What is the origin of the phrase SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
In the early 1990s, the first search engines appeared. Many were founded prior to the appearance of Google in 1996, including Yahoo! As a result, the Web boom began. People discovered that they could be used to make money. As a result, they concluded that they needed to attract traffic. What was the most effective strategy of garnering traffic? Search Engines!
At that point, the proprietors of the websites began to consider how they could climb to the top of the rankings. SEO was created! SEO focuses on organic search results, which are those that are not paid for. But, hey, let’s get to the point, which is why (I believe) you’re reading this chapter.
1. What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing a website’s exposure in the organic results of various search engines. It is also called SEO in English (Search Engine Optimization).
SEO is one of the “disciplines” that has undergone the biggest transformation in recent years. We only need to look at the enormous number of Penguin and Panda upgrades to see how they have flipped the script on what SEO thought was true until recently. With SEO, what Matt Cutts refers to as “Search Experience Optimization” or, to put it another way, “all for the user” is now being pursued.
Although there are thousands of factors that a search engine considers when ranking one website above another, there are two main ones: authority and relevancy.
The popularity of a website is referred to as its authority. The more popular it is, the more valuable the knowledge contained inside it becomes. This is the most important factor for a search engine to consider because it is based on the user’s own experience. The more content that is shared, the more helpful it is to users.
Relevance refers to a page’s relationship to a certain search. This is not merely because a page contains the search word numerous times (although it used to be that way), but because a search engine relies on hundreds of on-site criteria to discern this.
SEO can be divided majorly into two groups:
On-site:
The goal of SEO is to increase relevance. It ensures that the website is optimized so that the search engine understands the essential point, which is the website’s content. On-site SEO would include keyword optimization, loading time optimization, user experience optimization, code optimization, and URL format optimization.
Off-site:
The term “off-site” refers to a location that is not on SEO, but the portion of SEO work that focuses on elements other than the web page on which we are working. The amount and quality of links, visibility in social networks, mentions in local media, brand authority, and performance in search results, that is, our clients’ CTR, are the most essential aspects in off-site SEO.
You’re probably thinking that all of this is really excellent and intriguing, but you’re here to find out why you need SEO on your website and what benefits you’ll gain if you include it into your online strategy.
Once we understand what SEO is, we must decide whether or not we should follow the search engine’s “recommendations.” White Hat SEO or Black Hat SEO?
Black Hat SEO:
Black hat SEO is the attempt to increase a web page’s search engine positioning by employing unethical or contradictory practices. Cloaking, Spinning, SPAM in forums and blog comments, and Keyword Stuffing are some examples of Black Hat SEO. The black hat can bring benefits in the near term, but it is often a risky technique that lacks long-term continuity and does not generate value.
White Hat SEO:
It refers to any morally correct methods taken in accordance with search engine criteria in order to place a web page in search results. Given that search engines place a higher value on pages that best react to a user’s search, White Hat approaches include adding value to a website to make it more relevant to search engines.
2. Why is SEO important?
The most essential reason SEO is required is that it improves the usability of your website for both users and search engines. Despite this, they are still unable to view a web page in the same way that humans do. SEO is required to assist search engines in determining what each page is about and whether it is valuable to users.
SEO is the most effective approach for your users to find you through relevant searches. These users are looking for what you have to offer. A search engine is the greatest way to find them.
3. What is the fundamental function of search engines?
A search engine’s functioning can be divided into two steps: crawling and indexing.
Tracking.
A search engine scans the web, using what are known as bots. These navigate through all of the pages via the links. As a result, a good link structure is essential. They browse the Web like any other user, clicking from one link to the next, collecting data about the web sites that they then provide to their servers.
Crawling begins with a list of previously crawled web domains and sitemaps. When the bots access these websites, they hunt for links to other pages to visit. Bots are particularly drawn to new websites and modifications to established websites.
It is up to the bots to pick which pages to visit, how frequently and for how long they will crawl that website, which is why it is critical to have a fast-loading speed and up-to-date content.
It is fairly typical for a web page to need to restrict crawling of some pages or specific information in order to prevent them from appearing in search results. To do this, search engine bots can be instructed not to crawl specific pages via the ” robots.txt ” file.
Indexing.
These pages are indexed once a bot crawls a website and collects the essential information. They are arranged in that order based on their content, authority, and importance. As a result, when we enter a query into the search engine, it will be much easier to display the results that are most relevant to our inquiry.
Initially, search engines were dependent on how many times a term was repeated. When performing a search, they crawled those phrases in their index to see which pages featured them in their texts, favoring the one with the most repetitions. They are much more sophisticated and base their indices on hundreds of distinct factors.
Some of these elements include the date of publication, whether or not they incorporate photos, videos, or animations, micro formats, and so on. They are now placing a greater emphasis on the content’s quality.
4. What happens after Crawling?
Once the pages have been crawled and indexed, it is time for the algorithm to take action: algorithms are computer processes that determine which pages appear first or last in search results. After the search is completed, the algorithms examine the indexes. This manner, they’ll know which sites are the most relevant when hundreds of positioning elements are taken into account. And it all happens in a couple of milliseconds.