In SEO marketing, businesses do not need to pitch their services or products to customers; instead, customers find products or services through Google when they enter relevant keywords. This aspect helps differentiate your offerings from competitors. For instance, if there are 100 Indian restaurants in New York, they will all be indexed in the Google search engine. Thus, it becomes challenging for a user to find a particular restaurant without clearly expressing their intent in the search queries. When users refine their queries to express their intent more clearly, such as searching for "Chicken Tikka Masala Indian restaurant in New York," they are more likely to find websites or listings that match their needs. If those listings feature appealing images, relevant content, and positive reviews, the customer may choose to book a table at that restaurant. This illustrates how specialization can help a company succeed in SEO.
SEO can be performed by individuals, proprietors, SEO marketing agencies, small and medium enterprises, or large companies. Anyone can engage in SEO. Sometimes, companies employ SEO professionals to help rank their websites, but individuals can also do SEO if they cannot afford professional services. In SEO, quality is more important than quantity. If you're starting your SEO journey as a sole proprietor and are unable to hire an SEO professional or company, you can begin the process yourself. While some technical knowledge is helpful, there are plugins available that can simplify the process, or you may hire someone for smaller, one-time tasks. As an expert in your field, you are best suited to explain the services or products that you offer. Start by designing your website using platforms like WordPress, Shopify, or WooCommerce.
As an expert in your field, you are best suited to explain the services or products that you offer. Start by designing your website using platforms like WordPress, Shopify, or WooCommerce. I recommend WordPress for service-oriented businesses and WooCommerce for product sales.
This initial design can be a one-time job. You can either hire someone to design the site or install a plugin in WordPress to help with the design yourself. This may take time, but you can ultimately get your website up and running.
Once your site is ready, begin uploading products or adding content regarding your services. Next, focus on optimizing your web pages. Afterward, these pages will be circulated on social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube. You can create videos showcasing your products or services and post this content on your YouTube channel, promoting your offerings directly.
Additionally, seek out online spaces like blogs, forums, organizations, webinars, podcasts, and specialty channels. Please make a list of these platforms and contribute to them. By sharing insights, updates, or solutions to customer queries in these venues, you can establish yourself as an authority in your field. When customers appreciate your contributions, they may visit your website or blog post. Backlinks generated from these contributions can significantly enhance your website's authority.
Your active participation and content contributions are crawled and indexed by Google's crawlers. Creating a network of backlinks from various platforms to your website will improve your ranking in search results.
SEO consists of both on-page and off-page optimization. You will also need reporting tools to guide you on completed tasks, remaining work, and achieved metrics.
SEO On-page optimization components involve optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, heading tags, adding schema markups, and integrating Google Analytics code in the header section of the website. This will help you track traffic, bounce rates, exit rates, and average time spent by users on your web pages. Other aspects include optimizing URL structures, breadcrumbs, anchor text optimization, and internal linking between pages to enhance their relevancy.
Off-page optimization component include activities performed outside your website, like commenting in forums related to your industry, blog commenting, guest blogging, publishing press releases, and sharing discounts on coupon websites. If you have an e-commerce or service website, you should also utilize social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Engaging with classified websites such as Craigslist or OLX, addressing reviews on platforms like Trustpilot, Yelp, and Google Reviews, and organizing contests on social media channels can provide valuable backlinks to improve your SEO.
All these efforts help Google's crawler identify keywords within title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and content to ascertain the relevance of a webpage to the queries entered in search engines. While Google has advanced its methods of understanding webpage relevance, employing basic optimization techniques and newer strategies ensures better visibility and crawling by Google's systems.
On-page optimization still holds significant weight, contributing to approximately 39.78% of the overall keyword ranking. While the specific scores may change over time, the fundamentals remain crucial in maintaining relevance in search engine results.
Google mentioned that How our systems play together We’ve developed hundreds of algorithms over the years, like our early spelling system, to help deliver relevant search results. When we develop new AI systems, our legacy algorithms and systems don’t just get shelved away. In fact, Search runs on hundreds of algorithms and machine learning models, and we’re able to improve it when our systems — new and old — can play well together. Each algorithm and model has a specialized role, and they trigger at different times and in distinct combinations to help deliver the most helpful results. And some of our more advanced systems play a more prominent role than others. Let’s take a closer look at the major AI systems running in Search today, and what they do.
Off-page optimization backlinks are calculated by Google to rank a webpage in the top position. Google still accesses the webpage relevancy based on the backlinks pointing to a webpage. So if you have many high-quality backlinks pointing to a webpage, then that webpage ranks in the top positions.
Google crawler crawls the webpages. It stars with the Homepage, then it crawls into the internal Webpages if the homepage has the internal webpage links. If backlinks are not present in the homepage, then the Google Crawler crawls the drop-down menus of the websites where you have mentioned the internal webpage links. If you have static html sitemap and XML sitemaps, then then Google crawler can craw that too and find the webpages. Once it has found Webpages, then it can rank put those webpages in the Google index, this is how do the search engine works.
Also, Google has mentioned in its guide that it’s ranking systems are designed to work on the page level, using a variety of signals and systems to understand how to rank individual pages. Site-wide signals and classifiers are also used and contribute to our understanding of pages. Having some good site-wide signals does not mean that all content from a site will always rank highly, just as having some poor site-wide signals does not mean all the content from a site will rank poorly.
Google has advanced its search capabilities significantly by utilizing sophisticated algorithms such as RankBrain, BERT, Neural Matching, and MUM to analyze billions of web pages effectively.
RankBrain enhances Google's ability to connect words with underlying concepts. Previously, the focus was primarily on keywords within text, titles, and tags, but now RankBrain enables Google to understand the broader meaning behind the words. For instance, if someone asks about the person who lights the torch at the Games held every four years, where various nations participate, Google can recognize that the query relates to the concept of the Olympics, even without mentioning the word "Olympics." The algorithm identifies the answer as "torchbearer," showcasing its capability to grasp concepts.
When creating content, it's crucial to incorporate relevant concepts and definitions that users might search for to find the services or products they need.
It’s another key algorithm, focuses on understanding the nuances of word combinations within sentences to determine their meaning and intent. It emphasizes the importance of common words and prepositions that Google previously overlooked. For example, the sentences "Watches are shipped to the warehouses in New York" and "Watches are shipped from the warehouses in New York" convey different meanings. BERT enables Google to distinguish between these subtle differences, resulting in more accurate search outcomes.
With these advancements, Google can deliver results that better align with user intent and the context of their queries. Google has developed a complex system of algorithms designed to provide relevant search results, integrating both legacy and new AI technologies. Various algorithms work in tandem to enhance search effectiveness, each fulfilling specific roles and activating at different times to provide the best results.
In terms of ranking webpages, Google prioritizes off-page optimization through backlinks—webpages with numerous high-quality backlinks are more likely to secure top positions in search results. The Google crawler starts by navigating a site's homepage before exploring internal pages linked from there. If no internal links are present, it will look at drop-down menus or utilize static HTML and XML sitemaps to discover additional pages. Once these pages are identified, they are indexed for ranking.
Google's ranking systems operate at the individual page level, employing a variety of signals to determine rankings. While site-wide signals can influence overall performance, they do not guarantee that every piece of content will rank highly; similarly, poor site-wide signals don't consistently hinder all content.
Neural matching converts words into a more generalized representation of concepts, which are then aligned with relevant web pages. For instance, consider the phrase "Big Ocean waves towards Bangkok city." Google can interpret this into broader concepts like Climate change, Tsunami, and Monsoon, subsequently matching these concepts with suitable websites.
Short for Multitask Unified Model, is an advanced AI algorithm introduced by Google primarily to help users find information about Covid vaccines during the pandemic. This technology can analyze both text and images and in the future, Google plans to integrate insights from Google Lens into its search results. However, this feature is still in the testing phase, unlike BERT, RankBrain, and neural matching, which are already operational.
The Google EEAT Update introduces the concept of Experience, which was added to the existing criteria of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust signals on December 15, 2022. "Experience" denotes that the author must have firsthand knowledge of the product or service, allowing them to provide unbiased insights. Each individual's Experience can vary, enriching the information received by users.
Among the four components of EEAT, Trust remains the most crucial. Content can highlight an author's experiences or expertise regarding a product or service. While EEAT is not a direct ranking factor, it plays a significant role when assessing content from sectors such as Finance, Safety, and Health. Google categorizes such content as Your Money Your Life (YMYL) content.
To evaluate content quality, Google relies on quality rater guidelines. When creating content, it's essential to align it with these standards to improve ranking potential. This process begins with identifying the Main Content (MC), Supplementary Content (SC), and any advertisements present on the page.
Websites should include an author profile, an "About Us" page detailing the organization's team, and a "Contact Us" page with phone numbers, email addresses, and business hours. If a website operates multiple locations globally, it should provide dedicated "About Us" and "Contact Us" pages for each region, showcasing local contact information.
Additionally, webpages must not disseminate harmful or misleading information, engage in spammy techniques, or participate in reputation abuse by sharing third-party content to enhance the host site's credibility. Keyword stuffing and using AI-generated content that doesn't adequately address search queries are also discouraged. To fully understand Google's content quality assessment, you can refer to the complete list of quality rater guidelines available on Google's official site.
Some examples of the Main Content (MC) are given below, followed by Supplementary content.
The answer is largely dependent on the competitiveness of the keywords being targeted. Typically, high-traffic keywords—often referred to as head keywords—are more competitive. These include single-word keywords or two-word combinations, which generally face the fiercest competition.
Tools like Semrush evaluate keyword competitiveness on a scale of 100. For instance, if the Keyword Difficulty (KD) rating is 50 out of 100, this indicates a medium level of competition, suggesting that a smaller website has a realistic chance of ranking well in Google search results. Conversely, a KD rating of 60 implies higher competition as the figure approaches 100. If the KD rating is only 20 out of 100, it signals a lower competitive environment, making it easier for smaller websites to climb the ranks, given that 20 is much closer to zero than to 100.
SEMrush has introduced a new metric called PKD (Personal Keywords Difficulty), which indicates the difficulty level for a website to rank among the top 10 results. Smaller websites need to focus on keywords with lower competition rather than those that are highly competitive.
When comparing SEO to paid marketing like Google PPC, both strategies can work together if the client has the budget for it. The decision largely depends on the strength of the client's finances.
It's advisable to pursue both SEO and PPC simultaneously. This strategy allows them to compete with their top competitors in the SERP and effectively occupy valuable search engine real estate.
When a client has a medium budget and seeks quick wins, the nature of their business plays a critical role in determining the best marketing strategies. For local businesses, both SEO and paid marketing on Google can be effective. However, if the cost per click in paid marketing is high and the budget is skewed toward PPC with less allocated for SEO, this can lead to lower return on ad spend (ROAS). In such cases, the business might struggle to thrive or even survive.
Conversely, if the paid marketing costs are lower, we can achieve a better ROAS and place a stronger emphasis on SEO efforts. The level of competition in the market typically influences high costs in paid marketing. In a highly competitive landscape, many firms vie for the same customers, driving up costs.
If the market comprises only a few firms with a substantial number of buyers, the cost of paid marketing tends to be lower. Therefore, in a local market with numerous small businesses competing for the same clientele, it becomes a highly competitive environment.
As marketers, the objective is to analyze the client's business and identify less competitive segments within their market. Clients can target specific areas where fewer competitors are active, leading to more refined leads. Additionally, it may be beneficial to segment the market based on clients' purchasing behaviours. For instance, targeting keywords specific to the type of electrician needed—like "car electrician Los Angeles" or "auto electrician Los Angeles"—can be advantageous. While these keywords may not have high search volumes, they can attract clients across Los Angeles at a much lower PPC cost compared to more crowded keywords.
Until the organic ranking improves for these niche keywords, the client can continue utilizing paid marketing to capture this specific audience effectively.
You can create a niche market within Los Angeles by specializing as an electrician for music festivals, cultural celebrations, community events, the party scene, and thematic events. Running paid ads targeting these markets can be effective since many people need electricians for their parties or weddings, and wedding planners might also seek your services. By investing in paid marketing initially, we can boost our visibility until our organic keywords rank in top positions.
Additionally, if we follow the same path as everyone else, we'll likely reach our destination later. However, if we forge our own path, we can arrive sooner. To stay ahead, we need to think beyond the obvious and explore unique opportunities.
It's advisable to focus on SEO rather than PPC. A new business with limited finances should prioritize branding activities. PPC can become costly, especially if targeting high-volume keywords that attract a lot of clicks. Instead, investing in PR activities can be more beneficial. This could involve offering free classes for local electricians, participating in community service related to the business, or even providing free installations during festivals. Hiring a content writer to create valuable content can also drive local audiences to the website, increasing traffic over time.
On can start with PPC can be effective alongside SEO. If you have a solid idea supported by practical knowledge, but your website lacks authority and is competing against well-established competitors, paid marketing can help make your presence known. You can use PPC to promote your product through Google searches, targeting informational queries. Creating a dedicated landing page for your product and optimizing it for relevant keywords can facilitate brand awareness among users. Those who click on the product page through a PPC campaign might return later through organic search, potentially allowing them to reconsider their brand preferences.
The best strategy is to focus on Local SEO. It can be achieved by listing your website in local directories, creating a Google My Business profile, engaging in citation activities, and obtaining backlinks through quality content.
For a medium budget targeting local business, combining Local SEO with paid marketing such as PPC is advisable. The local market typically comprises small businesses and brick-and-mortar establishments from various industries, including those that cater specifically to regional needs. For instance, a city that's known for its educational institutions would be an ideal market for a book publishing company. They can attract inquiries from professors, teachers, and heads of departments who may recommend books for their students. The publishing company can effectively reach this target audience through local SEO by profiling its customers by trade and complementing this with targeted paid marketing efforts through PPC.
The SEO landscape in Google has evolved significantly with the introduction of various features that shape how information is presented and accessed. One prominent feature is the Knowledge Graph, which enhances search results by providing direct answers to inquiries, starting with probing questions such as what, where, when, who, why, and how.
The Knowledge Graph operates by tapping into a vast repository of information, which includes around 500 million objects and approximately 3.5 billion facts that interlink these objects. When a user poses a query, Google assesses the available information and retrieves relevant data from this extensive collection. The results often include not just a single object but also related facts that establish connections with other facts, creating a web of information that enriches the search experience.
Given the dynamic nature of these features, those involved in SEO need to stay updated on Google's content guidelines, which can be found here. Many of the features Google introduces are beyond our control, making it crucial to adapt strategies to align with these changes and leverage opportunities presented by such advancements in search technology.
Which fact to choose is the question? The knowledge graph utilizes insights from previous users who entered the same queries in Google. For instance, if 40% of users searched for one query and subsequently searched for another related query, followed by a third one, the knowledge graph will present these facts to new users who type in the first query, and then proceed to the second and third queries.To learn more about the Google knowledge graph, you can check this link link.
If your question starts with "what" regarding a location—whether it's a man-made structure, a natural site, or a place bustling with activities—you can expect to receive comprehensive information through the knowledge graph. If the location is Statue on Unity, then this might include details like ticket availability for that location, its significance, visiting hours, or tour operators offering packages.
Depending on the specifics of your inquiry, the knowledge graph could present features that allow you to explore related queries and facts derived from data entered by other users. It may also provide an AI-generated overview that succinctly answers your question and includes links to relevant journals or articles for further reading. This integrated approach enhances user experience and makes it easier to find the information you need quickly.
then you can expect a rich and comprehensive response that includes:
A thorough explanation that covers essential information about the entity. For example, the Statue of Unity would include its height, significance, and historical background.
A high-quality image from a reputable website showcasing the entity prominently.
A selection of similar or counterpart images (typically three or more) that provide different angles or representations of the entity.
A clickable link that leads to a summary or featured snippet that answers the query concisely, with a brief description included.
Links to at least three other images of the same entity for further exploration.
An icon link that opens a new webpage containing thousands of images related to the entity, allowing for extensive visual exploration.
An embedded map or link showing the exact location of the place in question.
A direct link to the Google My Business profile where you can read visitor reviews, enhancing the understanding of the location.
A snippet displaying current weather conditions, which can help plan visits effectively.
By encompassing all these elements, your queries will not only provide informative text but also create an engaging visual and interactive experience!
The right side of the knowledge feature includes several key elements: a summary of the place, popular times indicating when it's usually busy, and social media profile links to platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook that provide videos and posts related to that entity. Additionally, there's an Experience section displaying reviews from various websites, such as GetYourGuide, Tripadvisor, and Viator, totalling up to six websites. Below that, you'll find Google reviews along with a link to view all Google reviews, as well as a "People also search for" section.
When you search for the Statue of Unity, you might see AI-generated overviews that provide a direct answer to the query entered. These overviews succinctly cover important aspects such as the statue's significance, its historical background, and key features. They often include information about visitor experiences, nearby attractions, and relevant statistics, such as the statue's height and visitor counts. This AI-generated content serves as a quick reference, enhancing the search experience alongside other useful features like popular visiting times, social media links, and reviews from various platforms, including Google reviews.
When you pose a question starting with "who," the inquiry typically relates to a person, leading to results that feature knowledge graphs or AI-generated overviews. For example, asking "Who is Tom Cruise?" would yield structured information about him, highlighting his background, notable works, and other related details.
Conversely, if your question begins with "when," particularly about a monument or travel destination, you'll often receive similar results as the knowledge graph. This is because these places have rich histories and many related facts. For instance, questions like "When was the Taj Mahal built?" or "When was the Statue of Unity made?" would present information that covers the historical context and relevant statistics.
In some cases, such as asking "When was the Eiffel Tower built?" you may receive featured snippets from sources like Wikipedia or other reputable online journals. If a business or topic lacks a Wikipedia entry, the search results may instead include an AI overview.
For instance, "When was Zepto founded?" would typically lead to a featured snippet from Wikipedia, whereas asking "When was Newgen founded?" would display an AI overview, as Newgen lacks a dedicated Wikipedia page. This distinction highlights how AI overviews provide direct answers, while knowledge graphs organize information in a structured format complete with links to images and further readings.
When you ask a "when" question about a general place or concept, it often leads to a situation where Google needs to provide relevant information from various sources. In these cases, you might see an AI overview or a knowledge graph, which can organize information but might not be as detailed as for a specific location. For example, if you search for "When was Goa discovered?" or "When was the USA discovered?", you may receive links from sources like Wikipedia or government websites.
However, for broader terms like "gold" or "mount Everest," the knowledge graph will include related facts and links, but it typically won't be as comprehensive or specific as it would be for a defined place. Each of these searches could yield different amounts of information, and the distinction often lies in whether the query pertains to a general topic or a specific location.
Can we appear in any of the features that the knowledge graph shows, or can we take advantage of the AI overview? We discussed how search works for company names.
If you sell products on e-commerce websites, it's beneficial to optimize your webpage for queries that start with What, When, Why, Who, Where, and How. This approach increases the chances that your product will be featured in the knowledge graph or provide an answer in the AI overview. While we can't directly influence AI overviews or the knowledge graph, employing this strategy can encourage Google to show your results.
For instance, consider the question: What is a Bloxy tablet?
According to Google's AI overview, this algorithm will respond to such questions. Companies that optimize their pages to align with knowledge graph inquiries increase the likelihood that the AI overview will pull information from their web pages, linking back to the respective company.
The text discusses various features of Google and how they enhance user experience for specific types of queries.
For Directions queries, users can enter the name of a road or use a "From" and "To" format to easily access Google Maps.
In terms of licensed queries, Google collaborates with companies that provide authoritative content and offer compensation for updated information on topics like weather, movies, health, trains, flights, and stocks. The structured data obtained through APIs from these sources is more easily processed by Google, especially with the help of markups from Schema.org, making this data prominently visible in search results.
Featured Snippets provide concise answers with a description followed by a link, allowing users to get information quickly.
It helps filter out explicit content, which is beneficial for children browsing the web. Families can set up accounts to enable this feature for their children's safety while using the internet.
One must fix the end goal and then design the website based on that end goal. The end goal will be to fulfil the client’s needs.
In addition, Google Tag Manager is a free tool that allows you to manage and deploy tracking pixels to your website without having to modify the code. This makes it much easier to track specific triggers or activity on a website.
SEO performance:
SEO performance focuses on tracking the changes in keyword rankings when new algorithms are released or old ones are updated. The approach centers around understanding and meeting customers’ needs and wants, utilizing this knowledge to display results that satisfy those demands. Additionally, it capitalizes on the marketing buzz generated by the company by analyzing relevant keywords.
To effectively evaluate SEO performance, it's important to monitor keyword rankings following a Google algorithm update. This allows you to assess how well your products or services align with customer interests. Furthermore, it's beneficial to review keyword performance after marketing activities or public relations events to see how these efforts influence visibility and engagement. Example cases can illustrate these points effectively.
SEO results:
SEO performance is primarily concerned with tracking and analyzing various metrics that indicate the effectiveness of your strategies. Positive rankings and traffic are crucial, defined by metrics such as increased exit rates, decreased bounce rates, higher page views, more downloads, and an increase in leads. When these metrics reflect a positive trend, it signals that your SEO efforts are moving in the right direction. Conversely, if these metrics do not show improvement, it suggests that SEO performance may not be effective.
Google Analytics provides a multitude of metrics to help gauge this performance. For instance, if your website's ranking improves from position 11 to position 5 due to acquiring 10 backlinks, that's a positive development. However, it’s essential to note that a top 5 ranking does not always guarantee higher traffic. A site ranked at position 9 may receive more engagement due to features like rich snippets, which can enhance visibility in search results. Thus, even with a better ranking, if your traffic decreases because you lack such features, it's an indication that your SEO performance isn’t meeting expectations.
Every facet of SEO outcomes—rankings, traffic, and leads—relies on several elements like meta descriptions, content quality, and the UI/UX of the webpage. These factors are quantified through specific SEO metrics. If your website does not appear with rich snippets in the search engine results pages (SERPs), it can lead to reduced traffic, ultimately illustrating a decline in SEO performance. Therefore, consistently evaluating these features and metrics is vital for achieving a robust SEO strategy.
The value of SEO traffic significantly relies on the Cost Per Click (CPC) associated with the keywords for which your website ranks. Higher CPCs indicate that advertisers are willing to pay more for clicks on those keywords, suggesting that the traffic driven by them could be incredibly valuable. As defined by Semrush, “The average price in the selected currency advertisers are paying for a user's click on an ad triggered by the given keyword (Google ads)” illustrates the financial weight of these keywords.
However, it’s essential to ensure that the keywords are relevant to your industry or niche. For example, an ed tech website focused on the best colleges in India or the US should prioritize keywords related to that subject. If the same website happens to rank for an unrelated keyword, like “Unity game development process,” the traffic generated from that keyword, while potentially valuable due to its high CPC, may not be beneficial. An ed tech site ranking for such a keyword can skew their traffic quality analysis.
To effectively filter for relevant keywords, utilizing the Intent filter in Semrush is beneficial. By selecting the Navigational checkbox, as well as the Commercial and transactional keywords that align with your website’s theme, you can refine your keyword list. In instances where the keywords don’t perfectly align, manually selecting suitable Commercial, transactional, and informational keywords might be necessary. It’s important to note that many informational keywords typically shouldn't factor into your overall traffic cost.
Once you've identified and selected all relevant keywords, you can export the list in an excel or csv format to sum the CPCs. This total will provide insight into the quality cost of your website's traffic.
The assessment of traffic quality can vary based on the type of business one operates. For instance, if you run a blog, a wide array of keyword intents can be relevant, allowing for monetization opportunities through advertising. An informational keyword like “SEO tools” may serve both as a meaningful search term and a revenue driver for the blog. Conversely, a product-focused website like Zoho may struggle to find a diverse set of relevant keywords.
To identify quality traffic and its associated costs accurately, one can also use the keyword gap feature in Semrush, entering competitors' URLs to discover common keywords. This method helps estimate the amount of relevant keywords a website should leverage to optimize traffic quality effectively.
You can use the tool SERP Traffic to check the SEO visibility score. They have recently added the maximum value for SEO visibility. A high score indicates good SEO visibility. To check the SEO visibility score, visit the website link, https://serpstat.com/, click on the overview button, and enter the website URL. This tool is quite useful, in addition to Semrush.