Search Engine

Optimization
KEY CONCEPTS BASED ON https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
Three ways relationship:
● users want to find what they are looking for on the
internet
● search engines want to make money from selling
advertising
● online marketers want search engines to send traffic to
their site
Online marketers
SEO can help your website rank higher in search results and consequently drive more
traffic to your website, but ranking and traffic are a means to an end. And he ends will be
expressed with different goals and kpis:
● Sales
● Downloads
● Email signups
● Contact form submissions
● Phone calls
● Clicks-to-call/website/directions
 We want to understand customers’
intention
Search intent (or user intent, audience intent) is the term used to describe the
purpose of an online search. It’s the reason why someone conducts a specific
search (and of course, this is a task for marketing!!)

Read more: https://propelrr.com/blog/search-intent-guide

what does users need?
 We want to understand customers’
intention

Common user intent types:

● Informational: searches that are for an answer to a specific question or
information to learn about a topic.Example: “What is the best type of laptop for
photography?”
● Navigational: searches that are looking for a specific site, page on the web,
or geographic location. Example: “Apple”
● Commercial: searches that are investigating or comparing brands, products,
or services.Example: “good deals on MacBook Pros”
● Transactional: searches that indicate the intent to complete a purchase or
take action on a website. Example: “buy MacBook Pros”
 We want to understand customers’
intention
You want to make sure that a
landing page fits the search
intent of your audience. If
people are looking for
information, you don’t want to
show them a product page.)
Informational
Navigational
Transactional
Remember: Google updates
Both robots and humans
need to read the same
web.
BEGINNERS
GUIDE TO SEO
CHAPTER 1: SEO BASICS
This chapter provides a foundational understanding of SEO. It defines what
SEO is and why it's important for online visibility. It explains how search
engines work, including the processes of crawling, indexing, and ranking.

The chapter introduces key SEO elements like keywords, on-page

optimization, and off-page factors. It also emphasizes the importance of user
experience, mobile optimization, and the role of algorithms in search results.
CHAPTER 2: HOW SEARCH ENGINE WORKS
This chapter delves deeper into the inner workings of search engines. It
explains the role of web crawlers and how they discover and index web pages.
It discusses the importance of links and how search engines use them to
determine page authority.

The chapter also touches on factors like anchor text, the nofollow attribute,
and canonicalization. It helps readers understand how search engines decide
which pages to display in search results and how algorithms assess relevance
CHAPTER 3: KEYWORD RESEARCH
Chapter 3 focuses on the critical aspect of keyword research. It explains the
process of finding relevant keywords for your website and optimizing your
content around them.

The chapter covers topics like long-tail keywords, keyword intent, and tools for
keyword research. It emphasizes the importance of understanding user search
intent and creating content that aligns with it.
CHAPTER 4: ON PAGE SEO
This chapter delves into on-page SEO techniques that can improve the visibility of your
web pages. It covers various elements like title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and
URL structure. It also discusses the importance of high-quality, engaging content and
how to optimize it for SEO.

Additionally, the chapter explains the significance of internal linking, user experience,
and mobile optimization for on-page SEO success.
CHAPTER 5: TECHNICAL SEO
Chapter 5 explores technical SEO aspects that involve optimizing your
website's structure and performance for search engines. It discusses
factors like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and website security.

The chapter also addresses issues related to crawlability and indexability,

such as XML sitemaps, robots.txt files, and canonicalization. It provides
guidance on resolving common technical SEO issues that can hinder
search engine rankings.
CHAPTER 5: TECHNICAL SEO- MOBILE
FRIENDLY
In this chapter, the focus is on creating a mobile-friendly website, which is
crucial for SEO success. It explains the concept of responsive design and
the benefits it offers in terms of user experience and SEO. The chapter
covers the importance of mobile page speed, touch-friendly elements,
and mobile SEO best practices. It also discusses the significance of mobile
usability and how it can impact search engine rankings.
CHAPTER 6: Link Building & Establishing
Authority
Chapter 6 is dedicated to the critical topic of link building and authority
building. It explains how high-quality backlinks from reputable websites can
improve your website's authority and search engine rankings.

The chapter explores various link-building strategies, including content

marketing, outreach, and guest posting. It also advises on avoiding low-quality
link-building practices that can lead to penalties from search engines.
CHAPTER 7: Measuring, Prioritizing, &
Executing SEO
This chapter provides insights into measuring the effectiveness of your SEO efforts
and prioritizing your optimization tasks. It introduces key performance indicators
(KPIs) like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates.

It also covers the importance of setting goals, tracking progress, and using analytics
tools. The chapter concludes with tips on executing an effective SEO strategy,
including the iterative nature of SEO work and the importance of continuous
improvement.
let’s go into
some of the
concepts
Search engines functions
Search engines have three primary functions:

1. Crawl: Scour the Internet for content, looking over the code/content for each URL
they find.
2. Index: Store and organize the content found during the crawling process. Once a
page is in the index, it’s in the running to be displayed as a result to relevant queries.
3. Rank: Provide the pieces of content that will best answer a searcher's query, which
means that results are ordered by most relevant to least relevant.
SEO definition
Search engine optimization (SEO) also called organic or natural optimization, is the
practice of optimizing a Web site so as to achieve preferred ranking on the search engine
results pages (SERPs).

Search engine optimization (SEO) involves optimizing web sites to achieve high rankings
on the search engines for certain selected key phrases.

Optimizing a Web site for search engines should entail optimizing the Web site for users.
Done properly, it should result in a better user experience, while ensuring that search
engines index and rank the web site well.
Signals of quality
Search engines need to help users find what they’re looking for. To make sure they list
the best results first, they look for signals of the following:
• Relevance
• Importance
• Popularity
• Trust
• Authority
SEO ON PAGE
Indexability,
content
Indexability
Indexability in SEO refers to the degree to which a website's content can
be effectively crawled and indexed by search engines. In simpler terms,
it's about ensuring that your web pages are accessible to search engine
bots so that they can be included in the search engine's database (index).

Indexability is a crucial aspect of SEO because if search engines can't find

and understand your content, it won't appear in search results, making it
virtually invisible to potential visitors.
NAVIGATION MISTAKES
Common navigation mistakes that can keep crawlers from seeing all of your
site:
● Having a mobile navigation that shows different results than your desktop
navigation
● Any type of navigation where the menu items are not in the HTML, such as
JavaScript-enabled navigations. The more surefire way to ensure something
gets found, understood, and indexed by Google is by putting it in the HTML.
● Personalization, or showing unique navigation to a specific type of visitor
versus others, could appear to be cloaking to a search engine crawler
● Forgetting to link to a primary page on your website through your navigation:
remember, links are the paths crawlers follow to new pages!

Read more: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate

Indexability basics
● XML Sitemap: Create and submit an XML sitemap to search engines like Google. This
helps search engines discover and index your website's pages more efficiently.
● Robots.txt: Use a robots.txt file to control which parts of your site should be crawled and
indexed by search engines. Ensure that important content is not blocked.
● Mobile-Friendly Design: Ensure your website is mobile-responsive to cater to mobile
users. Mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor for Google.
● Page Speed: Optimize your website's loading speed. Faster-loading pages not only
improve user experience but also positively impact search engine rankings.
robots txt
A robots.txt file is placed in the
“root” directory of a website.
It tells search engines whether they
can access certain parts of a site
and therefore crawl them. The file
should be named "robots.txt". Used
to exclude results such as internal
searches.
However, it is not the way to “hide”
confidential results.
Content
● High-Quality Content: Create valuable, informative, and unique content
that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience. Aim for
depth and relevance.
● Keyword Research: Conduct keyword research to identify the terms and
phrases your target audience is searching for. Use these keywords
naturally in your content.
● Title Tags: Craft compelling and descriptive title tags for each page,
incorporating relevant keywords. Keep them concise (around 60
characters).
Content

● Meta Descriptions: Write persuasive meta descriptions for each page.

Although they don't directly impact rankings, they can improve click-through
rates from search results.
● Header Tags: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content
and make it more readable. Include target keywords where relevant.
● Internal Linking: Create a logical internal linking structure within your content
to help users navigate your site and distribute link equity.
Considerations when choosing a keyword:
● Search volume: How many searchers are using that phrase to find what they
want?
● Competition. How many other websites are targeting that same phrase
● Propensity to convert:What is the likelihood that the searcher using that key
phrase is going to convert on your site? A conversion is a desired action taken
by the visitor to your Web site. Related to propensity to convert is the
relevance of the selected term to what you are offering.
● Value per conversion. What is the average value per prospect attracted by the
keyword? Depending on the nature of your Web site, the average value per
lead varies.
Optimizing Content for Key Phrases
Content has several roles to play on your site:
● It provides information to visitors.
● It must engage them.
● It must convince them to do what you want.
It must also send signals of relevance to search engines. We need to use
the keywords on the content page in a way that search engines will pick up
and users will understand.
Optimizing Content for Key Phrases
Title tag. Use the key phrase in the title and
as close to the beginning as possible.
H1 header tag. Use the key phrase in the
header tag and in the other H tags.
Body content. Use the key phrase at least
three times, or more if there is a lot of
content and it makes sense. Aim for about
350 words of content.
Bold. Use tags around the keyword at least
once.
Alt tag for an image. Use the key phrase at
least once to describe an image
URL (uniform resource locator). Use a URL
rewrite so that it appears in the URL of the
page.
Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it may take time to see
significant results. Regularly monitor your website's performance, track
keyword rankings, and adapt your strategy as needed to stay competitive in
search engine results.
 Optimizing Content for Key Phrases
Meta description. Use it at least once in the meta description of the page. It should entice
users to click through to your site from the search engine results page (SERP).
Meta tags. Use the keywords in the meta tags to provide context to the search engines.
Linked anchor text to another page. The anchor text describes the page being linked to.
Domain name. If possible, use the key phrase in your domain name, although favor usability
or memorable domain
Things to avoid:
● Thin content (content that is not interesting)
● Duplicate content
● Keyword stuffing
● Cloaking
● Auto Generated content
Beyond content: other optimization

Titles H1: Each page should have a unique H1 that describes the main topic
of the page, this is often automatically created from the title of a page. As the
main descriptive title of the page, the H1 should contain that page’s primary
keyword or phrase.

Internal linking: When you link to other pages on your website, you ensure
that search engine crawlers can find all your site’s pages, you pass link equity
(ranking power) to other pages on your site, and you help visitors navigate
your site
Beyond content: other optimization

Anchor text: The anchor text sends signals to search engines regarding the
content of the destination page.Too many internal links using the same,
keyword-stuffed anchor text can appear to search engines that you’re trying to
manipulate a page’s ranking.

Redirections: Don't break your links! you should make sure to redirect the
URL to its new location, but if possible, update all internal links to that URL at
the source so that users and crawlers don’t have to pass through redirects to
arrive at the destination page.
Redirections: errors
301: permanent redirects: The URL requested by the client has changed.
The Web server automatically redirects the client to the new URL.
302: A 302 redirect is similar to a 301, except it is a temporary redirect.
Indicates that the original content has been temporarily moved to a new
URL.
303: Similar to 302. They are commonly used to redirect to a thank you
page after completing entries.
404: The resource requested by the client (URL) cannot be found on the
Web server.
Marketing with errors
Beyond content: other optimization

Alt text: (alternative text) within images is a principle of web accessibility, and
is used to describe images to the visually impaired via screen readers. Also,
search engine bots crawl alt text to better understand your images, It’s
important to have alt text descriptions.

Title tag:A page’s title tag is a descriptive, HTML element that specifies the
title of a particular web page. Each page on your website should have a
unique, descriptive title tag. They are nested within the head tag of each page
and look like this:
<head>

<title>Example Title</title>

</head>
Beyond content: other optimization

Metadescription: ike title tags, meta descriptions are HTML elements that describe the contents of the page
that they’re on. They are also nested in the head tag, and look like this:

<head>

<meta name=”description” content=”Description of page here.”/>

</head>
 Readability
● Text size and color - Avoid fonts that are too tiny. Google recommends 16-point font and above to
minimize the need for “pinching and zooming” on mobile. The text color in relation to the page’s
background color should also promote readability. Raad more: website accessibility guidelines and
via Google’s web accessibility fundamentals.
● Headings - Breaking up your content with helpful headings can help readers navigate the page.
Especially on long pages where a reader might be looking only for ia particular section.
● Bullet points: Great for lists, bullet points can help readers skim and more quickly find the
information they need.
● Paragraph breaks: Avoiding walls of text can help prevent page abandonment and encourage site
visitors to read more of your page.
● Supporting media: When appropriate, include images, videos, and widgets that would complement
your content.
● Bold and italics for emphasis: Putting words in bold or italics can add emphasis, so they should
be the exception, not the rule.
Image optimization
Make your images “light”: options like "save for web," image sizing, and
compression tools like Optimizilla or ImageOptim
Choose the right format:
● If your image requires animation, use a GIF.
● If you don’t need to preserve high image resolution, use JPEG (and test
out different compression settings).
● If you do need to preserve high image resolution, use PNG.
○ If your image has a lot of colors, use PNG-24.
○ If your image doesn’t have a lot of colors, use PNG-8.
https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/optimizing-content-efficiency/image-optimization
URL structure
Search engines require unique URLs for each page on your website so they can display your pages in search results,
but clear URL structure and naming is also helpful for people who are trying to understand what a specific URL is
about.
The URL is a minor ranking signal.. When naming your pages or selecting a domain name, have your audience in mind
first.
● Keep your urls short: remove unnecessary words and specially stopwords
● Keyword overuse in URLs can appear spammy and manipulative
● use the hyphen character (-) to separate words in a URL.
● avoid case sensitive URLs.
TECHNICAL
SEO
Speak “techie”
You don’t need to have a deep technical understanding of these concepts,
but it is important to grasp what these technical assets do so that you can
speak intelligently about them with developers.
Languages
Some words:
● Schema and rich snippets: Schema is a way to label or organize your content so that
search engines have a better understanding of what certain elements on your web pages
are.
● Canonicalization: Proper canonicalization ensures that every unique piece of content on
your website has only one URL.
● Responsive design: You can use CSS to make the web page "respond" to whatever type
of device your visitors are using.
● AMP-Accelerated Mobile Pages: is used to deliver content faster to mobile visitors
● Page speed: page speed is a crucial aspect of on-site SEO.
● International audience: language and country
A good site:
● Easy to use, navigate, and understand
● Provide direct, actionable information
relevant to the query
● Professionally designed and accessible to
modern browsers
● Deliver high quality, legitimate, credible
content
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
Some keys from Google
Webmaster Guidelines
Basic principles
● Make pages primarily for users, not search engines.
● Don't deceive your users.
● Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A
good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable
explaining what you've done to a website to a Google
employee. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my
users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"
● Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or
engaging.
Things to avoid
● Automatically generated content
● Participating in link schemes
● Creating pages with little or no original content (i.e. copied from
somewhere else)
● Cloaking: the practice of showing search engine crawlers different
content than visitors.
● Hidden text and links
● Doorway pages: pages created to rank well for specific searches
to funnel traffic to your website.
and, it is also about usability
and now… IA. Meet Bert
The BERT algorithm is a machine learning algorithm that helps the Google search engine
understand what words in a sentence mean. BERT pays particular attention to the nuances of
context.

BERT began rolling out in October 2019.

and now… IA. Meet Bert
The Google BERT algorithm is going to have a big impact on search queries where prepositions
are a key to understanding what the searcher is looking for.

This means that BERT will have an impact on two kinds of search query in particular:

● longtail keyword phrases containing five or more words (as opposed to short search
queries involving two or three words)
● conversational search queries
Remember:

The good SEO will improve your

site, even if Google disappeared
tomorrow.
 two “foundational” tasks:
● seo audit
● keyword research
SEO AUDIT
SEO AUDIT
The SEO audit is always the starting point for any SEO action, as it involves an exhaustive analysis of the state of a
website from which the main problems and opportunities for improvement are diagnosed.

Macia Domene, Fernando. Advanced SEO. Almost everything I know about web positioning (SOCIAL
MEDIA) (Spanish Edition) ANAYA MULTIMEDIA.
PURPOSE OF SEO AUDIT
The purpose of the audit is to identify as many foundational issues affecting organic search performance as possible.
The SEO audit will reveal:

● Technical SEO issues

● Website structure issues
● On-page SEO issues
● Potential off-site problems
● User experience issues
● Content gaps and opportunities
 SEO AUDIT. Main processes:
● Making sure your site is being correctly crawled, indexed, and rendered by Google
● Checking your website for on-page SEO problems
● Examining your off-page SEO for potential issues on others’ sites that relate/link back to your site
● Verifying that your site has a good user experience (for both mobile and desktop users)
● Keyword-optimizing your content
● Checking your website for duplicate or thin content
● Setting up and maintaining comprehensive reporting to track your website’s performance-

https://www.semrush.com/blog/seo-audit/
SEO AUDIT: what is it
● Auditing your site can reveal problems that may be costing you traffic
and sales. It can help you avoiding:
○ Losing out on organic traffic due to site health issues
○ Losing out on sales opportunities or losing the competitive edge
to other brands
○ Having your site improperly indexed (meaning searchers won’t be
able to find it)
○ Facing penalties from Google for toxic backlinks
 WHY IS SO IMPORTANT
An SEO audit is a valuable way to diagnose any problems or areas of
weakness on your site. The results will provide a detailed analysis of what can
be improved to enhance your site for improved performance.

● You can find SEO weaknesses:

● Measurability: An initial SEO audit will set the starting point for all metrics
and progress can then be measured.
● It helps prioritizing your marketing efforts
● Assess what your competitors are doing
● Track progress of keyword rank
SEO AUDIT: HOW TO DO IT

WE ARE
STARTING
WITH THIS
SEMRUSH METHOD
KEYWORD RESEARCH
What is a keyword research
Keyword research is an essential part of your SEO strategy and the first
step in the SEO copywriting process. Before you create your site’s
content, you should find out what search terms your audience uses.
Their search terms are your keywords.
What is a keyword research
Keyword research is a core SEO task that involves identifying popular
words and phrases people enter into search engines -make in an
attempt to figure out what to rank for.
Researching keywords gives marketers a better understanding of how
high the demand is for certain keywords and how hard it would be to
compete for those terms in the organic search results, offering some
direction to optimization efforts.
https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-keyword-research
Moz
What is a keyword research
Keyword research is the process of finding keywords that
you want to rank for in search engines. It’s about
understanding what potential customers are searching for
and how.
Analyzing and comparing keywords to find the best
opportunities.
What is a keyword research
it’s finding not only the keywords you want to rank for, but
also the ones you should rank for (what people who want
what you have to offer actually search for)..
Why should you do a keyword research

It helps you to answer questions like:

● How hard will it be to rank for this keyword?
● How much traffic am I likely to get if I rank for this keyword?
● What kind of content should I create to rank for this keyword?
● Are people searching for this keyword likely to become my
customers?
 When should I do a keyword research?

Keyword research is a job worth doing whenever you're

looking to create new website content. This includes when
you're looking at starting a new website, if you're writing a
new blog post for an existing site, when you're deciding
whether to promote a particular product or service, and
beyond.

Source: Smart Insights

 When should I do a keyword research?

With keyword research you can predict shifts in demand,

respond to changing market conditions, and produce the
products, services, and content that web searchers are
actively seeking.
In the history of marketing, there has never been such a
low barrier to entry in understanding the motivations of
consumers in virtually any niche.

Source: Smart Insights

How to Judge the Value of a Keyword
● Ask yourself...Is the keyword relevant to your website's
content
● Search for the term/phrase in the major engines
● Buy a sample campaign for the keyword at Google
AdWords
● Determine the exact value of each keyword
 Keyword difficulty
In order to know which keywords to target, it's essential to not
only understand the demand for a given term or phrase, but also
the work required to achieve high rankings.