High positions of a website in Google search is one of the main factors of success of business activities in the XXI century. According to Smart Insights research, the click-through rate (CTR) for the first position in the search results is 39.8%, for the second position – 18.7%, for the third position – 10.2%. The tenth position gives only 1.6% CTR. And this is clearly not enough.

Obviously, the task of modern business is to reach the top of the search results and keep high positions, bypassing competitors. But how to do it? This is where SEO (or search engine optimization of the site) comes to the rescue.

What is SEO-promotion of a website?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) — is a set of measures aimed at improving the position of the site in the search engine, which includes technical optimization, improving the structure of pages, creating high-quality and optimized content, building link mass and other activities.

About what steps consist of search engine optimization, we will tell a little later. First of all, it is important to understand how search robots Google and other search engines work. And here in fact not everything is obvious.

How do search engine robots work?

So, let’s say you already have a working website and you create a new page (for example, a product card). At first it is in a kind of “vacuum” – it is not seen by search engines and, accordingly, it does not get into the results of Google. But then search robots (web crawlers), which work as follows:

1. They visit web pages they already “know” and follow internal links to find new or updated pages. A webmaster can “help” web crawlers by adding a Sitemap (sitemap) file, which contains a list of all the pages on a site.
2. Search engine robots analyze the page, its content, meta tags and structure. The content information is stored in the search engine’s database, i.e. the index.
3. When a user searches for information in a search engine, the system analyzes his query, compares it with indexed pages and forms for him the results of the output, which will include your page.

At first glance, everything is simple enough. But in practice, to reach the first positions in the output for relevant keywords, you need to put a lot of effort and time. Especially in highly competitive niches.

Advantages of SEO over other types of promotion

Complex SEO-promotion is a complex, lengthy and quite expensive process, which, moreover, is not able to provide lightning fast results. But at the same time, it has a number of important advantages that other promotion formats lack:

• Attracting organic traffic. You can attract a large number of interested customers who are looking for your products or services.
• Long-term effect. Even if you at some point completely stop working on search engine optimization, the site to continue to hold the occupied positions for some time, unlike contextual or targeted advertising.
• Comparatively small investments. You will say that we contradict ourselves, but this is not true. At first SEO may indeed require serious financial investment, but over time it is possible to maintain high positions relatively inexpensively.

It is important to understand that search engine optimization is a work for the future. If you need results “here and now”, in this case it is better to consider contextual advertising or targeting in social networks. But do not consider them as an alternative to SEO. Rather as an addition to your promotion strategy to achieve faster results.

What does SEO include?

As it was said at the very beginning, SEO is a complex multi-level process that requires a serious approach at all stages of promotion. It includes technical optimization, collection and systematization of semantic core (keywords), internal and external optimization, UX/UI improvement, content creation and updating, etc.

If some stages of search engine optimization site owner may well perform independently, then for the implementation of others without the help of specialists can not do without. Let’s consider these stages in more detail.

Stages of search engine promotion sites

Let’s imagine that you are just planning to launch your own website and want to reach the first positions in the search results for relevant keywords in the shortest possible time. First, in this case, we always recommend ordering SEO service at the development stage – it will simplify and reduce the cost of further activities. Secondly, it will be necessary to perform nine basic steps for effective search engine optimization. Read more about each of them – below.

Niche analysis and competitor audit

Before taking any action on SEO promotion, it is necessary to thoroughly analyze your own niche and competitors, clearly define in which market segment you work, with whom you have to compete and what strategies they use.

Preliminary research necessarily includes keyword analysis, analyzing competitors’ content strategy, their methods of external promotion and other factors. This way you will be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of SEO of other companies in your niche, find the best ways to promote and avoid making other people’s mistakes.

Technical audit of the site

If you already have a website, it is necessary to conduct a thorough audit of it, to identify and correct technical errors that prevent indexing or worsen ranking. This stage usually includes checking page load speed, 404 errors, Sitemap and Robots.txt file setup, optimization for different devices, duplicate content and other aspects affecting SEO.

Semantic Kernel

Semantic core is a list of keywords and phrases (search queries) that potential customers will use to find your site in search. At this stage SEO-specialists collect a pool of “keywords”, systematize them and distribute them on the pages of the site to achieve maximum relevance. It is important that the keywords reflect the topic of your site, have sufficient potential to attract targeted graphics, as well as serve as a basis for further optimization of the content and structure of the site.

Working out the structure of the site

Correct and clear structure is important not only for visitors, but also for search engine robots. As we said earlier, web crawlers do not analyze the entire site, but move between pages – almost like a normal person. Accordingly, for effective SEO it is important to build a logical and intuitive navigation, organize pages, observe the correct hierarchy and ensure the presence of all necessary sections. Properly organized structure helps to improve indexing and user experience.

Filling pages with content

High-quality, unique and optimized content is one of the main ranking factors. Google is becoming more and more demanding on the quality of content with each new update of search algorithms. It is very important that your texts do not just have page-relevant keywords. They must be unique, carry value to the reader and engage them. The times of low-quality over-spammed texts from the early two thousand years are long gone. Today, they can only do harm.

Micropagination

Micro markup is a special type of markup on the site, which helps search bots better recognize your content. It allows you to highlight the most important elements of the page – products, services, reviews and the like. The introduction of micro markup improves the visibility of the site in search results and helps to display in the search results extended snippets that attract more attention of users.

Internal linking

Internal relinking is a kind of network of links between the pages of the site, which helps to distribute the weight of pages, speeds up the indexing process, and simplifies navigation between pages for visitors.

It is very important that the site was not so-called “orphan pages”. That is, those that are not linked to other pages or sections. They are poorly ranked, and users have virtually no opportunity to get to such a page.

External optimization

External optimization (off-page SEO) – a set of works to promote the site, which are carried out outside it. The main purpose of such optimization is to get incoming links to your site from other authoritative and relevant to your topic resources. The more sites refer to you, the more authoritative your site looks in the “eyes” of search algorithms. Plus it has a positive impact on brand reputation.

External optimization can include guest posting, paid placement of texts on third-party resources, creating your own PBN network, expert publications in online publications, crowd-marketing and so on. At the same time, it is worth remembering that quality is important, not quantity. One incoming link from a popular and authoritative site can be much more effective than ten links from less authoritative ones.

Social Media Promotion

SMM promotion helps to increase brand awareness, attract targeted traffic to a website and improve audience engagement. You can engage your audience in different ways: create and publish interesting content, hold contests, actively interact with subscribers, and run targeted advertising. Activity in social networks is, among other things, a powerful social signal that also affects the ranking of the site.

Technical aspects of SEO

We will not dwell in detail on each technical aspect of SEO, because each of them is a topic for a separate large article. But at least we will tell you about the basic details:

• Site load speed. The faster the pages of the site load, the better. The optimal loading time is 1-3 seconds. The longer the page loads, the higher the bounce rate, which in turn negatively affects ranking. To speed up loading, you can optimize the code, use file compression, use CDN, etc.

• Mobile optimization. In 2016, the number of visits to websites from mobile devices crossed the 50% mark. In 2021, they were already 68%. And in 2024 – the figure is approaching 75%. Therefore, adaptability and optimization of the site for mobile devices is a critical important aspect of modern SEO.
• HTTPS protocol. HTTPS is a secure connection protocol that replaced the now obsolete HTTP. This is an important ranking factor – sites with HTTP protocol have almost no chance to be in the top of the search results.

• XML sitemap. XML map helps search engines to index the pages of the site faster and more thoroughly. It should be as complete and up-to-date as possible. Accordingly, it should be regularly updated.
• Robots.txt file. As we mentioned earlier, this file controls the access of search engine robots to the pages of the site and improves indexing. In addition, with its help you can completely exclude unnecessary objects from the index. For example, duplicate content in the footer or header, technical sections and the like.
• URL structure. URLs should be clear, readable and short enough. Preferably – using keywords relevant to the page.
• Internal linking. We have already talked about it earlier. Just a reminder that the site should not be orphan pages that are not linked to other pages or sections.
• Meta tags (title, description). Title – a short, meaningful title of the page, which reflects its essence and content. Its length – up to 60 characters. Description – an extended description of the page up to 160 characters. They should be unique for different pages and have keywords to increase CTR (clickability) in the search engine.

• Semantic markup (Schema.org). It helps search engines better understand page content and can improve the display of snippets in search engine results.
• Image Optimization. Compressing images helps speed up page load times, and the alt attribute with keywords improves ranking. We recommend using your own unique images or images purchased on photo stocks. Remember that graphic content is subject to copyright.

There are actually many more technical aspects of SEO. We have mentioned only some of the most significant ones.

Algorithm of site pages indexing

Indexing consists of three main steps:

• Crawling. Search engine robots visit pages on your site and analyze them.
• Indexing. Bots study the content of pages, including text, images, videos, meta tags and other, store the obtained information in the index to further provide users of the search engine this information in the organic output.
• Index Updates. Search engine robots regularly revisit the already indexed pages, update the data and actualize it to eventually provide users with more relevant information.

Accordingly, to maintain high positions, it is important not only to create high-quality content, but also to periodically update and actualize it. Otherwise, the pages will gradually lose positions, and in their place in the issuance will come competitors’ sites. This once again proves that search engine optimization is a continuous process that requires a comprehensive approach.

Types of SEO optimization

If you have already been interested in the topic of SEO-promotion, but probably met the terms “white”, “gray” and “black” SEO. But what is the difference between them and why should you use only white methods of search engine optimization? Let’s understand

White, gray and black schemes

So, what are these schemes?

• White SEO schemes are the promotion methods and tactics recommended by Google. In fact, everything we have listed above refers to white promotion methods. These are quality content, keyword optimization, internal and external optimization.
• Gray SEO schemes are methods that are on the edge of what is acceptable and may violate some search engine recommendations. For example, the purchase of incoming links to increase the link mass of the site, content farming (creating a large amount of content of low quality), the use of PBN (Private Blog Networks) – a network of sites that link to each other in order to artificially increase the authority. Such actions are not directly prohibited by Google, but they can still lead to unpredictable results and sanctions from search engines.
• Black SEO schemes are methods of promotion that are not strictly recommended by search engines. They include the use of an excessive number of keywords, hidden text or links, automated link building, mass purchase of external links, copying other people’s content and so on. This approach at some point can help quickly and inexpensively get to the top of the search results, but more likely it will lead to sanctions. Including the complete removal of the site from the search results.

We strongly discourage the use of gray and even more so black methods of SEO-promotion. The risks are too great.

Factors of successful optimization of the site

Finally, we offer you a basic website optimization checklist that you can follow:

• Technical aspects: improving loading speed, adaptation for mobile devices, using secure HTTPS connection protocol and SSL certificate, improving URL structure, customizing Robots.txt and Sitemap files.
• Internal optimization: creating unique Title and Description for pages, using different level headings (H1, H2, H3 and further), using keywords, creating high-quality and unique content, internal re-linking and implementation of micro markup.
• External optimization: getting inbound links from reputable external resources, online reputation management, promotion in social networks and strengthening social signals.
• Local optimization: creating a Google My Business profile, using geo-targeted keywords (city, region), collecting and managing reviews, encouraging customers to share reviews and recommendations.
• Analytics and monitoring: use of Google Analytics and other analytics tools, regular analysis of traffic and user behavior, monitoring of positions and keywords, constant study of competitors, their strategies and search engine positions.