What is SEO in Digital Marketing – Learn Now

What is SEO in Digital Marketing? It is one of the most commonly asked questions on the internet today. Gone are the days when there were fewer websites, some content and hardly any competition. Today, not doing SEO for your website is like not servicing your car. If you have a website and wish to drive a HUGE AMOUNT of traffics to your products and services, then you have come to the right place.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

The word SEO consists of two parts- Search Engine and Optimization. Search engine optimization means making effective use of your available resources online to perform well and rank on top of the search engines like Google and Yahoo. These resources could be pages, posts, images and videos.

Why Search Engine Optimization?

Before I answer this question, let me ask you something. When you look for a particular search term on the internet, do you only look at the results on the first page? Or do you go on to page 2 to 10 to 15 to 20? You do not even have to answer that question. All of us have a limited attention span and, we want everything now on the spot.

That is why all of us look at the content only on the first page of the search engine. Therefore there is a battle between companies to rank on the first page so that their content, offers, products and services are visible to the potential customers.

There are one 1.84 billion websites in the world as of 2021. Each website has hundreds of pages. Can you imagine how many articles and pieces of content these websites must be generating every day? Just as gladiators fought for survival back in the day, businesses and companies worldwide fight it out on the search engine results page. Top page ranking is crucial for success online. Still asking what is SEO in Digital Marketing? Read on.

SEO Tools

If you been watching my videos, you know I spoke to you about the Google search console. It is your topmost go-to SEO tool to access free and valuable data about your website. Imagine trying the best SEO tactics to rank on the Google search page without using the Google search console.

This tool gives you information on how Google crawls your site and ranks it. You can get valuable insights that can help you to page rank your website. Make sure that you register for the Google search console if you have not done so already. If you want me to create a separate tutorial on the SEO tools, comment in the section below and, I will be happy to help you.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most widely used tools to know about your audience. Their acquisition, behavior, location, devices, among other things. You can tweak your SEO tactics according to these reports.

It gives you insights that you can use to take actions to improve your interaction and customer acquisition. It is a report card that shows you the direct impact of your SEO efforts. You can nail down your organic traffic sources and identify the gaps and rework your SEO strategy.

Keywords Planner

Again another crucial tool from Google is their very own Google keyword planner. The purpose of this tool is to help people with Google ads. However, you can still use this tool to get tons of valuable information on relevant keywords.

You even filter data in terms of country, perform a broad and narrow search, identify related keywords and export all this information with the click of a button to Google sheets. Go ahead and try it out for yourself.

Keyword Shitter

Apologies for using such words in this article. The tool does what it says. If you are running short of ideas on different keywords to use for your content, you can always use this tool. Just pop in a keyword and watch the tool poop hundreds and thousands of related keywords. It is valuable for those new to SEO or those who write content on new topics and run out of ideas.

UberSuggest

This tool gives you information on your core keywords and gives you ideas on related keywords. It also helps you to find out competition websites or pages. If you want to conduct an SEO audit of your website, this tool gives you a report on your efforts and gives you a score.

The good thing about this tool is that it also has extended features like helping you with content ideas by scanning similar content on social media like Facebook, Pinterest Twitter, among other platforms. There is a seven day trial period after which you pay $12 per month and can run three projects at a time.

SEMrush

If you have done some SEO research, you must have already heard about a tool called SEMrush. With a free account, you can access your top keywords for one website. You can also edit your site with the free tool but with limited keywords and domain reports.

Google My business

A lot of people tend to underestimate this tool. It is your number one go-to tool for local SEO. Fill in your business information and manage all the business listing. It also helps you to engage with your customers or potential customers and respond to the reviews. If your business requires you to be in the local market, Google my business is a must-have tool.

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Google tag manager

As the name suggests, tag manager allows you to place tags into the HTML of your website. These tags can help you analyse your content and engagement better using Google analytics. However, advanced users always use the tag manager to leverage SEO functions on the platform.

For example, you can insert a tag for a particular trigger or an event, which you can analyze later in Analytics. And if you see that your SEO efforts around that event are not that effective, you can tweak your keywords accordingly. Then, re-look at the Analytics after a week to get the results.

Page speed insights

This tool helps you identify the speed with which your pages deliver in front of your audience. We can insert a specific page of your website in the bar provided. It helps you identify the wait times on both your desktop as well as other devices.

Technical SEO is as important as off-page SEO. So, this tool helps to stay on eliminate lag times. It pinpoints what slow your pages down and gives your suggestions to eliminate those barriers to improve your page speed.

Yoast SEO

One of the most trusted brands on WordPress is Yoast SEO. This tool helps you to manage your on-page SEO like a pro. It helps to identify the areas where you need to improve, gives you suggestions on things like metadata, SEO title, among other things. I vouch for Yoast SEO as it has helped me rank 90% on my on-page SEO efforts.

To conclude on this topic, there are multiple tools available out there for free for you to try and improve your SEO efforts. By all means, go ahead and look for these tools available online. Let me know what you think are the top tools that have helped you. Use the comment section below.

Types of SEO

Years ago, when searching engine optimisation got prominence, people only thought of SEO as an on-page discipline. Do them right to get in front of the customers. However, those days are gone. Today, with the competition on the internet, fighting for visibility on the first page has intensified. It has led to the different types of SEO disciplines. In short, a simple answer to the question – What is SEO in Digital Marketing is SEO doesn’t work in silos. It works with others to give you best results. 

On-page SEO

You must have already been aware of the most popular form of SEO, also known as on-page SEO. It is related to the content that we will see on any web page. It requires you to create engaging, high-quality content that solves a problem. Or you can share valuable information, not available anywhere else on the internet.

If someone has already created similar content, then make sure that you do it a notch above that piece of content. Outrank with better content than your competition.

There was a time back in 2005 when writing a 300 or 350-word article with proper SEO techniques was enough to get in front of the clients. However, those days are gone. Today high-quality long-form content stands a better possibility to rank on the search engine results page, also known as SERP. And to rank on SERP, there are certain things you must do.

For example, add keywords in your post title, the URL and the first paragraph of your content. Do the same with the SEO title and metadata on the webpage. Structure the data into the correct format. For example, the title has to be in H1, subtopics needs to be in H2, and the subsections in H3. You should also ensure that you are not using the same keyboard on your other content pieces because that is known as cannibalisation. In short, you are fighting against your content on the web.

Off-page SEO

As the name suggests, off-page SEO means things you do offline that helps you to rank better for your content, for example, link building. The more you get linked by others with higher domain authority, the better your chances to rank on the first page of Google SERP. The more the visitors to your content hang around, the more valuable it is considered. It also tells Google that your content is worthy of the first-page ranking.

There are different ways to link building. For example, you could write as a guest blogger on similar websites, request others to embed your content onto their website. Another way to link building is through social media. Creating engaging content that goes viral on social media helps you come across as a thought leader in your domain. It tells Google that your content is valuable, informative and engaging. They reward you by pushing you up on the SERP.

Technical SEO

Before you get scared of the word, let me assure you it’s not that scary at all. It simply means improving the technical aspects of your website that can help you rank better, for example, building a responsive website both for the desktop and mobile phone/tablets. As mentioned earlier, you can use page speed insights to find out what you need to do to improve your page load time.

If you have poor page load speed, Google will penalise you for that and push you down further on the SERP. Next, you want to make sure that you are using the HTTPS secure connection. It tells Google that your website is safe and that its customers will not get exposed to any risk by visiting your page. You should also create a site map for your website that helps viewers find out your content faster. Lastly, there is something known as schema. It helps to inform the Google crawlers about your web pages and the content.

Take it from my personal experience. For a very long I had only focus on on-page SEO, trying to rank my website. Even though I have an overall 90% plus on-page SEO score, I still working with technical SEO and, I realize that I need to put in a lot of work for the mobile version of my website.

VISEO

As fancy, it may sound, it simply means video SEO. At least 68% of marketers worldwide believe that video marketing is the next big thing. It means you need to be on top of your video SEO efforts for your video content. If your products and services require you to have video content either on YouTube or embedded on your website, ensure that you optimize your videos to put them in front of your target audience.

As of 2019, 500 hours worth of videos gets uploaded every minute on YouTube. So you can imagine what that number would be as of today in 2021. Your videos need to either educate, entertain, or excite your audience to engage with you. The more people hang out on your YouTube channel, subscribe to your channel, or like and share your content, the better will be your ranking.

For Video SEO, you follow similar tactics as you do with Website SEO. Add keywords in the video title, insert the common keywords that people are looking for in the description. You can create How-to videos or product reviews or do tutorials to get in front of the customers.

Local SEO

If you are in a business that sells products and services in the local market, you want to make sure that your store pops up in your local search results. It should do so every time your potential customers search for similar products on the internet. As I mentioned before, Google My Business is one of the tools you should use to improve your local SEO. Also, optimising your local listings with informative content and the right keywords will bring more visitors to your store. You can also embed Google maps to your homepage and add social proof of your business.

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How do you do SEO by yourself?

If you are a freelancer or starting your small business, it becomes vital that you learn and acquire as many skills as possible. Also, you cannot afford the available SEO tools at this point. I will tell you how I started SEO, and if you like that, you can also start implementing the same. Start with a broad keyword search for your products and services. Note down those keywords in a list. Next, narrow down the specific keywords that relate to your products and services. Now, get new keyboard ideas using platforms like keywords shitter.

Next, do the on-page SEO using the tricks I shared with you above. By doing this, you will start getting visibility on the Google search page. You may not rank on the top page right away, but at least get noticed on the fifth, sixth or 10th page. Consider it to be a good start.

Next, make sure that you create content that users want to see. If people are searching for things or information, then make sure that you are solving their problems. Create content or blog posts will not help you if you are making them for the sake of getting on top of the SERP. Value creation is the topmost factor that Google considers when they rank your page.

Some more tips

When you create content, do so simply. Do not stuff your content with keywords. If you’re creating videos, make sure that they are simple and easy to understand, like this one. If you are writing blogs, don’t just write hundreds of words. Make it look good with multimedia, for example, images, videos, GIFs to support your content.

Next, add internal and external links to your content. Internal links are nothing but those links that take back to another blog post on your website. External links or links that you want your readers to go. These links should be relevant to the topic and relate to an authoritative domain, away from your website.

Ensure that your technical SEO is a top priority. Use the different tools like AHREFs and paid site speed insights to get recommendations and make those changes.Lastly, make sure that you hang out in the community where your target audience hangs out. These could be places like Reddit, Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, different forums or Quora. It is one of the best ways to building links to your website.

Lastly, the simplest way to get results is to note what your competition is doing and replicate their success. You can always get more content and educate yourself on SEO by watching educational videos on YouTube like the one you are doing right now, among other things.

How much does SEO cost?

There is no one particular answer to this question, as the cost of doing SEO differs from country to country. It also differs in terms of what you want to accomplish from your SEO. In India, for example, you could be charged anywhere between Rs.5000 per month to up to Rs.75,000 per month for SEO services. If you’re a freelancer or a small business, I suggest that you do not pay any money to anyone.

Take some time out every day to learn SEO by yourself and get started. When selecting an SEO service provider, make sure that you look at the history of their successes and look at their testimonials. There are many people out there who claim to be SEO masters. They offer to help you when in reality, they can do more harm to your business than you can imagine.

If you have the money for SEO, go for a good service provider. I’ll suggest you go for either Ubersuggest, Moz, SEMRush or AHREFs. You can also take a paid subscription to Yoast SEO if you’re using WordPress.

Conclusion

Well, that is it about introduction to search engine optimisation. Should you wish me to create a tutorial on a specific topic like keyword research or YouTube keyword searches, comment in the section below. I will be happy to help you.

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