Have you ever wondered what is the most natural and cheap way to get traffic? Did you view at your website in the context of the problems that is solves? Do you know why is it so necessary to protect your content against duplicates? These and lots of other questions lead us to the most important one – what is SEO and how does SEO work in 2018? In this article we will try to find out:
- What does SEO mean;
- Why does everyone need it;
- A part SEO takes in the web development process;
- Distinctive features of SEO in 2018.
What is SEO? How it works?
First of all, let me ask you something. What do you do if you need to find a quick answer to a question, no matter if it is about the weather, food delivery or neuronal web? I’ll be surprised if it is not Google, Bing or any other search engine you enquire about the problem. Even if it is some specific theme and you need the qualified consultation of a dentist (for example), you are going to search for the best possible specialist in the area with the help of Google.
You enter the query and what do you see? A list of web pages that are created to solve your problem. The search engine works like a giant aggregator that collects billions of pages from the whole web, evaluates them and decides what of them are to be shown for the appropriate query. And here we come to the main. SEO stands for search engine optimization. Sharpening your web pages to solve some problems. To make Google show your web page above the others.
Let’s make it clear: SEO is not some kind of a magic. In a loose sense, it is some kind of a code of practice. Not so very small, to be honest – for example, Google manipulates more than 200 ranking factors. Each has lots of subpoints, but you’ll never find an official documentation on this matter – this information is heavily guarded by Google to prevent unfair competition on the part of search engine optimisators. The knowledge is based on tutorials from Google support and on a brainchild of generations of SEO specialists’ practices.
Search engine optimisation is not something extraordinary and something to be afraid of. If you want to have traffic from search engines, SEO is a default, must-have option. Website planning must be started with collecting a semantic core, the code should be written in the light of search engines’ specifications, content should be created and placed on the pages to make people stay on your website as long as possible (behavioral factors are really important). Your website must give people what they are looking for – that is the dominant requirement and at the same time the clearest SEO explanation.
Why do you need SEO?
Imagine a situation: you have some unique selling proposition. Your product is really good, it helps people. High-performance, in one word. What will happen if your website is not SEO-friendly? First, your potential clients will suffer. Why? Because they would be glad to find your product. They are trying to do that, but they can’t, so they have to comply with the worth analog that they managed to find. Then, you will suffer. You don’t get profit for selling your good, because no one can find it. Next, your product will suffer! After all, it was created to deliver benefits and to serve people.
And what if your website meets just the most simple requirements from the SEO point of view? What if you’ve spent some time or money to find out the way people are searching for the goods you sell and have created a page for this product according to the information you found? Even elemental SEO work and nonexistence of atrocities can bring lots of benefits. Especially if this refers to low competitive niche.
Are there any situations when you may not need SEO? Definitely, yes. For example, if you are going to make a one-off meeting, or a concert, or some other event that is not going to repeat. In this case, you should create a landing page, provide PPC, SMM and other advertising that will work in short terms. However, if your business is of a continuing nature, you need SEO as a part of general web marketing strategy.
Another thing SEO stands for is… reputation. “Half of your life you work for your reputation, then your reputation works for you” – this well-known axiom is applicable to search optimisation too. The good news is that you are not going to spend half of your life, working on your SEO. Although, still it is a fairly long process. And this means that you have to fire the count-down right from the first day.
A part SEO takes in the web development
I’ll make a reservation from the very beginning – it’s never too late to put SEO into life. However, the sooner you start, the better the result would be. In an ideal scenario search engine optimisation starts the day you have decided to make a website. Collecting semantics, making competitors’ research, creating a structure according to what do people search – unfortunately, predominantly these basic development steps are made post-factum, in the best case. More often everything starts with creating a design. Yet, it is merely a wrappage for the content. Content is the king, and to make it being good one that will be found through search engines you need to know how do people search for it. That is why you need to start developing your website with creating a semantic core.
SEO should be kept in mind at every stage of web development process. The designer has to make usability the cornerstone of everything. Front-end developers should pay attention to basic requirements that the search engines ask out. For example, aim to have no errors in the code, write it laconically, use scripts and styles in separate .js and .css files etc. Content should be created to cater to the needs of people, not for the purpose of just being. Each title, descriptions, h1 and inset tags should be worked out to correspond the theme and the keywords of the page. All technical and unnecessary pages should be closed from search robots.
This list can be very long. Actually, it is a topic for another article. The main thesis that should be taken in the boxes – SEO is not just a tool, it is a principle of approach to the web development in general. Only coordination with SEO specialist on each stage of the development process can give the maximum result.
SEO in 2018 – what has changed?
From year to year search engines become smarter and smarter. And this means that it becomes harder to implement artificially influence. Tags manipulation, content over-optimisation, unnatural links – that is a way to nowhere. SEO in 2018 looks different. Today you have to bet on the content and on the perfect technical condition of the website. In comparison with the last year, there are two main factors to pick out:
- “mobile first” indexing
- behavioral factors
First one means that if you still do not have the mobile version of the site (although it’s hard to believe, it is 2018 already here) – the time is ripe to get it. Google finally launches algorithm for a separate ranking of mobile and desktop versions. And as it is going from its name – the priority will be given to mobile.
The second point means that user retention and satisfaction of his need is now incredibly important. In simple language, you will not be long on the top of search output if users leave your website not finding what they were looking for. The longer each one stays on your website, the more pages he visits, the better your positions are going to be. In future, Google is looking forward to ditch such ranking factor as links in favor of behavioral metrics.
Coming into contact with SEO for the first time it is easy to feel abashed. Do not worry – if you are Skynix LLC partner this means you get the product that meets all basic SEO requirements. If you are not yet – you can always book a complete SEO audit of your resource or to talk about your project with our SEO specialist.
Have any questions? Contact us or leave a comment below!
