is another crucial factor as it is accepted as a ranking criterion by Google. You can test your website’s mobile compatibility by taking Google Mobile Compatibility Test.
Title and descriptions, which are among meta labels, make positive impacts on having a high ranking on the list. The meta is added to the <head> part of the HTML file. The structure of <H1> – <H6> is significant and necessary to make the website comprehensible.
Robots.txt- extended files are used for data that are not wanted to get scanned by Google bots. For this reason, it is important to know that the files having the Robot.txt extension will not be included in the index.
The URL structure must be related to the content of a website. A user should have an idea regarding that before he/she goes to the website.
Site maps are crucial for websites that have large-volume traffic. If a website has a complicated structure, Google bots sometimes can skip the scan of new data. Nevertheless, site maps can be necessary in the case of having numerous images and videos in the content. Creating a site map is a probable method that is preferred for e-commerce SEO projects.
Some rules must be followed to develop a decent SEO project. There are some factors that lead a website to move up in online search whereas there are some other SEO projects that can cause your website to get removed from the index. In the light of these explanations, what are the rules that must be followed in SEO projects:
On-page SEO is projects done on websites to enhance their quality. To be able to have a high rank in search engines, it is necessary to have high-quality and accurately located website content. Followings are the fundamental factors to optimize the website:
Creating high-quality and original content to share on websites is among the important rules. Content should be supported and enriched through the selections of related keywords. Another important factor is to have up-to-date content. Google Keyword Planner is a free resource that can be used to create content. It is also important to create content that meets the expectations of relevant users. Using keywords in headings/titles has an impact on the scanning process by Google bots.
Title and descriptions are among meta labels with which users initially come across. For this reason, using the keywords in metadata by relating them to the inquiry is a remarkable invitation to your website.
Some extensions including WordPress and Yoast SEO provide an effective area of use in the analysis of metadata.
URLs of the website should be noticeable and related to the inquiry. URLs that are used randomly will be confusing for a user and be negatively assessed by Google bots.
While there are other alternatives, none of the users who waste their time going to a website prefer to use it again. To avoid that situation, the speed of the website should be under 2.5 seconds. In this way, users will stay on your website longer and it will have a high rank.
Enrichment of a website through videos and images will take your SEO project a step further. For example, watching its video is a more appealing option instead of reading a recipe to learn how to make a strawberry pie. Displaying rather than explaining will trigger the perceptions of a user and increase his/her stay on your website.
Off-Page SEO, as its name indicates, denotes external connections and shares on the website. It is highly significant to enable the website to move up in ranking. On the other hand, it should be taken care of seriously. If it is not done accurately, that may influence the ranking of a website negatively. Backlink and social media elements can be considered important aspects of Off-Page SEO.
To exemplify backlink, let’s say, you are going to apply for a job, and employers require you to submit reference letters. If your references are strong enough, your application has a high probability to get accepted. Backlinks can be regarded as references in the online web world. Those who apply to have a job designing a website will be your references in your backlink, and they will be decisive for the determination of the value of your website for search bots. At this point, one should be careful to hold qualified references as it influences the ranking point of your website based on the confidentiality of your reference’s website. Natural backlink creates organic connections by sharing high-quality content with other websites. It is important to know that, just for the sake of creating a link, one should not include an unqualified link in his/her website, and one should not risk the website by creating a paid link.
It is noteworthy to know that a website that does not have a user looks like a letter within a bottle. Websites operate in order to share data with others and to get feedback regarding that. We come across the User Experience (UX) at this very point.
What exactly is the User Experience? To explain briefly, it means interactions of users with the websites. It begins in the inquiry process and continues during the stay of a user on a website. So, in this situation, it is not difficult to understand the relations between SEO and UX. Taking care of a user experience is among the aims of SEO, which influences user experiences.
Since we have discussed the significance of UX for SEO, it can be useful to briefly touch upon the things that should be taken into consideration regarding UX:
We have recently pointed out that user experience begins during the inquiry process. Metadata, which is reinforced by keywords, are the primary ones that a user will come across during the inquiry process. Title and description labels are the first way that indicates that your website includes what a user is looking for. It is crucial to use suitable keywords rather than meaningless and constantly reiterating ones. The website URL should not consist of random and confusing statements.
The importance of the speed of a website is aforementioned. It would not be wrong to say that there is a direct relation between the number of users and the speed of a website. As we all know that in our contemporary world, time is very valuable and all of us are hoping to attain our goals as soon as possible. Especially, in an online web environment that hosts a lot of alternatives. You can check the speed of your website via Google PageSpeed, and to ameliorate its speed you can develop different projects like visual optimization.
You accomplish attracting the user’s attention through meta labels and leading him/her to go to your website. Additionally, you achieve the user to stay long on your website by having a decent website speed. If the content is not attractive enough for the user, do you think that he/she continue to stay on your website? The content of a website must be compatible with the demands and requests of users. Influential and fluent use of language, honest and safe share of information, use of keywords satisfying needs, and creation of original content will draw the attention of both users and Google bots.
Lastly, it can be helpful to share that you can access many reports related to user experience via Google Analytics, which is one of the SEO analysis tools.
During this age of technology in which almost everything can be done on the Internet, it may not be possible for everyone to follow the developments. A professional touch has become highly necessary for most websites to make them operate decently. For this reason, institutional companies, local firms that intend to grow, and bloggers prefer to get SEO counseling services to get involved in the list of search engines.
SEO counselor drafts an SEO analysis report based on the type of website of his/her client. In accordance with the SEO report, the counselor develops a service plan after he/she determines what should be done and what should not. Within the framework of this plan, on-page, off-page, and technical SEO projects are done/developed.
It should be emphasized that it is an indispensable rule for websites, which are created in line with a specific purpose, to exist on the list of search engines to reach out to as many people as possible. That can be achieved through SEO projects. Therefore, working with an SEO counselor helps you attain your goals in a short period. SEO-related prices display differences depending on the firm you work with and the project itself.
The firms providing SEO counseling services develop projects varying depending on the dynamics of each website they take care of. To explain briefly:
In a general sense, it is a counseling service provided for firms, which are recognized by a vast amount of people. Institutional SEO develops projects to represent an already-known brand in the best ways in the digital world.
It is a counseling service provided to bring a website to the front in local searches. In other words, local SEO projects are devoted to the firms that are locally active and more service-oriented and they are developed to enable them to be ranked on the list.
It includes all the projects to build technical infrastructures and develop on- and off-page SEO projects for small, medium, and big-scale e-commerce websites. SEO-compatible articles and multimedia content, technical enhancement, and off-page links must be get suitably involved in the process.
To introduce Sentilyon briefly, it was established in 2004 in London. It has been active in Turkey since 2014. It has been pursuing its goals and preserving its principles successfully. We can comfortably say that our success has been an outcome of a wonderful team that consists of valuable people who love and respect their job and prioritize ethical values in their professional life. We provide varied services in the digital area, and SEO counseling is one of them. What are the ways we follow to provide SEO service for our counselee?
Each website that we work on is unique like a fingerprint. Therefore, we develop a special project for each website. During the preliminary work process, by using relevant SEO tools, we examine the website in a detailed way, and we draft a list of requirements and an SEO check report. Examining the other similar websites, we draft an SEO report. On-page, off-page, and technical SEO projects are determined. We prepare a plan to enhance the website and present this plan to the counselee. If we agree and decide to work, our client and our team collaboratively develop the project (SEO training, etc.).