Think you know everything there is to know about SEO? If not, don’t worry; you’re not alone. Even experienced marketers need to stay updated on the latest changes and trends in the industry.
So, this blog post will provide a beginner’s guide to SEO terms you should know. By learning these terms, you’ll be better equipped to optimize your website and improve your search engine ranking.
Alt Text
Alt text, or alt attribute text, is best seen in action when you search for something on Google, and a photo of a product appears. Alt text is basically the description in the text of an image that describes what the image is. Using alt text is one of the best ways to increase your SEO ranking because it makes it possible for images from your website to be found on Google. This is especially important if you own an online store.
Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the text that a hyperlink has been placed on, which is incredibly important for improving your site’s ranking. It’s important not to use the same anchor text repeatedly since anchor text is one way that Google measures the authority of a link, as Cozab explains. There are many types of anchor texts, such as generic, branded, partial match, exact match, and more.
Keywords
Keywords are basically words or phrases used to help users find content on search engines. Sites also use keywords to determine what type of content needs to be created. More importantly, websites use keywords to help their content be found. A few examples of keywords include SEO tips, best SEO practices, SEO guidelines, SEO beginner tips, and more. The best keywords describe exactly what the content is about.
Meta Description
Meta descriptions are incredibly important for SEO, as well as to help users determine if they are going to visit a webpage or not. A meta description is basically a description of the content that can be found on the webpage and is located directly underneath the title of the page in the search results. Your meta description should be accurate and, better yet, should try to use a keyword or two.
Domain Authority/Rank
The last term on this list is domain authority or domain rank. A domain rank is basically how well your entire domain ranks on search results and is best used to determine where you are in the rankings. A domain rank is calculated by analyzing many link metrics, such as total links and linking root domains. Very few sites actually get a ranking of 100, and it is quite difficult to influence directly.
Tips for Keywords
While using keywords is great for increasing your ranking, it’s important to remember that using singular keywords might not be the most effective, especially when compared to something called long tail keywords. This is primarily because certain keywords can be applied to various industries and audiences.
For example, if you were to use the word “tips” as a keyword, this could refer to tips about literally anything. If you were to use “SEO tips,” this is much better but could still be improved. However, if you were to use “SEO tips for beginner website developers,” you would definitely begin seeing more traffic.
One of the primary reasons for this is because long tail keywords generally have less competition; the longer the keyword, the more variation there is. This means it’s less likely someone else has used it.
General SEO Tips
The most important tip regarding search engine optimization is that there is no shortcut. If there is anything that can be done today to increase your rankings, it won’t be significant and won’t help in the long run.
Search engine optimization is a long-term game. As such, it needs constant improvement and attention. You should always be looking for new ways to optimize your website, and most importantly, try to build high-quality links to increase your authority.
