SEO: how it can help you grow on Google

The internet is an environment that has always been constantly growing, both in the number of people gaining access to it and in the number of websites, blogs, and web pages that appear every day. To make it easier for users to find what they need in this vast sea of content, there are search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Search engines, as the name suggests, search for everything on the internet that is accessible. Through algorithms, they are quite precise in delivering search results. However, you may have noticed that only a few results show up on the first page, even though it is very likely to match what you are looking for. According to Advanced Web Ranking, the CTR (click-through rate) of Google’s first page is around 31%, while the second page gets 15%. This makes the dispute for the first page fierce, because that is where companies, agencies, bloggers, and influencers want their content to be. But don’t worry — the path to the top of the search engines is no mystery, and it is within reach of anyone willing to create content for the internet. That is exactly what SEO techniques are for — essential for anyone who wants to start creating content for the internet and stand out. In this article you will learn a bit about them and how to use them.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization, as the name suggests, is a set of techniques aimed at improving the ranking of your content in the organic results of search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

First of all, Google.

Google is the main search engine in use today, and that is no secret to anyone. Precisely because of this platform’s massive use, most SEO studies tend to use it as a baseline. You are probably already familiar with the search engine, but it is good to understand how your search results are displayed.

Let’s suppose you are searching for investments on Google. Right away you will be faced with Google Adwords results, which are paid ads.

Below them are the organic results, which are achieved through SEO.

Your goal is to conquer the first page through these techniques. The use of Google Adwords is not less important, but since it is paid, it is not as advantageous for those who are just starting to create content for the internet.

SEO in practice

There are many SEO techniques, and they can be carried out by you or by a team dedicated to it. Today there is no difficulty in applying them — sites such as WordPress or Wix, for example, make these techniques easier to use through plugins. SEO can be classified into two types: ON-Page SEO and OFF-Page SEO. Let’s look at each one.

ON-Page SEO

These are the techniques that can be applied within your content so that it performs well in search engines, with the advantage that you have full control over them. Below we list some of them:

Title

Everyone knows that when writing a text, the title can make the difference in generating clicks, being a key factor in whether people feel drawn to read your text or not. In SEO there are two types: the SEO Title and the Title Tag.

The SEO Title is the title displayed on the search engine and it can be different from the Title Tag. That is because the search engine has a character limit which, if exceeded, can affect your ranking. See the example below

The Title Tag, in turn, is the internal title — the one your reader will see as soon as they access your content. Special attention is needed here, because it must not drift too far from the SEO Title.

Continuing with the example above, when you click on the Rockcontent content you may notice that the title is different and longer, yet still related to the topic.

URL

Within search engines, the URL also influences ranking. So pay attention to whether it contains your content’s keyword and matches it. It is also worth watching its length — there is no point in stuffing several words into the URL believing it will improve your performance. Avoid random numbers and characters. Ideally, a URL should be separated by hyphens, made of lowercase letters, and short. This is what we call a friendly URL: containing your content’s keyword, short, and related to the topic at hand.

Image

It may not seem like it, but the image is another factor that affects your ranking. So when choosing one to illustrate your text, try to relate it to the topic. Name the file according to the image; do not save it with random names. Also pay attention to the image size — keep in mind it will be opened both on computers and on mobile phones. Overly heavy images take a long time to load, which may make users give up on accessing your content. Another point is the creation of alternative text: it is required to describe the image and is essential both for the search engine to understand what it is about and for accessibility.

Content:

As noted here, there is a vast sea of content on the internet, and SEO techniques will not be enough if what you produce is not original. This does not mean you should merely avoid copying others — you should build something that stands apart from the rest. Your content also needs keywords. If you don’t know how to use them, research the subject you want to develop and observe how other sites are handling the topic. At the bottom of Google’s search pages, searches related to what you looked for often appear, which also helps with this task.

Keep in mind that writing a lot is not synonymous with quality either, so be precise and clear in what you produce. There is no magic word count that determines ranking. Remember that it depends on the project you are developing — what matters is that the word count is in harmony with the text.

OFF-Page SEO.

With ON-Page SEO you can control your content; with OFF-Page SEO it is the opposite, yet it influences your ranking in search engines just the same. Let’s look at some examples:

Link building

When you access a page, it is common to come across words that link to other pages. It is common to use this mechanism in web texts to back up an argument or simply to make a reference. By doing so, you demonstrate that the linked site is a trustworthy source on the subject.

That is why link building is a very important OFF-Page SEO factor, being responsible for identifying your page’s authority within search engines. If the site linking to your content has high authority on Google, that helps too.

Authority

If your site is new, it probably will not rank well right away, but it is essential to look at the competition and understand some of the characteristics that got them onto the front page. Being on the network for a long time is important, but it is not enough. Don’t worry if your site is not doing well now — following the other topics will help you get there.

Locality

Google also tries to take the user’s location into account when showing results. If you want to create a website for your store, restaurant, or any other kind of business, you need to consider this. Imagine you created a website for your restaurant located in Rio de Janeiro — when someone searches for something to eat in the area, your restaurant is likely to show up.

And now?

If you were already producing texts for the internet and didn’t know about these techniques, no problem. Go back to the content you have produced so far and adjust it according to SEO techniques. Analyze the performance of your texts before and after adapting them. Reflect on what can be improved. If you are starting something from scratch, try to produce the content within SEO strategies from the very beginning. Don’t worry if something similar already exists out there. You can build something different from what is already being done. Let’s get to work.