What is SEO? A Clear Overview (from meaning to approach)

WHAT IS SEO?

It cannot be otherwise than that you have heard something about SEO, but what is SEO actually? The literal SEO meaning is Search Engine Optimization, so search engine optimization in English.

What is Search Engine Optimization | SEO Meaning

Search engine optimization is basically everything you do to ensure that your website is shown as high as possible in the organic search results (also called free) of the search engines. In the Netherlands, we are talking about Google in about 95% of the cases, but there are also search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo.

These organic search results can be found on the search results pages (in jargon SERP: Search Engine Result Page) under the paid search results (advertisements eg Google AdWords or Bing Ads).

Why is SEO so important?

For 95% of the Dutch, the search for a product or company starts in a search engine. To get to the attention of your target group and generate leads, you just have to be at the top of the search engines. Even if people end up making the purchase offline. Search engine optimization / SEO marketing is therefore essential for lead generation.

So what does SEO mean in practice?

There are about 200 ranking factors according to our industry, but let’s be honest, only at Google itself are a few people who know exactly how many there are. What we do know is that all these factors can be divided into 3 main categories:

• Technic
• content
• authority

Where technology and content should primarily be tailored to the visitor to your website. If your visitor is satisfied and finds what he or she is looking for, then in theory the authority should rise naturally over time.

Technic

Your website must be technically in order. Things you should think about include:

• the structure of your website
• the correct use of headers
• user-friendly URLs
• fast loading time
• using an SSL certificate
• use of sitemaps

Unfortunately, not every web builder knows how to take this technical basis into account for an easily findable website.

Content

The users of Google are / your target audience is looking for something. To contact details, a product, information…, content. The better your website meets that content need, the better users of your website will appreciate it and send signals to Google that your website is ‘brilliant’. Consider those signals:

• visiting multiple pages on your website
• do not immediately leave your website and return to Google ( bounce rate and pogo picking )
• sharing your content on social media
• or for SEO’s ‘holy grail’ of appreciation: placing a link to your content/website

Despite the fact that there are people who claim that Google is so smart nowadays that they can map your content to the information needs of your target group, you can absolutely not ignore keywords. So there are 3 steps to get to the ideal content:

1. Analyzing the content needs of your target group. You do this in the content strategy
2. The link that content needs to a keyword research
3. Processing those keywords in a web text that is enticing to the reader.

Authority

Where Google used to have its own indicator for authority (namely PageRank ), nowadays we use Domain and Page authority or Domain Rating. This authority is largely determined by external inbound links.

Ideally, visitors to your website will find the content on that website so beautiful and your website so user-friendly that they will voluntarily link to your website. In practice, everyone knows how important links are for your ranking in Google and almost everyone nowadays asks for money for them. Something that Google struggles with enormously, because for the time being they cannot determine the authority of a website other than through links, but this is of course relatively easy to manipulate.

In our view nothing wrong with that, because all media is manipulated and PR agencies have been providing paid exposure for their customers for many years.

Hence, link building is still an important part of search engine optimization. Because a little organization can also find a web builder who can deliver a technically excellent website and optimizing content is no longer rocket science…., So how does Google know which website best matches the search query?

Make sure you have everything in order

Don’t be blind to technique, content, or authority as something that stands alone. Make sure that you continuously serve your target group as well as possible through your website and also ensure that your website is mentioned on as many other relevant websites as possible. Call it link earning, content marketing, link building, or PR, but you need those links.

Don’t have the illusion that SEO is a one-off project or easy. SEO is something you have to keep working on continuously, just like your target audience 😉

SEO starts with keywords

Google is (especially in Dutch) still focused on keywords. Keyword analysis should therefore be included in every serious content plan.

After you have mapped out the information needs of the target group, you match it with the right keywords. Then you write good web texts around that information and keywords so that your information is actually found and appreciated.

In fact, Google is not yet very smart in Dutch, this is because we are of course only a small country worldwide. A good example of the limited knowledge of our language is the fact that this page, which you are now reading at # 1 in Google, stands for the search term ‘SEO meaning’ with the ‘curve’ sentence below highlighted as a snippet.

“The literal SEO meaning is Search Engine Optimization, so search engine optimization in English.”

The real language purists, therefore, have to turn a blind eye every now and then if they want to reach the top positions.

A concrete SEO plan

The SEO strategy must of course lead to a concrete SEO plan. So that everyone involved knows what needs to be done to beat the competition in Google. The SEO plan should state, among other things, which keywords the focus will be on and how this will be realized.

For example, a landing page is needed with good content, content should be created or optimized, or should the link profile be improved?

SEO marketing in practice

In practice, the technical aspect of SEO is usually tackled first. Is everything correct in terms of indexing, speed, and encryption?

Then it is checked whether there is (sufficient) good content on the website around the keywords. And then the domain and underlying pages are strengthened in terms of authority through internal and external links.

Need an SEO website?

Do you want more than just a beautiful website (such as a digital business card) and also really generate more leads and sales online? Then you need a real SEO website. A website that is well found by your target group (so relevant visitors) in the search engines.

What should you pay attention to with an SEO website?

To make your website easy to find in Google (and other search engines), you must first provide a good technical basis. After that, there should be optimized web texts that not only entice Google but also your visitors.

When technology and content are in order, the authority comes from your website. addressed. You improve the authority of your website by creating relevant links to your website. We do this through content marketing or link building. Because left or right your website just needs good incoming external links.

SEO website and conversion

Of course, we not only go for high rankings in Google, but we also go for actual clicks from Google. With attractive titles and descriptions, we ensure a high CTR (click-through ratio). And of course, we provide the correct texts and CTAs (Call-To-Actions) on the website so that your visitors also become customers.

Improve your SEO website?

Have you been serious about SEO and you still don’t have the results you had in mind? Our proven, effective and transparent approach allows us to improve your SEO website. We are experienced in and in love with SEO marketing.

What is an SEO specialist?

A true specialist in the field of search engine optimization knows the Google algorithm inside and out and keeps a close eye on updates from Google. Such a specialist can not only optimize your content, tackle your technology and build link building, but also knows better than anyone how to give visitors to a website the best user experience. The days when rankings were only important are long gone, so an SEO specialist must also know everything about conversion.

SEO or….?

In addition to SEO / search engine optimization, terms such as Google optimization or SEO optimization are also regularly used. Of course, we understand what people are looking for when they google it, but unfortunately, we cannot technically optimize Google ourselves. And SEO optimization would actually be the optimization of an optimization. In that case, something did not go optimally with your previous SEO party.

Would you like to meet at our office in Hyderabad?

Do you want to spar live about your SEO opportunities? Then make an appointment with one of our SEO specialists and we will view your website and competition live to come up with a plan of action.