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What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? 5 Things You Can Try To Boost Your Website’s SEO Strategy (Willy The Website Goes To A Fancy Party!)

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What is Search Engine Optimization? What is SEO?  SEO is the process of building and modifying your website to increase it’s traffic through organic search engine results. This means that when people enter a query into a search engine that your website will pop up in the search results. 

Does that definition of Search Engine Optimization sound complicated and scary? Do you want to learn more about how to improve your SEO strategy for your website? If you answered yes to these questions, then keep reading! Here is a fun and easy way to understand it, including 5 things you can try to boost your SEO strategy plan.

Imagine your website (let’s call it Willy the Website!) is a super-cool dude and just got invited to a fancy dress-up party. All the famous search engines will be there. There will even be users at the party checking out the search engines, and both the users and the search engines are going to be checking out Willy and other websites. Willy has never been to party like this before and really wants to get noticed! Here are 5 tips and practices to help get Willy the Website noticed at the fancy party and to step up your website’s SEO game plan.

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Photo: Laura Noverraz, Unsplash

1. Know how to talk and mingle with the search engines: Know and use your keywords.

Websites should be helpful and informative. It is a good idea to ask yourself– what is the user looking for? What words are they using to find what they are looking for? These words are called “keywords”, and these questions can help you discover the keywords you should use to boost SEO for Willy the Website.

In doing so, you will want to make sure your website is using keywords that addresses the user’s intent and answers the user’s query. You also will want to choose an overall theme for your keyword plan that includes keywords that are general, specific and that are searched for often. Search engines love it when you use keywords on your website and in your content and blogs. The more relevant information that your website can provide to solve the user’s query, the better for your Search Engine Optimization strategy.                 

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Photo: Priscilla Du Preez, Unsplash

2. Remember the search engines want to EAT at this party.

To optimize SEO, Willy the Website should have content that is: EAT-able! What is EAT in Search Engine Optimization?

E is for expertise. Search engines prioritize websites that are experts in their field or industry and that are informative, accurate and helpful.

A is for authoritativeness. Websites that display authoritativeness have content that is correct and factual; they are not merely discussion forums, personal opinions and reviews. These websites are favoured by search engines.

T is for trustworthiness. A trustworthy website is a website that is secure. This means that a user feels confident in putting his or her information into the forms and making payments on the website. It also means that users trust that the information on the website is legitimate and answering their query.

EAT-able websites have content that is valuable, accurate and trustworthy and they are recognized and ranked as quality websites by search engines.

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Photo: Becca Tapert, Unsplash

3. Build relationships at the party and other websites will want to link up with you.

When Willy the Website gets to this fancy party, he is going to want to start building relationships with other websites. Websites that are of high quality have information that other websites will want to link their users to. This link from one website to another website is called a backlink.

When websites link back to a website that is trustworthy it shows confidence in that website. This backlink proves to search engines that the website is an expert resource. The more links that lead back to the same website or webpage the more a search engine deems the website legit and verifiable. Building up backlinks from other websites is a great way to improve your SEO.

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Photo: Rodin Kutsaev, Unsplash

4. Be flexible and be a shape shifter.

Willy the Website should be a shape shifter at this party– search engines will love it! Mobile devices are being used more than ever before to surf the web, which makes it super important that your website has responsive design. This means that your website is user-friendly and can conform well to multiple interfaces– including mobile, tablet and desktop computers.

Search engines especially promote websites that are functional and load fast on mobile platforms, and this should be considered part of your SEO strategy plan. Responsive design is a great way to boost your Search Engine Optimization.

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Photo: Tamas Tuzes Katai, Unsplash

5. Have your info accessible to users and search engines trying to check you out.

Willy the Website will get checked out by users and search engines if it makes contact information for the individual or business who owns the site easily available. Websites are helpful and informative to the user when their owners provide their name, location, contact details and phone number. Having these details accessible and available online is a way to make your website deemed valuable to users. This, in turn, makes your website a quality website in the eyes of the search engines.

These are just a few things for Willy the Website to try to keep in mind when he gets to the fancy party. There are more SEO strategies that can help Willy stand out from the crowd and get noticed, but these five SEO tips are a good place to start. We wish Willy the Website the best of luck at the party! If you would like more info on SEO strategies and game plans feel free to contact us before your next fancy party.

Written by Teresa Edmilao, Purple Yam. May 16, 2021