For content creators, online businesses and other virtual world actors, you’ve certainly heard of what SEO is. The need for optimization for internet needs is something that is important and fundamental. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a way to be easily found on the internet. For those of you who are interested in learning and understanding what SEO is, let’s look further in the following article.
What is SEO?
Many people wonder what SEO is. Simply put, SEO is a technique to make content easier to find on search engines. The concept of SEO itself emerged along with the increasing importance of Google’s role in gathering information about websites.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is an effort to optimize a website so that it can get a top ranking in search engine results. With your website ranking high in search results, the potential for organic traffic also increases. Not only that, SEO can help you get the right traffic. So, you don’t just get and focus on high traffic, but also the right traffic which suits the purpose of the site or website that you have.
In this case Google can easily show websites, blogs or content depending on the keywords given. If the keyword matches the content, Google will show it in the discovery list. The position of this discovery will differ depending on the optimization quality. The higher the level of optimization used, the higher their position in the Google search list.
To better understand what seo is, let’s discuss with an example. Let’s say, you are a movie blogger. Your content focuses on news, reviews and opinion articles from the film world. When someone enters the keyword movie, movie news or movie reviews on Google, you expect your blog to appear in the search list.
If you want your blog to appear on the first page, you must use SEO to optimize the blog. If you pay attention to the blogs and websites that discuss the film, there are many. To ensure your content can compete, you must adjust your website rules and content settings to match Google’s search algorithm. The settings made are what is meant by SEO.
The Importance of SEO for Many Parties
In today’s modern era, the internet is not just a place of pleasure. Things such as business ventures, talent development, exchanging knowledge and creating communities have also become a focus for many people. For those who live and operate on the internet, the need to be easy to find is important. So SEO is something they have to master.
Although many are internet literate, many people do not know what SEO is. SEO is a technique that is better understood by actors on the internet. Users rarely want to dig deeper into the knowledge about what SEO is. As a result, users who want to be actors are surprised that competition on the internet involves such a complex system.
For ordinary users, SEO may not really be necessary. But for providers on the internet, SEO is the only way for many people to see. From the previous discussion, you can imagine how difficult it is to stand out on the Internet. Of the many websites that exist, most people only see a selection of search engine start pages.
Not infrequently people who are aware of the importance of SEO end up spending a lot of time learning about this. Learning SEO can already be done self-taught because SEO knowledge is now widely available on the Internet. But for those of you who want to become experts faster, SEO course service providers can also be used as a solution.
Without learning SEO well, it is certain that brands, businesses and website owners will not get the opportunity to be chosen by users. For example, a hobby website. Although created as a hobby, this website can be an income for the creator when it first appears as the initial choice of search engines.
The owner of the hobby website can place advertisements on the website to support website maintenance costs. If the number of users who come is large, the results of ad revenue can even help pay for living and capital to create new hobby content.
Unfortunately not everyone can explore SEO in depth. To understand what SEO is, the learning process must be done for a long time. The SEO aspect itself often changes depending on the algorithm, trends and also technological developments. Therefore, sometimes people prefer to use Jasa SEO rather than applying SEO techniques on their own website.
The Role of Keywords in SEO
When discussing what SEO is, you can’t get rid of it from keywords. In simple terms, keywords are the main words that you want to develop to make paragraphs or articles. But in terms of SEO, keywords have a different meaning.
Keywords are keywords or phrases that exist in online content and serve as material that is easily searched by search engines. Those of you who have used Google will understand this. When you want to find information about buying a smartphone, for example, you have to type keywords there. The use of phrases such as “buy a cheap smartphone”, “a samsung smartphone 2 million” and “where to buy a cheap smartphone?” it could be in the search bar these words are typed.
In terms of internet players, these keywords can be used to attract users to their website. Using the example above, many sellers post articles with words that are similar to those keywords. When the words match, Google will show the seller’s website to the user who is looking for it. If the SEO ranking is high, the seller’s website choice can be the first seen by the user. Users themselves tend to click on the initial options offered by this search engine. So the role of SEO is important to attract the attention of users.
In its use, of course keywords are not used arbitrarily in the content. You have to know how people enter keywords to find information. From here, you create content that contains keywords and information that users need.
It should be noted that there is also competition for keywords. The more people create content with the same keywords, the competition to appear on the front page of Google is getting tougher. Therefore, many people try to avoid competition by using keywords that are unique and different from others.
Different Types of Keywords For SEO
After you know how important the use of keywords in doing SEO, now is the time to learn about the types of keywords. There are actually many types of keywords, but here let’s focus on the most frequently used types. Here is the discussion:
Short-Tail Keywords
The most popular types of keywords used for SEO are short-tail keywords. These keywords are usually general and cover many things but with short words. Because it is short and includes many things, this keyword is definitely more often used by users to search for certain information.
For example, keywords like “laptop” or “smartphone”. These two examples are general keywords that can be used to find prices, news, definitions and many other information about laptops and smartphones. Because it seems general, Google will not find a specific website and offer many choices that match the word.
Because it is general, the search volume is certainly high, but the competition is also high. For those of you who use these short keywords, make sure other SEO elements on your website are good. If you are not able to optimize well from other elements, please try other types of keywords that are more specific.
Long-Tail Keywords
In contrast to short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords are specific. This keyword uses long words so as not to compete with many parties with the same keyword. Although using long and specific keywords, keywords will still produce as long as many people are looking for keywords that are close to them.
For example, instead of using the keyword “laptop”, you use “Lenovo laptops for 3 million.” This keyword is of course more detailed and specific, but many people use it when they want to buy a laptop. Because it is more specific, it is less likely that many people will use the same keywords for their content. Even if things are the same, you can stand out if other optimizations are done.
Short-Term Fresh Keyword
Short-term fresh keywords are keywords that are widely used within a certain period of time. This keyword is more focused on the trend and popularity of a topic. For example, you have an educational website about geology. While creating content, you hear about the natural disaster of the eruption of Mount Merapi. Because this topic is hot, you can create keywords related to the Merapi disaster
Although it looks simple, this type of keyword is actually a hassle. This is because you must always be up to date with trending topics. Another important thing to note is that keywords can expire. When the trend passes, your content with these keywords will no longer be searched for.
Geo-Targeting Keywords
Geo-targeting keywords are keywords that are used to target users in certain areas. Usually this keyword is used by pasting the name of a place or area in the keyword. Because it is a narrow scope, this keyword is very effective for local needs.
For example, you are the owner of a culinary business with online ordering services from the website. For promotion, you create article content that introduces various delicious new products. To make sure users in the area around you know about this, you can use geo-targeting keywords.
For example, you can use the keyword “Yogyakarta’s newest culinary choice”. People who try to search with the keyword culinary and Yogyakarta, will definitely find the article page that you created. This is definitely more effective because it avoids competition with common keywords.
Get to know On-page and Off-page SEO
After you know keywords for SEO purposes, you can now try to learn about on-page and off-page SEO. These two things relate to website optimization, but with different techniques. Here is a brief explanation:
What is On-page SEO?
On-page SEO is an optimization technique that is carried out on web pages. Starting from optimizing the performance of loading pages, using the right keywords in website content pages, permalinks, using headings, internal linking, to quality content that makes users spend a long time on the page, are examples of On-page SEO optimization.
What is Off-page SEO?
Off-page SEO is an optimization technique that is carried out from outside the website page. This can be done by creating content that directs people to visit the website. Things like guest posts, advertisements and promotional videos can be the most suitable examples. Usually this optimization also tries to increase brand awareness or content on the website. Off-page SEO also often takes advantage of the share and link features to increase Google rankings.
To ensure your optimization is maximized, be sure to use these two SEO techniques. Many people sometimes prefer On-page SEO, even though the role of Off-page SEO is also important. For those who have a business or brand website, these two optimization paths should not be missed for success.
Types of SEO Techniques You Need to Know
In addition to understanding on-page and off-page SEO techniques, optimization techniques can also be categorized in other ways. Historically, there have been two types of SEO techniques known based on Google’s support for them. The names of these SEO techniques are Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is able to generate high rankings quickly but is notoriously bad for users. The users of this method are exploiting the weakness of the Google algorithm to get a high SEO ranking. The use of this algorithm weakness has been opposed by Google. If caught, Google will immediately lower the ranking of the website as a punishment.
Examples of cases that are often found are the creation of websites that offer items that are not common. Call it a strong drug dealer who has not officially obtained a BPOM permit. Items like this are hard to find in the market because they don’t have a distribution permit yet, but because there is an internet platform, access cannot be restricted. You can try to check it yourself by typing the keyword strong medicine. The website that appears must be a little strange.
This oddity can be seen from the content. Some websites have content that only contains keywords but is repeated without clear content. There is also a show many links without a good explanation. Things like this are concrete examples of Black Hat SEO.
SEO techniques commonly used by Black Hat to achieve high rankings include Link Spam, Keyword Stuffing, Cloaking and the use of hidden links.
White Hat SEO
On the other hand, the SEO technique recommended by Google is also called White Hat SEO. This technique supports the creation of websites with useful content for users. As long as the user is satisfied and shows positive behavior after clicking the link on the search engine, the website ranking will definitely go up.
This use usually results in a more lasting effect than Black Hat SEO. Black Hat SEO is indeed more effective in stealing the top position on search engines, but it is usually quickly caught and acted upon by Google.
Techniques commonly used by White Hat SEO include optimizing website performance, regular content updates, and using the right keywords. As long as all these are met, your website can rank high on search engines without being easily displaced by competitors.
Things to Pay Attention to About White Hat and Black Hat SEO
From the explanations about White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO, you already know that Blackhat does a lot of shortcuts. This of course has a negative effect on Google’s algorithm. Google itself has tried to block the development of Blackhat so that users can better enjoy the search engine features.
The current SEO algorithm is more inclined to make it easier for White Hat techniques to rank well. Things like recording how long the user visits the website, the click rate of the website and also scroll information from the user are used as benchmarks. Without good content and quality optimization, a high ranking would be difficult to achieve.
But that does not mean the Black SEO technique has reduced demand. Even now the use of Black Hat SEO techniques is integrated with White SEO. The current use of Black Hat SEO is only at the beginning of website development. When rankings soared high because of Black Hat SEO techniques, White Hat SEO techniques began to be used. When good quality content is available continuously, of course the rankings resulting from Black Hat SEO techniques will remain high for a long time.
Various SEO Benefits
Using SEO of course there are several advantages or benefits. Curious what are the benefits? Let’s find out more!
Improved Keyword Ranking
The opportunity to win the competition in search engines can be owned by any website including your own, especially in terms of keywords or keywords. Running SEO techniques, can make a keyword or keyword ranking increase significantly or slowly.
SEO techniques that you can practice are Fundamental SEO or On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. These techniques can really help your website in giving signals to search engine robots to position your website in a certain order with related keywords or keywords.
Increased Website Visitors
Increasing the ranking of keywords on the website will also have an effect on increasing visitors to your website. The increase in visitors on the website can be a point to identify if your website is starting to grow. Well, with this increase, it can have a positive impact on other sectors.
Brand Awareness
Well, after your website has increased in keyword rankings and visitors, of course, your site will be increasingly known by many people. Moreover, if your website continues to be developed in a positive direction, it can certainly attract more and more people to get to know the site that you have. This is because website visitors will feel that every content, service or product on the website provides good benefits for them.
Website Can Be Considered
If your website is on the first page of search engines and is also in the top rankings, it will certainly be a consideration for many people. For example, if your website offers a product or service, people will consider your website to be chosen. Therefore, you need to make an effort to be able to provide a good and quality appearance on the website and be able to provide clear, complete and accessible information for all website visitors.
Increased Sales
If you apply SEO to your business website, it will indirectly provide benefits that can make your business grow, namely increasing product or service sales. When your keywords are on the first page of search engines when people use those keywords to find more information, the greater the chance that people will visit your website. Well, by getting the best position it will also increase public confidence in your website. If trust continues to increase, it will also affect the credibility of the website.
Economical
Another benefit of using SEO techniques is that they are cost-effective. Compared to you advertise in online advertising such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads and so on, running SEO techniques is cheaper. SEO can make a keyword stay in the top ranking or position longer. It’s very different from the advertising system that runs if you still have the budget to install it. However, it is true that SEO and advertising can be combined into a very powerful marketing technique.
For Long Term Investment
SEO can be said as a long-term investment technique, especially for online business continuity. That’s because SEO can have a huge impact on your website going forward. Therefore, you must carry out SEO techniques that are in accordance with the rules of search engines.
Conclusion
A few discussions about what SEO is and how important it is for the needs of operating on the Internet. For those of you who work as content creators and online businesses, make sure you have applied SEO techniques well on your website.
Many people still underestimate this aspect in the internet world. Indeed, most people are just internet connoisseurs and do not want to dig deeper. But for those of you who have a career, hobby and interest in the internet world, digging around what SEO is and how important SEO is is a must.
