Did you know SEO is more than keywords?

Are you planning to get more visitors on your website? The first organic idea you will have is SEO. When you plan to do SEO, the first thought you probably have is keywords. But is that really enough?

Keywords are important for SEO, but they are not the only thing you need to do. It is about making your website actually helpful for the people who visit it, so they stay, trust your brand, and come back. It is about search engines helping you get noticed. In this blog, we’ll break down the four main parts of SEO that marketing experts focus on and why each one is crucial to getting your site noticed.

The 4 main parts of SEO

SEO isn’t just about keywords. To really make your website work, you need to focus on four main areas. These are generally called the four parts of SEO.

• On-page SEO: Optimizing your website.

• Off-page SEO: Getting people from other websites and platforms to your website.

• Technical SEO: Making the technical aspects of your website work for your SEO.

• Local SEO: Highlighting your website in searches for your city or region if you serve local customers.

1. On-page SEO: The search engine optimization is in your control

On-page SEO is everything on your website that you can directly control. This is where the keywords matter. A well-optimized page is easier for search engines to understand and more enjoyable for visitors to use.

When done right, it increases your chances of ranking higher while keeping users engaged. The main goal is to make your content clear, helpful, and easy to navigate, for both visitors and search engines. Here is what you need to focus on instead of keyword stuffing.

• Focus on the content quality: Write content that answers your audience’s questions and solves their problems.

• Avoid keyword stuffing: Use keywords naturally in titles, headings, and body text. Avoid overstuffing.

• Focus on images: Images and infographics with alt texts and descriptions are good for SEO.

• One keyword for all pages is bad: You need to compete with your competitors and not with your own pages. Choose different keywords for different pages based on the content you are putting up.

2. Off-page SEO: Building credibility for your website and brand

Search engines see backlinks and mentions as votes of confidence. The more credible your site appears externally, the more likely search engines are to rank your pages higher. Off-page SEO builds authority, which is just as important as having great content on your site.

So how does the search engine recognize you? They use links, mentions, and signals from other websites to understand how trustworthy and relevant your site is. Every mention with a backlink to your website is a vote saying, “This website is credible.” Similarly, social shares, reviews, and citations show that people engage with and trust your content. The more credible signals your site gets, the easier it is for search engines to rank your pages higher.

• Get backlinks from credible websites only: Links from authoritative websites signal that your content is valuable.

• Plan content syndication of your website on social media: Content that’s shared or discussed on social platforms adds visibility and trust. Have a blog, a good client story, or even a good product page, share it with an attractive visual and copy, and add the backlink.

• Team up with influencers: Influencers are a good source for building your off-page SEO strategies. Be it affiliate websites or even social media influencers, the right kind of influencer can bring you a good quality audience to your website.

• Request client reviews: Positive feedback, especially on third-party sites, strengthens your site’s credibility.

3. Technical SEO: Fix your website so search engines find you effortlessly

Technical SEO is all about the behind-the-scenes elements that make your website easy for both users and search engines to navigate. This optimization ensures your website loads quickly, works on all devices, and is easy to navigate.

When your site functions smoothly, visitors stay longer, engage more, and search engines recognize your site as reliable. This boosts your ranking on the search engine results page. Even the best content won’t rank well if your site is slow, hard to use, or difficult for search engines to crawl. Here is what you need to keep a check on.

• Keep the page speed up: Slow websites frustrate visitors and hurt rankings. Compress images, minimize code, and use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to load pages faster.

• Improvise the URLs and website links: Use clear headings, a logical page hierarchy, and clean, descriptive URLs.

• Do not forget the mobiles: Users are more on phones than on laptops. Make sure your website is fast on mobiles, tablets, and any devices.

• Security: While technical SEO only focuses on speed, security is a very crucial aspect for your website. Secure sites build trust with users and are favored by search engines.

• Include sitemaps and index your website: Help search engines crawl and understand your content efficiently with these sitemaps.

4. Local SEO: Be found for your local audience

Let’s say you need bread and eggs. You will visit your nearest grocery store rather than ordering it from another city. If you are looking for the store, your famous query on the search engine will mostly be "grocery store near me" or "best bakery in <your city>.” That is what your target audience would do too.

Local SEO ensures that your business shows up in these kinds of searches. It helps your business appear in “near me” searches, maps, and local directories. For businesses with a physical location or service area, this can be a major source of traffic and leads. Even if your website ranks nationally, optimizing for local search helps you attract customers who are ready to take action.

• Start with search engine business listing: Claim and optimize your listing with accurate business information, hours, and photos.

• Use local keywords: Include your city, neighborhood, or region naturally in your content and metadata.

• Push for reviews and ratings: Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. They bring credibility to your brand.

• Do not forget local citations: Ensure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across directories and websites.

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