What is SEO?
SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. It is a web marketing discipline that deals with the process of optimizing websites with the ultimate goal of improving their position in search results. If your website ranks among the top positions in a search, it is very likely that you will obtain better results than your competition.
Other names for SEO are: positioning, organic or natural positioning, web positioning in search engines.
When performing a Google search, websites with the best positions are more visible. There is a wealth of documentation regarding how to optimize a website to gain a greater presence on the internet, increase traffic or visitor numbers, and achieve greater sales.
SEO can also refer to the individuals or agencies that carry out positioning campaigns, who are usually multidisciplinary teams: programmers, designers, and content writers, where those who create multimedia content or the knowledge of experts are increasingly important.
Due to the multiple factors that determine SEO, such as website content structure, keywords, visitor search intent, Google algorithms, website speed, mobile optimization, multimedia content, link building (inbound link building), content relevance and originality, among others, it is not immediate, and many agencies choose to conduct monthly progressive improvement campaigns.
In SEO, it is impossible to guarantee a position; however, it is possible to perform optimizations to improve your visibility in the major search engines.
The different tasks or actions of SEO positioning can be divided into two large blocks:
On-page SEO (internal)
On-page SEO, also known as on-site SEO, deals with the internal optimization of the website, such as its structure and content. Certain types of optimizations include speed, adaptability or responsiveness in mobile formats, content, and user experience.
Off-page SEO (external)
Off-page SEO, also known as off-site SEO, involves optimizing a website's external factors: links from other websites to yours and their authority, age, CTR (click-through rate per impression or view of your website), presence on social media (where YouTube is most important).
Why is it necessary to run an SEO campaign?
The importance of SEO is to help users find results that satisfy their search. Google and other search engines aim to provide quality results to users. Consequently, SEO can be important for you to gain a greater online presence, which can translate into increased sales, a broader network of contacts, and greater prestige compared to your competitors.
How do internet search engines work?
Search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo, while they use very different algorithms (ways they process information), broadly operate the same, resulting in two major cyclical processes:
Crawling with Bots
Bots, robots, or spiders, are paths that search engines perform on your website, storing all the information available on it: content, images, files, and links. This also includes information regarding loading speed, colors, and content structuring.
Based on the frequency with which you publish content (products, categories, articles, and posts), search engines will determine the frequency.
This process can be guided by so-called sitemaps and robots.txt, which will provide guidelines for search engines to locate your content.
Indexing Process
Once the crawl is completed, they will be processed by algorithms that will determine the final position in each search.
It's impossible not to mention so-called black hat SEO or widespread bad practices, such as mass inbound link gathering as a method of ranking. Nowadays, and with the help of artificial intelligence, these practices are increasingly easy to detect and can lead to bans or penalties that can cost your domain or brand dearly.
The truth is that the ultimate goal of SEO is to offer quality results to users. Therefore, the focus when building your campaigns should be on offering higher-quality information that differentiates you from your competition.