SEO is the acronym for search engine optimization, and it means optimizing your pages to perform better on searching engines. Your page can be a website page or just a social media page. I want to share an easy-to-understand explanation of what SEO is and how it’s performed.
Let’s face it; everyone wants to interact with the best. In the same way, when you search for something on a search engine like Google or social media, you want to ensure that the results you go with lead you to the best decision. The order in which the results appear is determined by how well the page owner adheres to the best SEO practices. So what are some of the things that the search engines look for to rank your page?
Five Things to Consider During the SEO Exercise
- Keywords; you can look at it as the words you enter in on the search engine. For example, when I type in the term web design in Kenya. The words web, design, and Kenya become the keywords. Pages optimized for those words will stand a chance.
- After the keyword, the next important thing is location. Search engines aim to make your results as relevant as possible. How do they ensure relevance? One way is by giving you results that are within reach. When you sign up for a Facebook page, you might have entered the location or allowed the app to access your area. Another way can be through domain names; nowadays, we have domain name extensions for different regions. That also helps search engines to know where you are based. So in my case, if I Google web design in Kenya, those pages with the keyword Kenya, in terms of location or domain extension, will be given priority.
- The other thing they look for is page relevance. How do search engines know if a page is relevant? They’ll determine this through their Analytics. They can tell if people spend time on your page. That’s one of the indicators that it is relevant content, or another way is if they click on action buttons.
- The next thing they look for is loading speeds. That might not matter so much when it comes to social media, but for websites, if it takes too much time to load, then it might be flagged as a site that gives a bad experience.
- Good Design might be final on this list, but it’s equally important as it is related to a good experience. People might take a keen interest in whatever information is available on the page if it has an intuitive design. It also helps in the delivery of the content. You might as well consider it first in your SEO list.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to get the best out of your search engine optimization exercise, you have to be keen on Keywords, Location, Content Relevance, Page Loading speeds, and Good design.
