First, optimizing for search engines in concerned with the natural search results when you do a web search. If you look at the results page of your search, you’ll see sponsored listings across the top and right side. Then to the left you’ll see you’re natural search results. SEO is aimed at getting your website there, on the left.
Why?
Because it’s free and establishes you as an authority on whatever word was searched for. After all, out of the whole web, the search engine delivered the ten links before you as the best. Additionally, studies have been done and surfers are much more likely to click on a natural result on a search engine result page (SERP) than a sponsored (paid) listing.
So how do I get a natural listing? To get on the left side you must give the search engines what they like in order to make them like you. This involves two main parts: on-site stuff and off-site stuff. Let’s start with on-site.
On-Site Stuff
Search engines like sites that operate in a certain way. They like them being correctly coded. They like certain data to be present in the code and relevant to the site. They like the content of the site to be new, fresh, and in close relation to the topic of the site. They like the internal linking structure (pages linking to other pages of the site) to make sense. Basically, they like a nice, tight, organized, clean, honest package tied with a nice little bow and placed at their doorstep to easily unwrap and play with. Making this super-package is hard though because what a search engine likes to see and what a real person surfing the web like you and me likes to see and use isn’t always the same. So this balance must be struck.
Additionally, search engines guard exactly what they want to see out of your site for fear of manipulation by SEO’ers. So this muddies the waters even more. But I digress… When it comes to appeasing the search engine gods, we can only work with what we know: the site should have clean, pretty code and smart, well-written content. These are the main necessities of good on-site SEO to keep search engines happy with you.
Off-Site Stuff
The second piece of the puzzle involves off-site stuff, more commonly known as inbound links. Inbound links are those things that take you from one site to another. So, if I put a link to Search Engine Guide here, this is an outbound link for me and an inbound like to Search Engine Guide. (You’re welcome, Search Engine Guide.)
Google likes to see a lot of inbound links to your site. It means that other sites are seeing enough value in your site to send their visitors to you for whatever reason. Additionally, search engines like it better when these links are from sites that are similar in topic to your site. Because a site knows it’s own topic. If it knows it’s own topic, it must be able to accurately judge the value your site brings to the topic. And if after all this that site still links to you… well then, you must be good!
But, to go even one more level, reputable sites that already have a strong, trusted presence, like The New York Times or CNN, give you even more value because Google trusts them the most. Google sees getting a link from one of its trusted sites like a pat on the back from the boss–you must’ve done something right to deserve it.
So, basically that’s the “what” and “why” of SEO in simple terms. Having a well-written site, well-written code, and lots of inbound links will make you shine in the search engine’s eyes. If you’ve done these three things (code, content, and links) better than you competition, you’ll be listed first. And that’s what we all really want now, isn’t it?
Now, doing this all right is another story…
~Andrea
