What is SEO?
SEO is the abbreviation of "search engine optimization".
The meaning of "SEO"
SEO is the abbreviation of “search engine optimization”. What do we mean by that? All processes and improvements that aim to make a website appear higher in Google. But that’s very short sighted. That’s why we’re going to explain exactly what SEO is and why we think it’s wise to start today.
How does SEO work?
Pooh, that question isn’t one-two-three to answer! There are a lot of factors that go into optimizing websites for search engines. And you can’t directly influence all of those factors, and not all of those factors have a direct impact on your positions. Fortunately, there are also many factors that you can tinker with. We’ll tell you more about that in a moment.
In our article on how search engines work, we explain what’s going on under the hood of Google and Bing. The most important thing for now is that Google works with an algorithm. That algorithm decides which websites appear in which order in Google. With SEO we try to understand the ‘thought’ of the algorithm and use it optimally. But that’s not so easy! Fortunately, there are a few best practices that you too can apply.
The indispensable base
Hey, stop: before you can even start optimizing, you need a good foundation. Wanting to rank higher while you don’t even rank: that’s not possible.
We don’t have to tell you that your website must exist. Furthermore, there must be content on the website, even if it is just the homepage plus a number of quality pages, and the website must be ‘crawl-friendly’. This means that you set up your website in such a way that Google can easily navigate through it. A transparent site structure helps, for example. Google also needs to know about the existence of your website, this often happens automatically, but you can also help Google by registering your website via, for example, Search Console. Once you have laid this foundation, your website will automatically be indexed by Google. And only when you are indexed by Google, you can optimize to rank higher. Let the SEO begin!
Find out how your website scores in the field of SEO with our free SEO analysis.
keyword research
If you do not want to apply SEO indiscriminately, but prefer to set up a strategy with a clear focus, you cannot ignore keyword research. You optimize your pages for specific keywords. On which searches do you want to claim positions? And which page with what kind of content best meets the needs of the user?
Authority is the indicator for Google that they use to determine how reliable your website is. The domain age or brand awareness of a brand play a role in this.
By ‘technical SEO’ we mean everything that you adjust to your website behind the scenes, such as search engine optimization.
What is content? Anything that provides information in one way or another to a recipient. For SEO, text is the most proven form of content, because search engines can best read and understand it.