Search Engine Optimisation Wiki: A Comprehensive SEO Guide

SEO is a constantly evolving field, but one thing remains the same: it's all about creating high-quality content that users love.

The goal of SEO is to increase the quality and quantity of website traffic by ranking higher in search engines for specific keywords. This is achieved through a combination of keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building.

Keyword research is a crucial step in SEO, as it helps you identify the most relevant and high-traffic keywords for your content. According to our research, 70% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 61% of those users click on the first search result.

A well-optimized website structure is essential for search engines to crawl and index your content efficiently. This includes using descriptive URLs, header tags, and meta descriptions that accurately summarize your content.

Recommended read: Google Search Console Keyword Ranking

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website's and its content's visibility in search engines.

To increase website traffic, you can use organic search as part of inbound marketing, which means people are searching for you and clicking on non-paid results.

Keyword stuffing, the act of including keywords specifically to rank for that keyword, will actually hurt your website's SEO, so use your keywords naturally in your content.

If you feel like you're forcing it, ignore it and continue writing naturally, as there isn't a magic number for keyword usage.

Take a look at this: Google Search Console Keyword Research

Short head keywords are a crucial aspect of SEO. They are competitive phrases of 1-3 words in length, making them more generic and harder to rank for.

These phrases are often searched by users who are looking for general information or answers to specific questions. For example, "short head keywords" itself is a short head keyword.

Short head keywords tend to be more challenging to rank for due to their high volume of searches and competition from established websites.

A fresh viewpoint: How to Search Keywords Locally in Semrush

Organic search refers to someone conducting a search through a search engine and clicking on a non-paid result.

To increase website traffic, you can use organic search as part of inbound marketing.

Keyword stuffing is actually a bad idea, as it will hurt your website's SEO.

Search engines recognize keyword stuffing when you include keywords specifically to rank for that keyword, rather than to answer a person's question.

When writing content, it's better to use your keywords naturally, without forcing it.

There isn't a magic number for keyword usage, but if it feels unnatural, it's better to ignore it and continue writing naturally.

Consider reading: Google Keyword Search Ranking

Search terms are a crucial part of search engine optimization. A word or phrase that a user enters into a search engine to find relevant web pages.

Primary keywords are the main words or phrases you want to rank for. Secondary keywords are added after you've determined your primary keyword, helping to further refine your search term.

A well-crafted search term can make all the difference in getting your website seen by the right people.

The history of search engine optimization (SEO) is a fascinating tale that spans over two decades. It all began in the late 1990s with the emergence of the first search engines like Altavista and Yahoo.

The first search engines used simple algorithms to rank websites based on keyword density and other basic factors. This led to the early days of SEO, where website owners would stuff their pages with keywords to improve their rankings.

In the early 2000s, Google entered the scene and revolutionized the way search engines worked. Google's algorithm, initially called PageRank, used backlinks and link equity to determine a website's authority and ranking.

As Google's algorithm evolved, so did the SEO strategies. Website owners began to focus on creating high-quality content, building relevant backlinks, and optimizing their meta tags to improve their search engine rankings.

The rise of mobile devices in the late 2000s led to a significant shift in SEO strategies, with website owners optimizing their websites for mobile devices and using responsive design to improve user experience.

Google's Panda and Penguin updates in 2011 and 2012 marked a significant turning point in SEO history, as they penalized websites that engaged in manipulative SEO tactics like keyword stuffing and link farming.

Additional reading: Back Link Building

Getting indexed is crucial for your website to appear in search engine results. Pages that are linked from other search engine-indexed pages don't need to be submitted because they're found automatically.

Search engines use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site, but not every page is indexed by search engines. The distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled.

In November 2016, Google announced a major change to the way they crawl websites, making their index mobile-first, which means the mobile version of a given website becomes the starting point for what Google includes in their index.

Explore further: Search Engine Results Page

Getting indexed is a crucial step in making your website visible to search engines. Google, Bing, and Yahoo! use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results, and pages linked from other search engine-indexed pages are found automatically.

Not every page is indexed by search engines, and the distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled. Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site.

Google offers Google Search Console, for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted for free to ensure that all pages are found. This is especially helpful for pages that are not discoverable by automatically following links.

In November 2016, Google announced a major change to the way they are crawling websites, making their index mobile-first. This means the mobile version of a given website becomes the starting point for what Google includes in their index.

Crawling is how search engines process URLs, and it's an essential step in getting indexed. Search engines look for elements like title tags, keywords, image tags, internal link structure, and inbound links to determine how highly ranked your site should be in their SERPs.

Search engines also look at site structure and design, visitor behavior, and other external, off-site factors to determine how highly ranked your site should be in their SERPs.

You might like: Important Meta Tags for Seo

An inbound link is a link that is coming from another website and is pointing to your website. This type of link is crucial for getting indexed and crawled by search engines.

Search engines look at the number of inbound links to determine the relevance and authority of a website. The more inbound links a website has, the higher it will rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Inbound links can come from various sources, including other websites, blogs, and social media platforms. They can also come from directories and listings, although this is less common.

Here are some key facts about inbound links:

By earning high-quality inbound links, you can improve your website's visibility, credibility, and ranking in search engine results.

Getting started with keyword research is a crucial step in getting indexed and crawled by search engines. A seed keyword is used to kick off your keyword research.

Your seed keyword should be a broad term related to your business or website. This term will help you generate more specific and relevant keywords.

A good seed keyword is one that has a decent search volume and is relatively easy to rank for. This will give you a good starting point for your keyword research.

By starting with a seed keyword, you can begin to build a list of related keywords that will help your website get indexed and crawled by search engines.

Search engines like Google aim to serve the right webpage to the right person at the right time. Google's search engine works by prioritizing content that is relevant to a user's search query, and the first organic result receives 10x as many clicks as the tenth result.

To increase prominence within search results, you can use various methods such as cross linking between pages, writing content with frequently searched keywords, and updating content regularly. These methods can help improve a website's visibility and increase traffic.

Organic traffic comes from search engines like Google or Bing, and it's unpaid traffic that can be influenced by SEO strategies. To optimize your website for SEO, you should consider how your social media strategy fits into the puzzle, as social signals like tweets, retweets, and Google+ authorship can impact your organic traffic trend line.

Explore further: Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing

Organic traffic is unpaid traffic that comes from search engines such as Google or Bing. Paid search marketing does not increase your organic traffic numbers.

One of the biggest changes in the last decade is that other user behaviors shape the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) you see on search engines. Social media can have a big impact on your organic traffic trend line.

Social search prioritizes content and people that are connected to you, such as Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or connections through other social networks. Sometimes social search will even prioritize content that has been shared by an influencer.

Social search understands that you may be interested in content that your network feels is important to share, and therefore it'll often get surfaced to you. This means your social media strategy needs to fit into your overall SEO strategy.

If this caught your attention, see: Add Website to Search Engines Free

Google's Panda algorithm was rolled out in 2011 to filter out websites with thin, low-quality content.

Websites with thin, low-quality content are likely to be penalized by the Panda algorithm, making it harder for them to rank well in search engine results.

To avoid being filtered out by Panda, it's essential to provide high-quality content that adds value to users. This will help you rank better in search engine results.

In fact, the WebMaster Guidelines suggest structuring a website and its contents in a way that search engines like, which includes providing both structure and real content that matches search terms to a latent semantic indexing (LSI) vector space.

A solid SEO strategy is to focus on providing high-quality content that meets the guidelines of search engines like Google. This will help you achieve long-lasting and solid SEO.

Domain Authority (DA) scores can also impact how well your website ranks in search engine results. Higher DA scores are believed to boost your chances of ranking first for a search query.

On a similar theme: Wordpress Seo Services Search Geek

The Hummingbird algorithm was a major update in 2013 that allowed Google to answer search queries quickly and accurately, much like the bird it's named after.

Google's Hummingbird algorithm evaluates context and query intent, making it a powerful tool for search engines.

This algorithm change had a significant impact on how search engines rank and optimize results, and it's essential to understand its implications for your online presence.

The Hummingbird algorithm's focus on context and intent means that search engines can better understand the nuances of a search query and provide more accurate results.

Worth a look: How Does the Google Search Algorithm Work

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website's and its content's visibility in search engines. This is done by optimizing various elements of a website, such as keywords, meta tags, and content.

The goal of SEO is to make a website appear higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which can lead to more organic traffic and increased online visibility. Organic traffic refers to unpaid traffic that comes from search engines, and it's essential to optimize a website for this type of traffic.

You might enjoy: Google Search Console Seo Audit

To improve a website's SEO, you can use various techniques, such as keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building. Keyword research involves identifying relevant keywords and phrases that users are searching for, while on-page optimization involves optimizing elements such as title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags. Link building involves acquiring high-quality backlinks from other websites to increase a website's authority and ranking.

Here are some key SEO concepts to keep in mind:

Some SEO techniques are considered white hat, meaning they conform to search engine guidelines and involve no deception. Examples of white hat SEO include creating content for users, not for search engines, and making that content easily accessible to search engine algorithms. On the other hand, black hat SEO involves techniques that are disapproved of by search engines, such as hidden text or cloaking.

By understanding SEO and implementing the right techniques, you can improve your website's visibility, drive more organic traffic, and increase your online presence.

If this caught your attention, see: White Hat Search Engine Optimisation

Difficulty is a crucial aspect of search engine ranking and optimization. Keyword difficulty is a specific metric that estimates the difficulty of ranking on Google's first page for a keyword.

Many keyword and rank-tracking software include this metric. It's a valuable tool for SEO professionals to gauge the competitiveness of a keyword and plan their optimization strategies accordingly.

Learning more about keyword difficulty can help you make informed decisions about your content and marketing efforts.

Proximity is a key factor in search engine ranking, and it's actually quite simple. Keyword proximity is the distance between a search phrase's individual keywords.

The closer the keywords are to each other, the better the chances of ranking higher in search engine results. This is because search engines can more easily identify the relevance of the search phrase to the content of a webpage.

Keyword proximity is measured in terms of the distance between the individual keywords in a search phrase.

Keyword stuffing is a common mistake that can harm your search engine ranking. It involves overusing a specific keyword within a webpage.

This practice can lead to penalties from search engines, making it harder for your website to rank high in search results.

Keyword stuffing is not the same as using keywords strategically, which is a key part of search engine optimization.

Cannibalization can occur when content from the same domain competes for the same result.

Search engines like Google struggle to discern which page version to display or associate a keyword with due to keywords and duplicate content.

This can lead to confusion for search engines, making it harder for your website to rank well.

Cannibalization happens when domain-wide web pages use the same keywords, making it difficult for search engines to understand which page is most relevant.

This can result in a lower ranking for your website, as search engines may not know which page to prioritize.

Using the same keywords across multiple pages can lead to cannibalization, so it's essential to use unique keywords for each page.

For another approach, see: On Page Seo Content

A successful Internet marketing campaign may also depend upon building high-quality web pages to engage and persuade internet users, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure results, and improving a site's conversion rate.

Search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of continued referrals. According to Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, in 2010, Google made over 500 algorithm changes – almost 1.5 per day.

A business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors. Google has been one of the companies that are utilizing the popularity of mobile usage by encouraging websites to use their Google Search Console, the Mobile-Friendly Test, which allows companies to measure up their website to the search engine results and determine how user-friendly their websites are.

Intriguing read: Mobile Search Engine Optimisation

Paid marketing is a type of advertising that involves paying for ads to be shown on search engine results pages.

You can pay for top rankings on Google SERPs by registering for a free account on Google AdWords.

The cost of a paid search campaign on Google can be less than $1 per click, but the more popular the keyword, the more you might pay.

Paid marketing is used to increase website traffic and gain more customers.

It's a way to reach people who are actively searching for what you offer, making it a highly targeted form of advertising.

Curious to learn more? Check out: Google Paid Search Ranking

The Google Sandbox is a real thing, and it's not a place you'd want your website to end up. Your website will end up in the Google Sandbox if it doesn't have enough relevant content.

Having too little content can severely limit your website's visibility and traffic. A website with insufficient content will struggle to rank high in search engine results pages.

The Google Sandbox is a temporary holding area for new websites that don't meet Google's quality standards. It's a way for Google to evaluate your website's credibility and trustworthiness.

Being stuck in the Google Sandbox can be frustrating, but it's not a permanent state. With high-quality content and a solid search engine marketing strategy, you can eventually escape the Sandbox and start attracting more visitors.

For another approach, see: Content Marketing and Search Engine Optimization

As a marketer, you know that search engine marketing (SEM) can be a game-changer for your business. According to Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, in 2010, Google made over 500 algorithm changes – almost 1.5 per day. This highlights the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest SEM strategies.

SEM is the practice of designing, running, and optimizing search engine ad campaigns. Its difference from SEO is most simply depicted as the difference between paid and unpaid priority ranking in search results. SEM focuses on prominence more so than relevance.

A successful Internet marketing campaign may also depend upon building high-quality web pages to engage and persuade internet users, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure results, and improving a site's conversion rate. In recent years, the mobile market has exploded, overtaking the use of desktops, as shown in by StatCounter in October 2016, where they analyzed 2.5 million websites and found that 51.3% of the pages were loaded by a mobile device.

For another approach, see: Alexa Smartwatch Search Internet

To measure up your website to the search engine results, use Google's Google Search Console, the Mobile-Friendly Test. This will help you determine how user-friendly your websites are. The closer the keywords are together, the ranking will improve based on key terms.

Here are some key differences between SEM and SEO:

By understanding the differences between SEM and SEO, you can create a comprehensive marketing strategy that drives traffic and conversions to your website.