One word can describe the objective of search engine optimization – relevancy. SEO is an umbrella term used to describe multiple tactics used to improve your website’s appearance in search engine results pages (SERPs). What you are trying to convey through a multifaceted SEO strategy is relevancy for keywords that describe the purpose of your website.
Why is relevancy important in SEO?
Let’s back up and understand why search engines exist and the service they provide. Search engines are a means of discovery for the billions of web pages out there. Google, Bing, Yahoo and others are in competition for Internet users to use their search engine. How do they capture more searches? By providing more relevant results than their competitors. When you enter a search query, you don’t want to sift through spam, illegitimate businesses, and junk to find the answer you’re looking for. You want accurate, credible results as quickly as possible.
To accomplish this, search engines are constantly refining their algorithms to display search results in order of relevancy. You can expect that the first result will have the most relevant answer to your question.
How do you convey relevancy to search engines?
Search engines are rewarding websites that consistently produce unique, relevant content and engage with users online. Providing content on a regular basis, most commonly through a blog, demonstrates a higher level of legitimacy for your website than those of your competitors.
The better your site’s content, the more likely you are to attract links from credible sources and have your content shared across the web. The more your content appears on legitimate online channels, the more likely you are to be perceived as relevant to search engines.
Which SEO tactics should I not be pursuing?
Search engines are always trying to weed out search results that are trying to game the system. Their algorithms continue to adapt to identify and penalize websites that are attempting to “trick” the search engines into thinking they’re relevant.
SEO tactics that are no longer recommended include non-organic link building, keyword stuffing, and invisible text. If it seems shady or unethical to you, it’s probably best not do it.
Keep your SEO tactics legitimate and focus the majority of your time on producing unique content for your online channels. This is the best strategy for conveying relevancy to the search engines and improving your rank in SERPs.