SEO for everyone

What is SEO Optimization?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which in simple terms refers to the steps an SEO specialist or agency takes to ensure a website ranks among the top organic search results (SERPs) on search engines. The most popular search engines include Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Alright, let's define a few key terms.

Organic Search Results are the listings that appear naturally on search engines as a response to your query.

Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) refer to the page displaying results when you search for something. In other words, it’s the page that shows up after you type your search into Google.

Typically, Google and other search engines rank these organic results based on the relevance of web pages. Simply put, if your website is good and relevant, the search engine will place it near the top of the list.

You’ve probably noticed that the first Google results are ads. It’s essential to distinguish between organic listings and paid ones. For paid ads, the website owner pays to have their page appear at the top of the SERP as a sponsored ad. On the other hand, organic listings are earned by having high-quality, relevant content that deserves a top spot based on merit.

White Hat SEO, Gray Hat SEO, and Black Hat SEO

These terms refer to different approaches to SEO. The order is important because, as you move from left to right, the risk of being penalized by Google increases. As we mentioned earlier, Google continuously updates its algorithms to provide the best user experience. As a result, it penalizes those trying to game the system with irrelevant content.

White Hat SEO includes the safest and most legitimate practices to help your website reach the top of Google’s search results. Using these techniques, your website will build high Domain Authority, making it a relevant player in your industry.

Black Hat SEO involves using tricks and unethical practices to achieve top rankings. Google constantly works to penalize and eliminate such tactics.

Gray Hat SEO lies somewhere in the middle. These strategies are not approved by Google, but the risk of being penalized is relatively lower than with Black Hat SEO. However, they still carry a degree of risk.

What Does the SEO Optimization Path Look Like for Search Engines?

Every time a new website is created, it gets indexed on Google’s servers, and existing algorithms scan it to categorize the site accordingly. To do this, algorithms search for keywords on the site’s pages and rank it based on the relevance of its content. That’s why it’s crucial to carefully choose and craft the information, keywords, and links on your site to make sure they align with the criteria of this complex algorithm.

As mentioned above, when search engines need to index a website, they use algorithms to assess its relevance within its niche. Over time, specific patterns have emerged that a website must follow to rank highly in organic search results. For instance, Google uses Core Web Vitals, a set of minimum requirements that a website must meet for optimal indexing. The advantage is that if your website is well-optimized for SEO, it will meet Google’s standards (or those of another search engine), which will help you rank higher in the SERPs and generate much more organic traffic.

The SEO Optimization Process

First, Magic 5’s SEO optimization experts will prepare an SEO Audit for your domain. This involves a detailed analysis of your website, both at the frontend level (everything the user sees on the site) and the backend level (the source code of the website). The SEO Audit will reveal details about Meta Data, Schema.org, content, source code syntax, image formats, their size, backlink quality, 404 errors, and more. Once the SEO Audit is complete, we can begin the search engine optimization process.

Any irregularities caused by the source code will fall under Technical SEO Optimizations. For example, script minimization, image optimization and conversion to modern formats, Structural Data implementation, and Canonical Tags can all be addressed here.

The next step will be On-Page SEO Optimization, during which all content will be analyzed from an SEO perspective and restructured by a copywriter to ensure appropriate keyword density and proper hierarchy. Additionally, to boost organic traffic to your site, Off-Page SEO is equally important. These are actions taken outside of your website that generate organic traffic from users interested in your niche. For example, relevant backlinks that will increase your domain authority or writing SEO-friendly articles can significantly improve your current SERP rankings.