Table Of ContentsI. IntroductionII. KeywordsIII. Quality ContentIV. OrganizationV. BacklinksVI. Reaching OutVII. Using An SEO ServiceVIII. ConclusionI. IntroductionGoogle processes an average of 3.5 billion searches a day and can generate millions of results for any search term in less than a second. Google and other search engines have changed the way information is shared but most Internet users are not aware of the process used by search engines to retrieve results. Anyone who uses a website to promote products or services needs to be aware of the methods used by search engines to index and rank content.Google relies on an algorithm that is constantly updated and improved to find content, index it and rank it in function of how relevant it is to a search term. There are two main elements to the algorithm used by Google - PageRank, and the keywords used on a page. The PageRank is a score calculated in function of different factors such as back-links and visits to determine the quality of a page while keywords are analyzed to determine how relevant a page is for the issued search term.It is possible to get a webpage or a website to rank higher in search results by using a number of techniques known as search engine optimization. However, some of these techniques are designed to trick search engines and are frowned upon by Google and other search engines. It is best to use the approved methods, known as organic SEO or White Hat SEO. These methods include optimizing content with strong keywords, creating quality content, organizing your website, creating back-links and reaching out to your audience.II. KeywordsThe right keyword strategy can make your pages easier to find and give visitors a good idea of what your page is about thanks to titles and subtitles. An SEO service will be able to determine which search terms your audience uses thanks to tools such as Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner and place these keywords were they will be noticed.Search engines have robots known as spiders or crawlers that can analyze web pages and identify keywords. This is the best way to determine what a page is about. In other words, if a webpage does not contain the right keywords, it will not show up in search results for relevant search terms. It is usually best to select between five and eight strong keywords or keyword phrases to describe the content of a website and to add minor keywords to individual pages to help search engines determine what each page is about.Keywords should be placed in the title of a page as well as in the subtitles if a page has different sections. Meta tags, which are placed in the header of an HTML page, can be used to describe the content of a page but these keywords are not visible to users. Meta tags are no longer considered as important keywords by most search engines. However, a meta description filled with strong keywords can bring more traffic to a page since the meta description is displayed under the title of a page in search results.Keywords placed within bold HTML tags are more likely to be noticed by spiders, and h1, h2 and h3 title tags can be used to indicate how important a title or subtitle is. Besides helping spiders determine what a page is about, using these tags is a good way to help users find important content or give them an idea of what a page is about if they are simply skimming through the content.Keywords can also be used to describe content that spiders cannot analyze, such as images, info-graphics, videos or a Podcast. An efficient keyword strategy developed by an SEO service will improve the ranking of pages that contain more media than text.A keyword strategy is considered as White Hat SEO as long as the primary intent is to help Internet users find relevant content. A page should not have a keyword density higher than 6 or 7% and the content should sound natural.III. Quality ContentThere are many advantages of creating quality content, including providing your audience with something helpful and valuable or getting visitors to spend more time on your site and perhaps visit it again later. Creating high quality content will also make you an authority in your industry and can increase conversion rates and sales.Creating helpful content on very specific topics will boost traffic. A lot of Internet users look up questions or specific pieces of information that can only be answered by industry experts. Search engines will rank your pages higher if your content meets high quality standards and is shared by many Internet users.Quality content is the most important element of the webmasters’ guidelines established by Google. Search engines want Internet users to have the best experience possible and value websites that provide visitors with original and helpful content. Google and other search engines focus on creating algorithms that can detect the presence of authoritative and quality content for any given search term. Quality content is more likely to be shared, another factor that is taken into consideration by search engines.An SEO service will know all about the guidelines set by Google and the importance of organic SEO - the term used by Google to refer to White Hat strategies, especially content creation. Organic SEO services can actually create high quality content such as blog posts or product descriptions.Creating quality content should be an important element of any White Hat SEO strategy. Blogging is a good way to share helpful information while updating a website regularly. However, there are plenty of other platforms and media that can be used to create content, including videos, images, Podcasts, white papers, buying guides or tutorials. The best way to determine what kind of content benefits a website is to keep track of the updates that receive the most attention.IV. OrganizationCreating a website that is well-organized and easy to navigate will make your content easier to find for the spiders used by search engines. This means more pages could be indexed and your content could be displayed for a wider range of search terms if you create subpages on specific topics. A good organization will also make your site easier to navigate for users. Visitors will be more likely to visit several pages and spend more time on your site if relevant content is easy to find.A good organization is a sign of a quality website. Since Google values user experience, putting some time and efforts into making your site easier to navigate will definitely improve your PageRank. Organizing your site will also make important information easier to find, which can be used to generate more conversions. You could for instance organize your site so that visitors can easily find items on sale or so that their attention is drawn to a link they can use to subscribe to your newsletter.Ideally, your website should have some site-wide links organized in a menu to make all your main pages easy to find. You can add some temporary site-wide links to draw attention to a sale or a marketing campaign. Place unique links within your content so that readers can easily find more relevant blog posts, videos or subpages about the topic they are interested in. Don’t forget to optimize all these links with descriptive keywords in the anchor text so that spiders can easily determine what your pages are about.A White Hat SEO service should be able to help you organize your site and improve navigation as more content is added. SEO professionals will be able to identify the main pages that need to be included in your menu and to develop strategies to drive traffic to pages where you offer sales, encourage visitors to stay in touch with your brand or offer more quality content relevant to your readers.V. BacklinksCreating back-links that lead to your website will increase your PageRank and bring more targeted traffic to your site. Relying on White Hate SEO techniques to create links means that only users who are interested in the topics you discuss on your site will find your links and follow them. The right SEO service will be able to create a good number of quality backlinks to keep bringing more traffic to your site.Google and other search engines rely on a method known as link analysis to find out how many web pages have links to your content. Google takes the quality of these pages into consideration to determine whether or not a link makes your content more relevant. Your PageRank in search results can be affected by the number of backlinks you have, the number of clicks these links receive, the presence of relevant keywords in the anchor text of these links and the quality of the pages where these links are shared.Some webmasters spend money to have their links featured on other websites, use link farms to build their back-links or rely on SEO services that do not disclose the methods used to build back-links. The best way to build back-links is to rely on organic or White Hat SEO methods such as creating high quality content that other websites can refer to as a trustworthy source, creating syndicated content or exchanging links with another quality site within the same niche.Building backlinks takes time. This aspect of your SEO campaign should be closely connected to content creation since each new piece of content you create for your site is an opportunity to share backlinks. You could for instance share a new video each week on YouTube or other similar sites along with a link to a page or a blog post on the same topic.The key to building quality backlinks is to focus on the user experience rather than on traffic. There is no point in driving traffic to your site if these visitors are not likely to make a purchase. Displaying your links on pages where targeted visitors are likely to notice them and combining backlinks with high quality content is the best way to create back-links that will increase your PageRank.VI. Reaching OutReaching out to your audience by sharing your content and encouraging users to interact with your brand will help you develop a stronger online presence, make people aware of your brand and have more users sharing your content and perhaps recommending your products or services to their friends.Interactions with Internet users is a factor that is not easy to measure but search engines are working on integrating this aspect of your online presence in rankings. The algorithm used by Google to index and rank web pages now takes social media posts into consideration. A Facebook update or a tweet can appear in search results and the links shared on social media contribute to your PageRank. Sharing content on a social media is a practice that is here to stay and it is likely that your presence on these platforms will have a stronger impact on your rankings in the future.Working on developing your social media presence now is a good way to engage with your audience, increase brand awareness and get more people to visit your site or share your content. Create official social media pages for your brand, share quality content regularly and encourage users to interact with your brand. Keep in mind that people who identify with your brand and users who see value in your content will be more likely to share this content with their friends.An SEO service that specializes in organic SEO will be able to advise you on how to develop your presence on social media. A successful social media marketing campaign should be connected to your content creation strategy and to the methods used to build backlinks. However, using social media might not be relevant if your target audience is not likely to spend time or share content on these platforms.VII. Using An SEO ServiceIt is possible to learn about SEO and implement your own campaign without investing anything else than time. However, learning about SEO and developing a White Hat SEO campaign could take long hours. You will have to familiarize yourself with the guidelines issued by Google, learn how to use Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner, develop a keyword strategy and learn how to optimize your website. You will also need to know how to make some changes to your site such as creating a site-wide menu or adding individual links. Creating quality content and backlinks also requires time and hard work.Working with an SEO service is a great way to save time and to reap the rewards of your SEO campaign within a short time-frame. Even though learning about SEO and implementing your campaign by yourself is possible, you might not start getting good results until you gain more experience and learn from your mistakes. Being able to develop your own SEO campaign is a valuable skill but you should consider getting help from a team of experienced professionals so that you can get results faster and have time to focus on other important things.It is crucial to choose the right SEO service since not all services use White Hat methods. The right service should be entirely transparent about the strategies used and put time and efforts into educating clients about SEO and the methods used. The SEO service you choose should be able to adapt to your specific needs, develop a campaign that is relevant to your goals and to your audience and keep you updated on your progress.VIII. ConclusionSelecting the right keywords, creating high quality content, improving navigation, creating back-links and reaching out to your audience will help you get your content ranked higher in search results. Any other approach to SEO might not be considered as White Hat by search engines and could have a negative impact on how your content ranks.Reviewing the guidelines issued by Google is a good way to gain a better understanding of which strategies are encouraged and which ones are considered as unethical. As a rule of thumb, any technique that does not put the user experience first or that is designed to trick search engines is Black or Grey Hat SEO and should be avoided. You might be able to get your site ranked higher by using Black or Grey Hat SEO methods but you should know that search engines always work on improving their algorithms. Their primary focus is to reward webmasters who use White Hat or organic SEO strategies and to detect the pages with hidden keywords, false redirects and other Black Hat methods. The algorithms used by search engines have come a long way and it is undeniable that these algorithms are much more efficient is recognizing Black Hat SEO strategies than they were a couple of years ago. If you use Black Hat SEO strategies and do not see your PageRank diminish right away, it is very likely that you will be penalized in the future as the algorithms used by search engines get better.
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