SEO is a practice that seeks to align with what users are searching for online with your website. This is achieved by looking at your website's on-page, off-page, and technical aspects, ensuring that all three elements work to promote both search engine visibility and user-friendliness.

SEO stands for search engine optimization (or Search Engine Optimization in U.S. English). The practice gets its name from the fact that SEO techniques are designed to make it easier for search engines to crawl your website.

When search engines can find the clues they are looking for about a search query because your website has been correctly optimized with SEO techniques, your website is more likely to rank highly on search engine results pages.

If you type any search query into a search engine, you'll notice a list of results is instantly pulled up for you as if by magic.

What is this sorcery, you may ask? Well, when you typed in your search query, a chain of effects happened within the inner workings of that search engine (i.e., Google) and the internet that made the results you were given possible.

In layman's terms, search engines have technology capable of crawling billions of websites. They will bring the results they deem most relevant to their users in a list of most to least relevant results, based on the search term that was entered. Search engines choose the hierarchy of results based on the content of your website, such as the number of relevant keywords that have been used.

If your website appears in the top 10 results, it will appear on the first page of a search engine result page. Users are likely to click on any of these results (especially the one in position #1!).

As this explanation demonstrates, ensuring your website is SEO optimized is well worth the time and energy. The higher your website ranks on search engines, the higher your CTR (Click-Through Rate). Optimizing your SEO with your users in mind is also more likely to lead to conversions.

Another point to remember is that search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Baidu, Ask.com, DuckDuckGo, and Bing compete with each other. So, they too want to provide users with helpful results to their queries so that users remain loyal to that particular search engine. Therefore, SEO is designed to benefit users, website owners, and search engines alike.

Writing for digital platforms is not the same as writing for print. That's because whenever you publish content online, such as blogs, articles, or even your website pages - you need these to be found by search engines. To achieve this aim, write with SEO in mind, aka SEO writing or SEO content writing.

When writing for SEO, you need to research the keywords, including short tail and long tail keywords, that will help make your content visible to search engines. Include these so your content will be optimized throughout the page's metadata.

However, also keep in mind that while the likes of SEO keywords are essential for communicating with search engines, it will be your human users who will read the content. So, look to incorporate keywords in the most natural sounding way possible so that your content still provides a valuable reading experience.

Three main categories form the practice of SEO, including on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. Each of these categories then branches out into a wide list of aspects that affect each of these categories

For example, on-page SEO includes the likes of keyword density, heading tags, meta descriptions, and overall content optimization.

It's important to consider all three SEO categories if you truly want your website to rank above the competition, as they are all designed to work in tandem with each other.

As the name suggests, on-page SEO refers to all aspects that appear on the page or support the page in SERPS.

At the core of on-page SEO is the content of your web pages. Therefore, how you write your website and blog content really counts where your on-page SEO is concerned, especially regarding how many keywords your pages contain.

In summary, on-page SEO includes aspects such as keywords, heading tags, meta titles, meta descriptions, and alt tags. So when writing any written content or adding images or videos to your website, articles, or blogs, you must ensure that each aspect has been SEO optimized.

There's no doubt that how you optimize your website through on-page SEO is critical for your SEO strategy. However, so too is the number of links that point to your website, also known as backlinks.

Acquiring backlinks is known as off-page SEO. The more backlinks your website has, especially from trusted sources, the higher your DA (domain authority) will become.

Some of the most common off-page SEO techniques to acquire backlinks include influencer outreach, guest author posts on other websites, social media, social bookmarking websites, forum submissions, blog directory submissions, PR article submissions on other websites, question and answer websites (i.e., Quora), video marketing and Google My Business.

So, the best way to think of off-page SEO is all the work you need 'off' of your website to help it rank and grow authority in its niche.

Technical SEO looks at the engine of your website (i.e., its server capabilities, page speed, hosting platform, security, user-friendliness, etc.).

That's because it's not just enough to attract users to your websites through keywords or even having a high number of backlinks. The experience users have on your website once they get there also counts.

For example, if your website is slow to load, users won't wait around; they'll head elsewhere. Likewise, if your website has many broken links or server issues, meaning the pages won't load, this creates a poor user experience.

Therefore, technical SEO is the icing on the cake for your SEO strategy. It ensures that everything your website appears to be on a SERP (i.e., a helpful result) is just that when users actually land on your page.

You'll be able to discover some of the most important technical SEO aspects with Eye10. Our Competitor Research Tool will also give you a rundown of your website's technical performance versus your competitors.

SEO marketing relates to any kind of digital marketing that's specifically designed to enhance your website's SEO.

For example, rewriting your website's pages with SEO in mind. If you use Eye10 to conduct an SEO audit or even use our Keyword Gap Tool, you may notice that your pages don't contain enough clues. This does not allow search engines to rank your website high enough for key terms.

So, when rewriting your website pages (perhaps when also redesigning your website), each plan would be mapped out using a specific list of keywords that you would implement within your headings and body content, as well as the page's metadata. Optimizing the names and descriptions of any images or video also counts.

Blogs are also a fantastic method of SEO marketing because they continually add fresh content to your website, which search engines favor versus stale content. In addition, blogs allow you to tap into emerging trends or cover certain related topics that don't have a place on your main website. Like your website content, blogs need to be planned and formatted with SEO in mind. We also recommend adding a new blog to your website at least once a month, although if you can increase the frequency, this is even better for your SEO efforts.

However you approach your SEO marketing, it's also important to regularly check in on the analytics of your efforts. For example, aspects such as engagements, shares, page views, how many conversions the content produced etc. When you align your SEO strategy with what works for your website, your SEO content marketing will truly reach its potential.

If you're just starting with SEO, there's a lot to get to grips with, so we'd definitely recommend exploring the many facets of the Eye10 tool to learn more.

SEO is based on on-page, off-page, and technical elements to give you a general overview. Each of these affects how easy it is for search engines to crawl your website, along with the chances of search engines presenting your website to its users or not.

A core part of any SEO strategy is adapting the written content of a website, ensuring it has been optimized with SEO in mind. This includes adding relevant keywords within the headings, body copy, and metadata.

If a website has not been written with SEO in mind, it simply won't rank on search engines, especially if it has a competitive niche. Beyond keywords, you need to consider many aspects to ensure your website is worthy of a top 10 spot on search engines.

It is possible to learn SEO yourself. However, we'd also recommend hiring a professional SEO content writer and a developer to implement any of the changes Eye10 recommends if you are unsure or lack time to do your own SEO, as it's something you'll need to keep up with. Plus, you can only improve your website's SEO if you correctly implement the changes that Eye10 suggests.

If you sell any products or services in a particular geographical area (such as a town, city, county, or state), then your website will also need what's known as local SEO.

Local SEO is about optimizing your website to pick up traffic from users physically located in your area.

If the business doesn't provide its services beyond London, UK, then it's important not to generalize its entire SEO strategy. For example, 'builders in London' targets a trade and a specific location. Although the website may target some generalized terms within its SEO marketing, like writing an article on 'the benefits of extending your home.

That's because if most of the website's traffic came from the USA, Australia, or elsewhere in the UK, the conversions will be reduced because the service is only in London, UK. Therefore, it doesn't cover these other regions.

The website's traffic might be less if it didn't have the local SEO element. However, those who visit the website are more likely to convert, especially if they are local to the business. But by adding a location to its keywords and phrases and mentioning its location within the website, search engines are more likely to pick up that this is a builder in London.

If the products, services or information your website provides is not limited to a specific town, city, county or state, then you do not need to worry about local SEO. So, an e-commerce website that ships across the USA wouldn't need local SEO. Although, if that store also had a physical store that customers could visit in New York - local SEO would be required to attract visitors.

If you're just starting out with building your website, you need to ensure that your domain has been connected to your website and that your website has actually been made live. To do this, log into your hosting platform to view the status of your website.

For existing websites that have already been published, there are several ways you can check if your website, along with each page, is appearing on Google.

Go to your search bar and type site:[your URL here], so for Eye10, we would type in site:https://eye10.io/en.

Google will then display a results page and will list all pages that have been indexed.

Also, Eye10 will let you know whether your subpages have been indexed or not. We'll also tell you how the number of pages you have indexed on your website compares to that of your competitors.

We'd highly recommend checking that all of your pages appear on Google regularly, along with seeing where they rank.

Unlike PPC (Pay Per Click), paid advertising or even physical advertising techniques, SEO doesn't have a fixed cost. However, some of the costs you may need to factor in are:

• SEO Software
• An SEO content writer (on-page SEO)
• A developer (technical SEO)
• Outreach assistent (off-page SEO)
• Analytical reports to measure conversions/ROI

Not all of the above is not strictly necessary, as it depends on your specific needs as a business. Plus, how competent you are with SEO content writing, fixing technical issues on your website, promoting your website with sponsored content, and being able to measure the impact of your SEO in real terms.

However, every business should have SEO software as a bare minimum. The reason is that there is no other way to measure how your website is performing in real-time, especially regarding where your pages rank on search engines. Not to mention how your website is performing versus your competitors. If you aren't ranking high on search engines, it can seriously harm your website visitor numbers and conversions.

Usually, the cost of SEO software is a huge barrier for businesses. But at Eye10, our Professional package costs just $39/month. So, that's one way to dodge the high expense of SEO software that you'll find elsewhere!

If you do decide you need professional help with your SEO, such as to implement the changes Eye10 finds your website needs, then the cost will depend on the individual you select. As you would expect, the more experience the professional has and the more success they've had, the more they are likely to charge for their services.

If you're hesitant to invest in your SEO strategy, remember that the cost of bad SEO, let alone no SEO is far more costly for your business. SEO also has a phenomenal average ROI, especially versus social media marketing. With billions of searches happening every single day on Google alone, can you really afford to be missing out?

You've found us here at Eye10 If you've sorted your subscription with us, then you're already halfway there!

A first step we’d suggest is doing an SEO audit, which you can do through Eye10. This will show you how your website performs across on-page, off-page, and technical aspects. Using our Competitor Research Tool, you can also see how you rank versus your competitors.

Once you can see the status of your website's SEO through the information Eye10 will provide, the next steps involve implementing these suggestions.

So, for instance, if you use our Keyword Planner Tool, you will see a full list of keywords you are not using that your competitors are. Therefore, we'd recommend rewriting your website content, alongside its body copy, headings, and metadata, to include these keywords.

Take the same approach for each aspect of your SEO that Eye10 flags up to need some fine-tuning. The changes should then start to impact your search engine rankings positively. Along the way, if you need any further help, Eye10 will be by your side as we give you a generous daily allowance so you can conduct as many searches as you need.

Backlinks refer to links on other websites that refer back to your website and fall under the umbrella of off-page SEO.

When a website links to your website, this is excellent news for your SEO, especially if that website has a high DA (domain authority).

While keywords are extremely important for your website's SEO, backlinks help seal the deal because other websites are actively sending traffic your way, making your website look more trustworthy in the eyes of search engines.

The higher your DA score rises due to backlinks, the higher your website ranking. So, backlinks are precious commodities.

Be sure to keep an eye on your backlinks as your website grows. Specifically, how many backlinks your website is getting and where these are originating from. These can help you understand your audience and refine your SEO strategy.

As noted above, backlinks are extremely important for your off-page SEO.

However, a good point to note is that not all backlinks are created equal. If your backlinks originate from a SPAM this can actually harm your SEO. SPAM means a collection of websites that usually have rubbish content on it for no real purpose other than manipulating Search Engines.

If you are going to pay for backlinks, ensure the website is a trusted source with a high DA score. An example would be launching a press release for your new product and having a major news outlet do a paid feature whereby they link to your website. Of course, other many website categories exist, but just ensure it is a genuine website where you'd want your website to feature. If it seems spammy or shady - it's not worth the DA penalty it could bring.

Also, don't forget to encourage shares of your content organically. This can be done by specifically by creating a valuable experience for your users. Ideally, your website should have a blog because by writing regular SEO-focused blog content, you can hone in on your niche and encourage shares of your website in the process

Make people want to share your content with the articles, videos, or posts you produce, and also make it easy to do so by including link shorteners or share buttons on your pages.

If you have any social media accounts, share any blog posts or service pages regularly on your feeds.

Also, note that affiliate schemes help bring in new business but aren't treated as backlinks by search engines, just in case you were wondering. So, stick to the organic and trusted paid tactics to get those backlinks rolling in.

A 301 redirect is a type of status code produced when a page has moved. It handily moves the user from the page that no longer exists to where the page they are looking for now lives. This is unlike a 404 status code which gives an error message with no explanation or way of finding what your user was looking for.

So is a 301 better for your SEO versus the dreaded 404 status code that causes a broken link? Previously, a 301 redirect resulted in up to a 15% drop in a page's ranking.

However, updates made to Google's algorithm in 2019 mean this is no longer the case, as long as the redirect takes the user to an HTTPS site (i.e., you have an SSL certificate installed). Pages with a 301 status code are removed from your sitemap, redirect chains, redirect loops, and broken redirects have all been fixed.

We know that's a little complicated for SEO newbies. So, think of it like this: ensure your website has the correct security certificates and no obvious technical errors when performing an SEO audit through Eye10.

Also, definitely be more worried about 404 errors (broken links) in terms of your SEO versus 301 redirects.

Eye10 allows you to do SEO competitor analysis through our Competitor Research Tool.

Simply enter your URL and the keyword you'd like to rank for. From there, Eye10 will instantly display the top 20 websites competing for your traffic based on this specific keyword and your overall website niche.

We think our Competitor Research Tool is one of the most beneficial aspects of Eye10. That's because finding your SEO competitors is not the same as finding your general business competitors. In addition, if you don't get ahead of your competitors on search engines, they'll continue to take your traffic

Luckily, Eye10 makes it simple to see who your competitors are and all the steps you need to take to rank above them.

If you look at a search engine's results page, you'll notice that a brief description appears underneaths each link found, this is known as a meta description.

Meta descriptions can be added to any page of your website, including individual blog posts. You will normally find the box to input your meta description within any SEO plugins your website has. For custom-built websites, you may need to ask your hosting provider or developer to locate where you will find your meta description forms.

As to how to write meta descriptions, keep in mind that you only have 155-160 characters (not words!) to play with. If the meta description length exceeds this limit, Google will cut it off, meaning your visitors will only see half the sentence. So, preview meta descriptions and titles before making them live.

Within your meta titles and descriptions, you should always aim to use the main keyword, the page title, and the website's name. Let's give you an example.

Meta title: Eye10 - Contact Us

Meta description: Need any help with Eye10 SEO software? Our Contact Us form contains details on how to contact Eye10, including our phone number and email.

We even managed to add 'how to contact Eye10', which is another search term in itself! For ecommerce, you could include terms such as 'shop now', or similar transactional terms. So, definitely adapt your meta description to the purpose of the page and your niche as a whole.

When you use Eye10, we will always give you a guide regarding the number of keywords you should be using, what these are, and the keywords your competitors are using that you aren't.

Ideally, you should aim for as many relevant keywords as possible without spamming the page. Remember, keywords are extremely important, but so is creating a readable piece of content for your users.

It's important to use a broad range of keywords throughout your SEO. This will ensure you are targeting the right audience with the right phrases.

Some of the aspects you need to consider with keywords are relevancy to the page, monthly search volume, and keyword difficulty.

For example, if a keyword has a high difficulty, it will be more difficult to compete for traffic. That's not to say the keyword shouldn't be included, but it will take a more determined effort over time to start to rank for that keyword.

Also, as regards to monthly search volume, this gives you an idea of whether the keyword is actively being searched or not. Keywords with a high search volume but low keyword difficulty are known as ‘low hanging fruit ’, meaning they are easier to rank for.

Eye10's Keyword Planner will give you plenty of ideas for additional keywords you should be using if you don’t know which keywords to choose. Just be sure to select keywords that factor in search intent so that whatever keywords you use relate to what users can find on the page in the way they intended.

For example, if you use the keywords’ buy jeans online cheap’ in your meta title, users will expect to be able to purchase jeans through your website for a low cost.

It's possible to hire an SEO expert to implement the suggestions Eye10 makes for your on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. Or, if you feel confident enough, you can also attempt the work yourself.

Our best advice when learning SEO is to take the time to research each element and understand its value in terms of your website. Also, understand what your users want from your website so that these goals can be aligned within your SEO strategy.

Any decent SEO strategy will take time, patience, and effort to build. So, we'd recommend exploring the full range Eye10 offers and using the generous amount of requests we provide to get the most out of your efforts.

A good place to start is by rewriting your website content with SEO in mind. From there, concentrate on building backlinks (off-page SEO) and ensuring your website offers an excellent user experience. You should start noticing page rank improvements if the effort is focused across the three main categories of SEO. These improvements will then be reflected in visitor numbers and conversions..