Basics

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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. 

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To understand search engines, think of them as the technology behind browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, Mozilla, or Microsoft Edge.

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Search engines use complex algorithms to determine whether your website satisfies (i.e., is optimized for) what users are searching for.

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We also have to understand that customers are usually in different stages of their buying cycle so their needs change and we have to adjust our content and SEO to present what they want. In the end this is what we are trying to achieve using our skills to optimize and rank high organically. 

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Organic SEO vs Paid Search

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Search results pages are divided into paid and organic listings.

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Paid search results are paid adverts managed through Google Ads.

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Organic search results are unpaid and ranked by Google based on trustworthiness, authoritativeness, and relevance to the user’s search query. We achieve this by proper SEO.

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Paid results rank higher than organic results but that does not mean they are the right choice.

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Paid results rank very differently from organic search results, they rank based on the amount paid. Which means that if you want to rank high with competitive keywords, get your wallet ready. 

Watch out! If you dive deeper into SEO you will notice that all materials primarily focus on optimizing for Google which has 90% market share in the search engine industry. This means you should be perfect at understanding Google and all other non-Google based optimization you do will be usually sufficient to rank high in other browsers as well. (Just make sure you are indexing these browsers).

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Why is SEO important?

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Companies often spend millions on ads but neglect proper SEO. 

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Proper SEO can be an absolutely huge source of traffic for your website. 

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And fortunately! It is so for any business owner in any industry. Some industries obviously rely more on SEO than others but it benefits all. It doesn't matter if you sell cookies or yachts, people need to be able to find you organically.

You can see the benefits in terms of visits. But we are likely business owners or future SEO professionals who want to understand what is the benefit involved in terms of money. Let's do a quick calculation!

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Let's say we have 10k visits per day with an average CTR of 3% (Average CTR from organic traffic is 2-4%, First Page Sage Report (2024)) with one order being 50€ on average. Lets calculate the value of your daily organic traffic.

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Types of SEO

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And yes, we have different types of SEO. 

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It's good to understand them as parts that form a proper and effective SEO strategy.

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We divide SEO into:

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• ‍On-Page SEO‍
• ‍Off-Page SEO‍
• ‍Technical SEO

All of these types can be understood as some protocols or necessary steps in order to achieve proper optimization. 

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You will notice that these SEO types overlap. To understand SEO properly, it is important to understand the bigger picture and be able to form a strategy based on your venture.

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The goal is not to fully remember every single word, it is to understand the concept and be able to apply it with a positive impact to your strategy.

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On-Page SEO

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If you want your website to show up higher in search results, on-page SEO is a must. Unlike off-page SEO (which deals with backlinks and external factors, the technical stuff), on-page SEO depends solely on you and your content.

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Here are the 9 most important aspects of On-Page SEO. Always remember: 80% is great content, 20% is everything else.

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1. Create Great Content

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Your content should be useful, engaging, and easy to read. Make sure it answers your audience’s questions and naturally includes relevant keywords—without overstuffing them. 

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Your content must be:

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• Original - try to use AI as little as possible
• Expert first-hand authors
• Detailed - use images, screenshots, step-by-step graphics
• Engaging writing - use bullet points and try to rank for feature snippets
• Up-to-date and accurate information
• Don't overdo it with keywords - use them naturally

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It is also great to have an active community and provide a comment section under your blogs and other content where people can chat, advice etc., this shows Google your content is engaging, useful and makes people spend time on Google.

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2. Optimize Your Title & Meta Description

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Make click-worthy titles that grab attention using your target keyword. For long-tail keywords use = “best, guide, checklist, top 10”

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The meta description (the little summary that appears in search results under the title) should be compelling enough to make people want to click and shortly describe the particular page.

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A high quality meta description should have:

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• Your target keyword at least once
• Under 160 characters
• Distinctive for each page
• Provide value that sets you apart from other search results
• Provide critical data about your page (don't talk about carrots when you are selling insurance

Keep it under 160 characters! That is the maximum length Google can showcase on the search query.

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3. Keep URLs Clean & Simple

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A short, clear URL (example: https://visiowebsites.com/urlexample) with keywords is best. Avoid long, confusing links filled with random numbers or characters. Not only for Google but also for your back-end developer. 

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Especially for payment and form pages keep the url´s clean and simple as some users tend to drop off when seeing a url with hundred characters even under your own domain.

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4. Use Headings for Structure

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Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) make your content easier to read and help search engines understand the main topics. Your H1 should include your primary target keyword. 

Going by these standards helps you also to create readable and visually engaging content for your users.

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And pssssttt don't tell anyone, but you don't really have to care about H4, H5 etc...

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5. Optimize Images

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Use high-quality images with descriptive filenames and alt text. Also, compress images to keep your site fast without losing quality. 

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Different formats act differently with compression:

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• JPG format - faster to load
• PNG format - slower to load, higher quality
• WEBP - fastest, comparable quality, little bit annoying in terms of use
• If making a page under 20 pages, this is irrelevant, just remember to compress them

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Try to use your own pictures as Google values this as bringing original value to the user. I do advise though not to spend two hours on amazing graphics when someone else has it, use it and link it back to them. Always remember: SEO is a game of value not who uses whose graphic.

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Keep it engaging and informative.

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Read more about optimizing images here.

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6. Link to Other Pages on Your Site

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Internal links help users navigate your site and show search engines how your content is connected. Link to relevant pages naturally. 

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7. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

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Most people browse on their phones, and Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites. Use a responsive design to ensure a smooth experience on any device. Watch out if all functions are clickable, working and are readable. 

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And always remember to take care of graphic overflow which might happen and will absolutely destroy users' experience.

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8. Speed Up Your Site

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A slow website frustrates visitors and hurts rankings. Improve loading times by compressing images, enabling caching, and minimizing unnecessary scripts.

Use Google Page Insights to assess your website's speed.

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9. Focus on User Experience (UX)

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A well-structured, easy-to-navigate site keeps visitors engaged. Break up text with bullet points, short paragraphs, and clear calls to action (CTAs). 

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Off-Page SEO

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While on-page SEO is crucial, off-page SEO helps boost your website’s authority and trustworthiness. 

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There’s no 80/20 rule here. We are trying to balance and manage every single part to build our pages authority and trustworthiness from Google's stance.

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1. Build High-Quality Backlinks

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Backlinks from reputable (high authority) websites signal to search engines that your content is valuable. 

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Focus on earning links from industry-relevant sources through guest blogging, partnerships, and high-quality content.

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Do I have to link to my competitors? Well… Let's say you are writing about the current options on the market, it logically makes sense to compare yourself with your competitors and to link to their website. On the other hand, this is a great way to catch your potential customers and explain on your site, on your blog how your service or product is better, yet still provide value. And this blog with overall comparison ranks higher and will be a great way for potential customers to understand the market and they won’t even visit the competitor’s webpage where the competitor tells them how only they are the “good ones”.

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Once again: SEO is a game of value and figuring out smart ways to convert your customers, not gate-keeping.

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2. Engage on Social Media

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While social media doesn’t directly impact SEO rankings, sharing your content on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook can drive traffic and encourage backlinks.

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Pinterest is a great way to target long-tail keywords customers.

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As Pinterest usually ranks the highest for these long tail keywords, make sure your content is visible when customers click on Pinterest’s search results.

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3. Get Listed in Online Directories

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Submitting your website to business directories (like Google Business Profile, Yelp, and industry-specific directories) helps improve visibility and local SEO.

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If you are a physical business, Google Business Profile is a must.

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And if you sell online, Google Merchant Center is a must.

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These platforms are often very complicated to get good at and so are often forgotten, but they're as worthy as Google Ads. Use them.

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4. Encourage Brand Mentions

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When other websites mention your brand—even without linking to you—it boosts your credibility. Building relationships with influencers and bloggers can help with this.

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Yes Amazon, Nike etc. rank high because their SEO is amazing but they also rank high due to their brand credibility. If you want to buy running shoes, you think about Nike, and like it or not, Google knows that.

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5. Participate in Forums & Communities

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Being active in relevant online communities (like Reddit, Quora, or industry forums) allows you to share insights, answer questions, and subtly promote your website.

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This is irrelevant for most business owners as this is not time-effective, but if you are a, for example, tech blogger, this might be a good way to attract new visitors.

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Technical SEO

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Technical SEO ensures that search engines can effectively crawl, index, and understand your website. 

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Yes, unfortunately, we have to go through some technical details, but many of these are quick to fix and easily automated.

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1. Improve Website Crawling & Indexing

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Use an XML sitemap to help search engines discover and index your pages efficiently. Also, use robots.txt to guide crawlers on which pages to access or avoid and what should be the crawl speed. 

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Generate an automatic sitemap in your web-development app or use sitemap generator and add your sitemap to Google Search Console. This will enable Google to index all pages that you require. 

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Yes Google will eventually index your pages by itself. But imagine through how many billions of pages Google crawls through every single day. It will take some time. Using Google Search Console is a great tool to tell Google: “ Hey! I'm here, use my pages in search queries!” 

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2. Implement Structured Data (Schema Markup)

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Adding structured data markup that helps search engines understand your content better and can lead to rich snippets in search results, improving click-through rates.

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• For creating schemas visit schema.org
• To verify your schemas visit Google Structured Data Testing Tool

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3. Optimize Website Architecture

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Ensure a logical site structure with a clear hierarchy. A well-organized website makes it easier for search engines to crawl and users to navigate.

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Just follow the basic rules of web-development in terms of structuring and linking your pages.

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4. Fix Broken Links, Redirects & Understand Error Codes

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Broken links can hurt both user experience and SEO. Regularly check for broken links and use 301 redirects for any outdated or moved pages.  

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Don't forget to make your 404 page responsive and offer users navigation to your homepage.

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• 500 - Server Error, if your server is down use 503 status code to let Google know 
• 404 - Not Found, try to avoid as much as possible
• 200 - Okay, request was successful, it is better though to develop a confirmation page
• 301 - Permanent redirect, your solution to 404 error code
• 302, 307 - Temporary redirect

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5. Ensure HTTPS Security

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Google prioritizes secure websites, so use HTTPS instead of HTTP to protect user data and improve trustworthiness.

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6. Optimize for Core Web Vitals

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Core Web Vitals measure site speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Optimize your site to load quickly, minimize layout shifts, and provide a smooth browsing experience.

You can find your core web vitals in Google Search Console and to test your website's speed you can use Google Page Insights.

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Also choose your web-development provider correctly. For example, Wordpress websites can be slower with x amount of plugins.

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7. Use a Fast & Reliable Hosting Provider

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Your hosting service affects your site speed and uptime. Choose a reliable provider with fast servers and minimal downtime.

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If you choose one of the players on the global market, this shouldn't be a problem. With some local providers it might be a problem to solve.

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8. Monitor and Fix Technical Issues

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Regularly use tools like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog to identify and fix crawl errors, duplicate content issues, and other technical SEO problems. And never forget about good old customer feedback.

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So how to start?

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Following the points below should give you the ability to create your first effective SEO strategy. SEO changes every day, so always strive to learn and improve.

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1. Understand SEO concepts and how they apply to your business and industry
2. Understand SEO concepts as a part of a bigger picture (strategy)
3. Set up a strategy and don't overcomplicate it
4. Start applying this strategy piece by piece and gradually improve each concept

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Note: For large businesses, SEO must be more complex to stay competitive. But for smaller ones, a simple approach is sufficient.

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Thank you for reading,

Damian from Visio.

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