What do you know about SEO? Whether you’re new to digital marketing or at the peak of your career, there is almost always more to learn. It’s a rapidly changing industry and can be the difference between peak profits and zero.
SEO is essential to any digital marketing strategy and can have a huge impact on your business or website. Every day there are more than 2.7 million searches typed into Google alone. As you can imagine, appearing on the front page of search rankings can lead to more visibility and sales.
Read on to find out the basics of SEO and why it’s essential to digital marketing.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Those working in digital marketing and SEO specialist careers optimize online content so that it appears as a top result when people enter certain keywords.
The science behind which websites appear first for a particular query is based on search engine algorithms. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing regularly scour webpages for certain factors – some of which are known, while others are undisclosed – and organize them accordingly. That way, when you search for something, the search engine will provide you with the content that best matches your query.
Why is SEO so Important?
It might sound obvious, but the more highly ranked your business or website, the more traffic it will get. In fact, a recent study showed that the first five results on Google get 67% of all clicks.
Consumers also often type keywords into search engines with intent to purchase. For example, if someone is looking to buy a specific hair product, they might type in ‘organic shampoo for dry hair’ into Google. If your site is the first one to appear, they are more likely to buy from you. This can lead to a large increase in sales over time.
Tips and Tricks for an SEO Specialist Career
In digital marketing training, you will learn all about the different techniques and strategies for optimizing online content.
For starters, search engines want to make sure that top ranking websites provide relevant, informative, and up-to-date content for visitors, so they value websites that:
- Use compelling visual elements like videos and images
- Create in-depth and high-quality content
- Frequently post new content and update it over time
- Integrate keywords into web content
- Have built page and domain authority over time
Another element that search algorithms examine is the user-friendliness of a given website. Search engines understand that slow websites or clumsy mobile sites can frustrate users, so they prioritize websites with quick load times, a responsive mobile site design, and other top-notch technical features.
The Difference Between On-Page and Off-Page SEO
SEO best practices can be divided into ‘on-page’ and ‘off-page.’ On-page SEO focuses on optimizing your website for the elements listed above, as well as for certain keywords. SEO specialists will strategically include keywords in the following areas of a given webpage to boost its ranking:
- URL
- Title
- Headings
- Image alt text – i.e., the text that appears when an image is not visible
- Body text
Off-page SEO, on the other hand, refers to the activities conducted off your website that impact its domain authority. Search engines want to provide users with reputable content, so if other websites are frequently linking to your site, the search algorithm will reward you for it.
Are you interested in a digital marketing career?
Contact Cumberland College today!