There’s a great graphic created by Rand Fiskin, co-founder of Moz, that takes from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs’ pyramid. Fishkin’s ‘Mozlow's Hierarchy of SEO Needs’ looks at how people should execute SEO.
HOW DOES SEO works
in digital marketing.
Search engines are used by people when they have a query and are
searching online for the answer.
Search engine algorithms are computer programmes that look for clues to
give searchers the exact results they are looking for. Search engines rely on
algorithms to find web pages and decide which ones to rank for any given
keyword. That's why Google algorithm updates can have a huge impact on brands and
marketers so you need to keep on top of them. Remember there’s
also social media algorithms to consider for
search.
There are three steps to how search engines work: crawling, indexing and
ranking.
Step 1: Search Engine Crawling
The first step is crawling. Search engines send out web crawlers to find
new pages and record information about them. We sometimes call these web
crawlers ‘spiders’,‘robots’ or Googlebots.
Their purpose is to discover new web pages that exist, and to
periodically check the content on pages they’ve previously visited to see
whether they've changed or been updated.
Search engines crawl web pages by following links they’ve already
discovered. So if you have a blog and it's linked from your homepage, when a
search engine crawls your homepage, it will then look for another link and may
follow the link to your new blog post.
Step 2: Search Engine Indexing
The second step is indexing. Indexing is when a search engine decides
whether or not it is going to use the content that it has crawled. If a crawled
web page is deemed worthy by a search engine, it will be added to its
index.
This index is used at the final ranking stage. When a web page or piece
of content is indexed, it is filed and stored in a database where it can later
be retrieved. Most web pages that offer unique and valuable content are placed
into the index. A web page might not be placed in the index if:
·
The content is considered duplicate
·
The content is considered low value or spammy
·
It couldn’t be crawled
·
The page or domain lacked inbound links
Top
tip: You can check your indexed pages by typing ‘site:yourdomain.com’
in the search bar (see our example below). This will show you the pages showing
up on Google. For a more detailed report you can look at the ‘Index Coverage
report’ in Google Search Console.
Step 3: Search Engine Ranking
The third step is really the most important, and that is ranking.
Ranking can only happen after the crawling and indexing steps are complete. So
once a search engine has crawled and indexed your site, your site can be
ranked.
There are more than 200 ranking signals that search engines use to sort
and rank content, and they all fit under the three pillars of SEO: technical
optimization, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization.
Some examples of signals that search engines use to rank web pages are:
·
Keyword in title tag – Whether the
keyword or a synonym was mentioned on the page and within the title tag
·
Loading speed – Whether the web page loads
quickly and is mobile-friendly
·
Website reputation – Whether the
web page and website is considered reputable for the topic being searched for
·
Backlinks - The quantity and quality of
backlinks to a web page
·
Content quality and relevance - Is the
content valuable and relevant to the website’s target audience?
·
Mobile friendliness - Are pages,
content and images optimized for mobile?
If
you're looking for agency support in the areas of SEO, content marketing and
paid media, get in touch with Digitaloxford
