SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and means search engine optimization.
You've heard of SEO, but what exactly is it?
Is it something that the person in charge or your company can do? Etc., we have a lot of voices of worries about measures.
So, in this article, I will explain 10 basic SEO and points to note.
What is SEO
SEO is an abbreviation for “Search Engine Optimization” and is also known as search engine optimization . SEO refers to raising the evaluation of the site so that the company's site is displayed at the top when searching for keywords on search engines
such as Google and Yahoo!.
Strictly speaking, your listing will appear higher in search results if it is bidding on your target keyword. However, in the case of listing ads, it is not possible to maintain a high-ranking position unless you continue to spend advertising costs, whereas SEO can maintain a high-ranking position without spending money by increasing the site evaluation.
Purpose of SEO
The purpose of SEO is not just to be displayed at the top of search results.
Why do you need to work on SEO to improve your site's rating and rank higher in search?
“Because it will help you achieve your goals.”
For example:
・Purchasing products
・Inquiries
・Requesting materials・Applying
for campaigns
・Branding effect・Notifying
important information in news thing
For those in charge of sales and marketing , achieving these goals is important.
Users who search for specific keywords and visit the site looking for the desired information have a high motivation for the purpose (purchase the desired product, etc.), so the conversion (CV) rate also increases.
In other words, by working on high display, you can create opportunities for your site to be seen by prospective customers and lead to the achievement of the above objectives.
If you do not just aim to increase the number of visitors to the site, but also clarify the original purpose and do SEO with a firm awareness, you will be able to achieve the original purpose you are aiming for.
Advantages and disadvantages of SEO
merit
There are three main benefits of doing SEO.
1. Stable site inflow can be expected in the medium to long term
2. Improving brand recognition among potential customers
3. Assets of content accumulated on the site
1. A big advantage of SEO that can expect stable site inflow in the medium to long term
is the increase in inflow from natural search.
Placing a lot of content that contains keywords that prospective customers need will lead to improving the quality of the site. Improving the quality of your site will lead to higher rankings from Google, which will lead to higher keyword search rankings or indexing
with more keywords, increasing your exposure in search results. An increase in search inflow makes it easier to attract people to your site, so it promotes inbound prospective customers (seminar attracting customers, web inquiries, etc.).
2. Improving brand awareness among potential customers
Increasing search exposure with SEO leads to improved brand awareness.
By increasing the number of opportunities for prospective customers to see the site name in the search results, it is expected that recognition will increase, and the number of times that the site name will be directly searched for will also increase. As a result, the number of visitors to the web page will increase, and the brand recognition will increase.
3. Assetization of content accumulated within the site The content
maintained and managed within the site brings long-term benefits as an asset.
For example, suppose you continue to accumulate good content while operating a website. Content created for SEO purposes exists permanently on the site and can be used repeatedly as an asset for prospect approach. In other words, the accumulated content can be used not only for temporary purposes but also as an asset.
Demerit
There are two things to consider when working on SEO.
1. There is no immediate effect and it is necessary to work patiently
2. Ranking changes occur due to search engine updates
1. SEO is not instant and requires patience , so you won't see immediate results.
Improving search rankings requires constant trial and error, and in some cases it may take years to see results.
It's not uncommon that changing the placement of links within a website or accumulating content doesn't work. Conversely, just changing the title tag can improve your search rankings immediately, but it can also cause your search rankings to drop.
If you are familiar with SEO measures, you can predict such movements to some extent, but it is quite difficult if you have little practical experience.
Therefore, it is not a suitable method if you want to get conversions in a short period of time.
2. Ranking changes due to search engine updates
Occasionally, even if you improve your search rankings as a result of SEO, they may fall due to environmental factors.
Due to the regular implementation of Google's evaluation system updates (Google Core Updates) aimed at improving usability, the ranking of keywords that were previously displayed at the top may drop.
In particular, when large-scale updates are implemented several times a year, there is a risk of large fluctuations in rankings and a significant decrease in the number of inflows to the site that has been maintained up until now.
If the site is able to transmit useful content for users, there is not much to worry about, but it is important to continue to operate while always collecting the latest information on SEO.
SEO effect measurement
We will compare the numbers before and after implementing SEO to measure the effect.
The purpose of SEO is to improve the number of visitors to a website and to help achieve its goals, so operators need to be sensitive to changes in the number of visitors to a website and measure them.
Then, visualize the degree of effectiveness of the measures based on the numerical values before and after the measurement.
Another search engine used is Bing provided by Microsoft. We will be discussing this SEO strategy in another article, so please take a look.
SEO points
"SEO = Google measures" .
Since it is displayed at the top of Google's search results, holding points such as Google's evaluation criteria is a shortcut to achieving the purpose of SEO.
Mechanism for determining search ranking
How are search rankings determined? To
do that, it's imperative to understand the three steps that go into SEO.
1. Crawling (collection)
2. Indexing (registration)
3. Scoring (evaluation)
I'm going to get into a more technical story, but I'll explain them.
1. Crawling (collection)
After launching a website, search engines need to recognize the existence of the site in order to be reflected in the search results. Crawling means that a system called a crawler goes around the site and collects content information.
2. Index (registration) Indexing
means that the system saves the data collected by crawling in the database. It is also called indexing. It's the index that makes it appear in search results for the first time.
In the index, if the collected data is saved as it is, it may contain unnecessary data, so it is saved after being converted into a format that is easy for the system to process.
3. Scoring (evaluation)
Scoring refers to the system's evaluation of search rankings for web pages that have been indexed. Although the factors that determine search rankings differ depending on the search engine, Google has more than 200 evaluation criteria, and ranks are determined based on each criteria.
Three evaluation criteria "EAT" by Google
Currently, as an important concept for SEO, it is required to satisfy the three unique evaluation criteria "EAT" that Google places importance on.
1. Expertise
2. Authoritativeness
3. Trustworthiness
Google evaluates content that has these three as 'high quality' and will display it at the top of the search results.
Expertise
Is the content of the content professionally stated in a certain field and is the information given a deep value for the user's purpose?
For example, if a site with the theme of "travel" deals with domestic travel content and international travel content, Google's evaluation target will be "domestic travel" and "international travel". Therefore, it is necessary to subdivide the content more in order to obtain an evaluation of expertise.
For example, when you say "
overseas", does it mean Europe, or is it a resort area like Hawaii?
Is the purpose of your trip shopping or gourmet?
By specializing in a specific theme or genre, it is possible to accurately and speedily solve the needs of users, so it is important to increase your expertise.
Authoritativeness
Is the content created by someone who is known and recognized by many people?
In other words, "Who says that?"
A common example is medical content.
Content posted by doctors, medical professionals, and clinics is judged to be more beneficial to users than content posted by individuals about disease symptoms, prevention, and treatment methods, and is displayed at the top of search results.
Trustworthiness
Whether the information, site, or operator is original and trustworthy for users.
Criteria include whether the content is original, fact-based, and whether the site is private and secure.
It goes without saying that a site that is just copied from another site cannot be trusted even if the content is correct.
Google's 10 Facts
I think that "EAT" gave us a little insight into Google's intentions and ideas, but it's a little vague to actually create content and do SEO.
So, to get even more specific, here's a list of "10 Facts from Google".
1. Focus on the user and everything else will follow.
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.
3. It's better to be fast than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. It's not just when you're in front of your computer that you want to look for information.
6. You can make money without doing bad things.
7. The world is still full of information.
8. Information needs cross all borders.
9. You can work seriously without a suit.
10. "Great" is not enough.
Source: Google "10 facts about Google"
https://www.google.com/about/philosophy.html
It's not a statement about SEO, but it's like Google's philosophy, so you can know what Google thinks is good and the ideal form of the world that Google wants, so it's necessary for SEO. It's a way of thinking.
10 points of SEO
Let's take a look at some basic SEO tips.
SEO can be broadly divided into two types: internal measures for the content of the site and external measures for optimizing backlinks.
SEO internal measures
Investigate and select search keywords
The most important and first thing to do in SEO internal measures is to select search keywords.
In order to get visitors to a specific page on your site, the best way is to select a keyword that many users search for and create a hit page as a result of the keyword search.
Use a dedicated tool for keyword research.
Include keywords in your text
After selecting keywords, it is said that it is good to include one keyword per page. Include keywords in headlines and body text.
Let's put the keyword in a natural form that does not feel strange in the page title, headline, and body text.
Increase content quality and quantity
Google's aim is to take the lead in providing high-quality information that meets user needs. Therefore, no matter how well the keywords are included, if the content does not meet the needs of the page, it will not be displayed at the top.
In addition, the amount of content is also important, as the more characters there are, the more likely it is to be displayed higher.
Setting page titles, heading tags, and meta tags
Put keywords at the beginning of page titles and headings whenever possible.
In addition, the "meta description" displayed below the title on the search results screen should be within 80 to 110 double-byte characters, and include keywords to summarize the content of the text.
Internal link optimization
It is said that linking to other pages within a page has an SEO effect.
However, it is assumed that the page is highly relevant, and irrelevant links will not be evaluated by Google and users.
Speed up page display
We want your site to load as fast as possible.
If the clicked page is slow to display, the user will leave no matter how useful the content is.
Page display speed is greatly related to SEO, so reduce the size of the images you use as much as possible and eliminate unnecessary code.
You can measure your current speed with PageSpeed Insights provided by Google.
improve crawlability
It helps search engine robots, called crawlers, to recognize web pages as they follow links on the Internet.
Specifically, we set up a sitemap file written in an XML language that is easy for crawlers to understand, create high-quality content, simplify URLs, eliminate pages with duplicate content, and internal links. There are methods such as optimizing
Prevent low-quality content from being indexed
An index is to register the information of the web page read by the crawler in its own database.
The purpose of web pages is to have them browse, but there are pages that you do not want users to hit in search results, and pages that do not need to be displayed.
For example, a page with extremely little information or a site map page for users. If these pages are indexed, the web page's reputation may be lowered due to its low-quality content. In that case, you can remove it from the index by writing the "noindex" code.
SEO external measures
Run a blog as a backlink measure
A backlink is a link to your website from an external website.
You can get high-quality backlinks by creating high-quality blogs and satellite sites on your own and linking them.
Have a press release delivered to a major news site / receive an interview
It is most desirable to have a natural link from a high-quality external site, but if you cannot afford to wait for a natural link, ask a major news site to post a press release or conduct an interview. We will receive it and make it into an article, and at the same time we will link it to our own site and spread it.
This is basic SEO.
Of course, external SEO measures are important, but first of all, let's be conscious of implementing internal measures firmly.
Analysis of SEO
To implement SEO, we start by analyzing the current situation using tools and identifying points for improvement.
Tool introduction and analysis preparation
As a preliminary preparation for SEO, first install tools and prepare an analysis environment.
Some SEO analysis tools are simple, such as "SEO check", which allows you to obtain useful information for SEO simply by entering a URL. There are a wide variety of tools, such as those visualized in
Here, we will first explain two tools that can be used for access analysis.
1. Google Search Console
2. Google Analytics
1. Google Search
Console By using the Google Search Console, you can dig deep into search keywords such as the search words of users who flowed into your site, the number of impressions, the search ranking, and the click rate.
In other words, it can be used for analysis from the data before accessing the site, such as what keywords the user searched for and how it was displayed. By doing so, you can search for user needs from keywords and grasp the necessary content.
2. Google
Analytics By using Google Analytics, you can check not only natural search but also other websites, SNS, and other channels from which users are flowing in.
This helps us improve our site design and advertising strategy.
To use Google Analytics, it is necessary to embed a dedicated tracking code into the site, but it is possible to visualize the behavior of users visiting the site from various numerical values such as staying time, exit rate, number of pages viewed. .
Analysis of SEO
SEO maintains and improves search rankings by repeating “understanding the current situation” → “measurement of effects” over the medium to long term.
Grasping the current situation
In order to start SEO, it is necessary to accurately grasp the current situation from the data obtained by using "Google Search Console" and "Google Analytics" in order to recognize the improvement points from the current situation.
Therefore, the first thing to check is whether your site is currently being displayed in the search results in the first place.
To check this, first log in to Search Console, go to [Search Performance] in the menu, and click [Pages] on the bottom tab.
If your site is not showing up in search results, you need SEO.
In this way, understanding the current situation and recognizing improvement points is an important first step before starting SEO.
SEO effect measurement
To measure the effect of SEO, it is necessary to check the search ranking of the selected keywords.
For example, select one keyword from the theme related to the web page and register it with a dedicated tool (BULL, GRC, etc.) that tracks the transition of search rankings.
Then, when checking the transition of the registered keywords after a period of time, if the search results have improved, the content related to the keywords is evaluated by the Google system, and it is judged that SEO is working effectively. I can do it.
On the other hand, if you don't check the transition, you can't judge how the search ranking of the keyword fluctuates, so it will be very difficult to measure the effect of SEO.
If you leave it unattended without knowing whether the effect of SEO is manifested, there will be a lot of content related to keywords with low search rankings on the site. Poor website quality leads to low ratings in the Google system.
In order not to fall into such a situation, it is important to check the keyword ranking with a dedicated tool and repeatedly measure the effect when promoting SEO.
Things to keep in mind when using an SEO company
Even if you know the basics and points of SEO, if you do not know what your company is specifically working on now, or if you are too busy with your work to get around to SEO, using an SEO company is one option.
Decide what you want from an SEO company
Some SEO companies do everything from keyword analysis to site optimization and effect measurement, while others only provide links.
It is important to be clear about what you want your SEO company to do.
SEO is not “cost = effect”
As I mentioned earlier, the content of services differs from company to company, so if you look at the breakdown of costs, there are cases where unnecessary options are included at this stage.
In general, just because the services offered by SEO companies are expensive, it does not necessarily mean that they will be effective.
There are two types of SEO companies, performance fee type and fixed fee type.
YouTube needs SEO too
In recent years, video content has increased rapidly on the Internet, and many companies are focusing on video marketing.
YouTube, the representative of video content, is now the second largest search engine in the world after Google.
Even if you create a video, if the number of views does not increase, it cannot be said to be a successful marketing.
By implementing SEO on YouTube as well as websites, it is possible to display videos at the top of search rankings.
YouTube SEO starts with keyword selection
Just like your website, YouTube starts with selecting relevant keywords.
Once you've decided on keywords, it's time to include them in the title, description, and tags.
If you can select the right keywords, you will be able to get more views because they will appear in Google search results as well as YouTube.
stick to youtube video thumbnails
Setting thumbnails so that the content of the video can be seen at a glance is also part of YouTube SEO.
The thumbnail is the package of the product, and the cover of the book, so it has a role to attract users.
Analyze with YouTube Analytics
Uploading a YouTube video is not the end.
It is important to create useful video content for users while repeating analysis and improvement in the same way as a website.
Summary
We've talked about the basics of SEO.
SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that it ranks higher in search engine results.
However, SEO can be done efficiently by clearly defining the original aim beyond that, rather than aiming for display at the top of the search.
One thing to keep in mind when doing SEO for your website or YouTube is, “Who is this content for?”
What information do users really want to know?
Is the text easy for users to read?
Are you setting keywords that are easy for users to find?
Based on the SEO points introduced in this article, please try SEO so that your site will be displayed at the top of the search results.