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What is SEO?

SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. What is a Search Engine? Search engines are internet platforms that contain the links to almost every piece of information available anywhere on the internet. The biggest search engine is Google. Google is so big and is used so much that “Google” has now become a verb. It’s common for people to say, “I’m going to Google it,” or “Just Google it,” or “I Googled it.” While Google is the biggest and most used internet search engine, there are others like Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, etc. YouTube? I thought that was for watching videos. YouTube is a great place to watch unlimited videos about everything under the sun, but, it is also the #2 search engine, meaning that after Google, more people use YouTube to search for content on the internet than any other search engine. An interesting fact you may not have known – Google owns YouTube. Google bought YouTube on November 13, 2006 for US$1.65 billion in stock. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_YouTube, Aug 3-2020)

SEO means that your website or social media profile or video channel has designed in a specific way that will make search engines want to post your website/profile/channel at the top of the search results according to specific keywords. KEYWORDS are the “keys” to the kingdom of traffic to your website/profile/channel. A “keyword” is an actual word, or better, a serious of words, called a “long-tailed keyword,” that people will enter in the search engine’s search bar when they are looking for information (text) about something, they want to watch something (videos/TV/movies), see something (pictures).

Think about the last time you searched for something online. What did you search for? What words did you type in the search bar to try to find the information, video(s) or picture(s) you were looking for? I just Google, “When did Google buy Youtube?”The first organic link to an article that Google suggests will answer my questions was from Wikipedia.

There are many different things I could have typed in the search bar to find the same information. I could have typed, “YouTube acquisition by Google date,” “On what date did Google buy YouTube?” “ When was YouTube purchased by Google,” “History of YouTube,” or several other variations of the same inquiry. All of these phrases are called “long-tailed keywords”.”

So how did Wikipedia use SEO to get the link to their article at the top of the Google search results when I typed in my question?

Wikipedia would have consulted a Keyword Suggestion tool to find out what is the most common keyword (*Remember – A serious of words is called a “long-tailed keyword,” so even though it contains more than one word, whatever people type into the search bar is considered one keyword). people use when they want to find that specific piece of information.

The keyword, “when did google buy youtube,” would have been at the top of the list of suggested keywords to describe the information.

When I tried different keywords after that, Google gave me some slightly different results.

Example, I searched “youtube acquired by google,” an article from the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com)came up first, following by one from https://www.theringer.com. Third and fourth on the list were links to articles on Wikipedia.

Since Wikipedia is a huge website with millions of active users on a daily basis, their IT team must have found the keyword, “when did google buy youtube,” to be more frequently used by people searching for information on this topic. So, within the article, the website management department at Wikipedia would have tailored their content to utilize that keyword frequently, so Google recognizes that the article on their website is an authoritative source on that topic.

So, the bottom line is you have to include the words that people are typing into search engines in the order most frequently entered for your website to rank higher on Google or other search engines. Using the right keywords is only one part of the keyword SEO strategy. You need to use the words many times throughout your website and especially in the page titles and sub-titles.

Do the math: Rank Higher = More people see your website link = More website visitors.

What the visitors do on your website is a whole other topic.

SEO – It’s important to use many of the most popular keywords in your blog posts because different people will type different things in the search bar. For example, when people want to learn more about SEO, they may type in “what is seo google,” “what is seo youtube,” “SEO meaning,” “what is seo keywords,” “what is seo backlinks,” “what is seo in marketing,” ” what is seo wordpress,” “what is seo etsy.”

Check out this great video by SEO Guru Allan Pollett talking about SEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsIr1DyfB9c

Check out our next article called, “What keywords should you use to boost your SEO?” to discover the best online tools to find this information so you can start getting your website seen by more people.

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Tammy Defoe
Author: Tammy Defoe

Tammy Defoe is the Founder and President of GTApreneurs Inc. She is a Business Coach, Sales Trainer and Public Speaking Instructor. She is very skilled and experienced at helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

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