When developing websites and performing SEO, we must understand and apply relevant white hat (white hat being methods that do not go against search engine guidelines and policy) SEO strategies to optimise our SERP (search engine results page) ranking impactfully. Google will be used as our primary search engine, but these concepts are compatible with other search engines such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others. Three main elements of a good SEO Strategy are.
· Keywords
· Content
· Semantics & Crawlability
(Google Search Central, 2023), (Sheppard, n.d.)
Keywords are words or terms used on websites closely related to a user's search or intentions; different keywords indicate different searches and intents (Makosiewicz, 2023). There are many different types of keywords; however, they all fall into short-tail, long-tail, questions, and intent-targeting (Sidor, 2022). Google reads these keywords on a website to determine if the content is relevant to the viewer (Google Ads Help, 2023). In practice, a shoe store might use the keywords "shoes, trainers, boots" to rank for searches related to these terms. These keywords may display in searches like "new shoes" or "comfy boots". Google emphasises the justifiable use of keywords to reduce black-hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing and improve the user experience (Google Search Central, 2023).
A website can increase its SERP ranking and provide a better user experience by undertaking proper keyword research and using relevant, targeted keywords.
Google values well-researched, relevant, and valuable content, so using information from high-authority sources is best. A best practice when creating content Is to use references and actively reference information in any blog, post, or content created to develop external backlinks. These external backlinks increase a website's positions a point of authority (Shah, 2021) and may lead to more backlinks if you produce high-quality, relevant content. Using relevant, authoritative information can help rank in Google's EEAT ranking system (Google , 2022). Google's EEAT system is in place to create a better experience for users when searching for information.
· Experience
· Expertise
· Authoritativeness
· Trustworthiness
By producing well-researched content, a marketer can grow a website's network, increase relevant keyword count, increase trustworthiness, and provide value to the user.
Not only does the user have a list of requirements, but Google requires specific criteria to view the webpage. Google indexes pages using automated "crawlers" to download, navigate and analyse a website (Google Search Central, 2023). It is best practice to create websites with crawlability in mind and provide a generated sitemap (Google Search Central, 2023) (Google Search Central, 2023). To ensure that Google's crawlers can access the whole website and reduce crawling errors.
If the crawler cannot effectively crawl a webpage, it will directly affect the website's SERP ranking, as the bot will not be able to analyse and index the website. When a web page is created its created for a blind audience; crawlers cannot see images or understand why the website does not show certain information (such as information loaded through javascript or text in an image). Optimising for a crawler, it is best practice to develop as if implementing accessibility features like developing for screen readers. Screen readers navigate the webpage structurally, much like web crawlers (Evans, 2021). Using semantic HTML, accessibility features, and providing the content upfront without hiding it or redirecting to it will allow a web crawler to accurately index and understand a webpage, leading to better SERP rankings and webpage health.
Using relevant and encompassing keywords, a marketer can provide content to users, enriching the user experience. Building on this with informative, authoritative and trustworthy content containing external backlinks fulfilling Google's E-E-A-T methodology. At the same time, developing semantic webpages that run optimally, providing Google with the necessary data to analyse and rank the website effectively.
References
Barassi, Veronica, and Emiliano Treré. 2012. "Does Web 3.0 Come after Web 2.0? Deconstructing Theoretical Assumptions through Practice." New Media & Society 14 (8): 1269–85.
Fuchs, Christian, Wolfgang Hofkirchner, Matthias Schafranek, Celina Raffl, Marisol Sandoval, and Robert Bichler. 2010. "Theoretical Foundations of the Web: Cognition, Communication, and Cooperation. Towards an Understanding of Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0" Future Internet 2, no. 1: 41-59. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi2010041
Evans, T. (2021). North Metro TAFE | Certificat IV Web Based Technologies . Perth.
Ford, B. (2023, May 2). IBM to Pause Hiring for Jobs That AI Could Do. Retrieved from Bloomberg.com: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-01/ibm-to-pause-hiring-for-back-office-jobs-that-ai-could-kill#xj4y7vzkg
Google . (2022). Our latest update to the quality rater guidelines: E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience. Retrieved from Google Search Central: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
Google Ads Help. (2023). Keywords. Retrieved from Google Ads Help: https://support.google.com/google-ads/topic/3119130?hl=en-AU&ref_topic=3119122&sjid=4337190796462621779-AP
Google Search Central. (2023, February 8). Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content . Retrieved from Google Search Central Blog: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-search-and-ai-content
Google Search Central. (2023, February 17). In-depth guide to how Google Search works. Retrieved from Google Search Central: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search-works
Google Search Central. (2023, March 3). Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Starter Guide. Retrieved from Google Search Central: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide
Google Search Central. (2023, February 23). Spam policies for Google web search. Retrieved from Google Search Central: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies
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Makosiewicz, M. (2023, March 9). 8 Most Important Types of Keywords for SEO. Retrieved from ahrefs.com: https://ahrefs.com/blog/types-of-keywords/
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Sheppard, C. (n.d.). The Beginner's Guide to SEO. Retrieved from https://moz.com/: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/quick-start-guide
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