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Learning the language of Search engine optimization or SEO is great for boosting your blog’s traffic and better listing. You need to learn terms before you use them. If you know what they mean, you will get the advantage of using them. Google does not pay attention to SEO as much as it used to. But I do believe it is important to know how to use something to use it to your advantage to help you market your small business.
Here are some terms and definitions you need to know.
SERP – means search engine results page. It is the listing of the results that are returned by Google, Bing, or any other search engine when you type in a keyword in a search bar.
There are basically three main components of SERP: the actual search query, organic SERP listings, and paid SERP listings.
- Organic
- Paid
- Generation from search engines
Meta tags – these provide information about a given Web page which helps search engines categorize them correctly. They are inserted into the HTML document, but are often not directly visible to a user visiting the site. They used to be the focus of research known as SEO to provide a user's site with a higher ranking on search engines. This used to lead to a high ranking in the search engines which meant high traffic to the website. But in recent years, meta tags have significantly less effect on search engine results pages today than they did in the 1990's. In other words, it just doesn't mean the same thing as it used to.
Alt image tags – this is used when you insert a picture on your WordPress blog. You want that picture to be found in search engines so you need to use keywords to describe the picture (or video). The alt tags is supposed to be an alternative for the image. You should describe it with keywords and not use colors or a description of a person standing in front of another object.
Hyperlinks - is how you connect to other information. Usually within a blog post, you can place a hyperlink to connect for the reader to get more information. You are linking from one page to another.
Anchor text – when you use a hyperlink to connect to another article, post or product, you are using anchor text or link text. It is a clickable link. The words contained in the anchor text will help determine the ranking that the page will receive by search engines.
Internal links – this is a link within your WordPress blog to another area within that same blog. Links are usually highlighted in a different color so that you can see them even if you scan a post rather than reading each word. Links can be considered either "external" or "internal." Generally, a link to a page outside the same domain is considered external, whereas one in the same domain is considered internal.
Longtail keywords – a keyword is what you type into a search engine when you are looking for information. A longtail keyword is when you type in more than one word, even several words, looking for information.
Keyword density – when you post to your blog, and use your keywords, how many times do you use them? Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. When you use them for SEO purposes, they can play a part in determining whether a web page is relevant to a specified keyword or keyword phrase. I have read that overuse of keywords called keyword stuffing can harm your rankings rather than help them.
Don’t be afraid to ask for explanations of terms. Even the most seasoned internet marketers sometimes hear ones that are unfamiliar to them. Before I researched this post, I never heard of SERP. I knew what it was, but never saw it used like that. And with the evolution of computers and the constant changes and updates from Google, it’s hard to keep up with these. Take one terms, research it, and use it on your blog. Before long, you will master the terminology. Is there a term that I missed that you use all the time? Share it with other readers in the comment section below.
English: seo block (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
