Search Engine Optimization: What, Why, and How

Searching is one of the most used actions on the Internet. Search engines as an instrument of searching, are very popular and frequently-used sites. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines.

A search engine is a web-based tool that enables users to locate information on the World Wide Web. Popular examples of search engines are Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search.

https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

Why SEO?

The goal of a search engine is to provide unbiased results that deliver information you are looking for as quickly and as accurately as possible. In order to do this, search engines are capable of identifying all relevant information online and ranking them in order of quality and relevance.
Search engines are constantly evolving and changing their algorithms in order to keep up with the constantly developing new technologies.
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• Brand awareness – A website having a high ranking means more people see the name of the company and become familiar with the company and its products, even if they haven't made a purchase.
• Targeted traffic – Search engine optimization brings paying customers to your doorstep.  
• Your competitors – Keeping ahead of your competition in the organic search results can help boost the perceived position of your company in your marketplace.

Search engines are important because with over 8 billion web pages available, it would be impossible to search for the information that is specifically needed.
This is why search engines are used to filter the information that is on the internet and transform it into results that each individual can easily access and use within the matter of seconds

The SEO Process

Develop a keyword search

• Identify relevant and high/medium search volume keywords.
• Prioritize certain keywords that you have better rankings with.
• Take into consideration the level of competition for each keyword.

Optimize your site

• Map your keywords to a hierarchically organized URL structure.
• Create a crawlable web organization with consistent internal linking.
• Help Google understand your content’s meaning using a structured markup.
• If you‘re a local business, create a Google+ page for better local and maps results visibility.
• Make your pages mobile-friendly with a responsive design or mobile targeted website.

Grow your site authority

• Incoming links, mentions, and shares define your popularity.
• Beware of Google's guidelines against link schemes, penalizations, and link disavowing.
• Make your site easily sharable: from social buttons to active presence in the platforms where your audience is.
• Track all of your link-building actions and identify which works better with your audience to replicate and scale.

Measure your SEO results

• Make a plan for all of your SEO-related activities, with times, resources, KPIs, and goals.
• Follow-up with respect to the KPIs and goals frequently.
• Optimize and expand your own process to make sure you achieve a positive SEO ROI over time.

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Advantages of SEO

• It is cost-effective.
• Easy to acquire different information from different topics.
• It helps in sorting and adding value to the information.

Disadvantages of SEO

• Your position in the search engine is unpredictable.
• This is time consuming.
• Participants can make use of the black hat tactics.
• Too many website visitors 

https://www.digitalstorey.com/blog/2017/1/30/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-seo

Conclusion

To get the best search engine visibility, web designers should follow the Five Basic Rules of Web Design, which state that a website should be:

• Easy to read
• Easy to navigate
• Easy to find
• Consistent in layout and design
• Quick to download

By following these rules, you are building your website to satisfy your target audience. The added benefit of following these rules is that both directory editors and search engines are looking for these same characteristics.