An Introduction to SEO

Search Engine Optimization, popularly known as SEO, is a part of digital marketing that is demanded by businesses. In simple words, SEO means optimising the search engine for targeting keywords and thereby using this to boost the content and unpaid (organic) traffic to a website. The role of SEO arises from the need of people to search what they look for, the kind of answers they receive, what words they use for searching, and whether the content is seen as an image, video, audio, etc.   

SEO is preferable because of its reliability over unpaid traffic compared to paid traffic. Search engines like Google, crawl and index the content related to a topic, which is later scanned and provided into what we call Search Engine Result Pages(SERPs), where the published and high-quality results are ranked. The content is ranked based on certain algorithms, such as its relevance, quality, and user experience it offers.

  In this article, we will discuss some essential SEO components. These include keyword research, on-page and off-page optimisation, and technical and local SEO. We will also share some of the opportunities who wish to specialise in SEO.

On-page optimisation

With the term “on-page” itself, optimisation means editing elements within a website to make it attractive and boost its visibility, user experience engagement, and rankings. Optimisations are mostly divided into title tags, meta descriptions, and URL structures.

The title tag and meta description of an article should provide a clear picture of the content. URL structures of a website are also optimised for easy reading by using short words and hyphens wherever necessary. Relevant keywords are used to describe the content clearly. Some factors that affect the ranking for search engines are as follows:-

  1. Adding header tags is crucial as it is being created with specific keywords.
  2. Inclusion of additional content such as images to the page.
  3. Internal linking links one page to another, of the same website.
  4. Accessibility of website pages over mobile phones.

 Off-page optimisation

Off-page optimisation refers to improving a website’s search engine ranking by getting links from high-quality and reputable websites. This would increase the domain’s authority. Simply put, it is very important to demonstrate a website’s experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness to search engines like Google. 

 Some of the strategies to use off-page can be understood from the following points;

  • Create content that builds trust and authority; hence, other websites will be interested in your content presentation and get links for their pages that will benefit you.
  • Conducting direct outreach is also equipped with searching relevant content to help you build backlinks by asking them in mediums such as email, LinkedIn, etc.
  • Linking building outreach strategies like broken buildings and unlinked brand mentions can be considered for more outreach activities. 
  • Guest blogging can be used to your advantage while finding relevant websites. One can obtain additional backlinks by guest blogging.
  • Social media marketing can also be developed by bringing out attractive content in the brand’s social media and creating influencer marketing campaigns that could be attached to the brand’s website.
  • Reviews are another strategy that can continuously as they are written by customers who are not biased, which enhances customer feedback and trust. 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO stands apart from on-page and off-page optimization. It is the part of SEO that understands the technical factors influencing a website’s visibility in search results. Search engines are designed with crawlability and indexation, enabling it to discover and store published or updated content. This is later ranked, which provides a hierarchy of best content in the search engine. A website’s infrastructure is optimised to enable search engines to crawl, index and rank the information effectively. 

     Factors such as site speed and accessibility over mobiles and search engines are considered to improve the website’s structure and performance. Site speed is a ranking factor for a site in Google, and using tools like Google Page Speed would help analyse the speed and recommend ways to improve. Some ways to improve loading are optimising images, leveraging browser caching, and minimising CSS and JavaScript.

To check whether the website is mobile-friendly, responsive web designs are implemented, and Google Mobile-Friendly Test is performed to see how a visitor can get to the page on their device. Proper crawling and indexing can be ensured by using robot.txt (used to see the parts to be crawled), and building a sitemap with a set of different pages.  Other factors that come under technical SEO are the following;

  • Use of HTTPS and SSL( Secure Socket Layer) certificates to ensure safety for the website users. 
  • Finding and fixing duplicate content issues.
  • Use of breadcrumb navigation and pagination to ease the navigation of the content
  • Insertion of structured data markup(schema markup) to get better snippets under the title and description. 

 Local SEO

An SEO with a local touch can be understood as local SEO. If someone wants to search for sellers in his area/ region, Google provides that within seconds, aligning with the sellers’ locations. As local SEO is performed within a specific geographical location, it concentrates on creating local content, researching local keywords, updating Google My Business Profile(GMB), maintaining local citations that include the name, address, and phone number(NAP) of the business, and enhancing customer reviews for better services.          

Career Opportunities in SEO

We have explored a wide range of SEO activities in the above sections. These activities range from on-page and off-page optimization to technical and local SEO, and they are a better chance to research and to be chosen as an opportunity to build a career. Thus, a lot of career opportunities lie in SEO itself, which can be explained further as follows;

  1. SEO Apprentice 

SEO Apprentices are for college graduates who are skilled in SEO and keen to grow with an entry-level position. In addition to learning the basics of SEO, the candidate will be assigned to fix broken links and implement link-building methods.

      They will also get familiarised with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console to analyse the data, and Google Keyword Planner for keyword research. 

  1. Junior Specialist / Analyst

These are the junior SEO titles, where an analyst/specialist creates and evaluates campaigns, optimises content with significant keywords, tracks website performance, creates SEO-optimised content, and collaborates with other SEO experts and stakeholders.

  1. SEO Manager

An SEO manager is a higher position supervising a team of SEO analysts/ specialists. The candidate who aspires to acquire this role is said to have a minimum of 2 years of experience in SEO, a talent for leading and managing projects and brands, and proficiency in data analysis and market analysis. The SEO manager is also responsible for organizing client meetings and building communities on an online platform. 

  1. Content Strategist 

A content strategist is assigned roles to research in-depth and interact with consumers so that strategies are built in an engaging and effective manner. They also generate leads by creating blog posts, tweets, etc. If you’re looking into this role, build a niche in SEO with your writing, planning and communication skills. 

  1. Technical SEO Manager

The responsibilities of a technical SEO manager primarily involve managing and advising the technical factors that affect organic search engine performance. In short, their roles are solving crawl errors and broken links, optimising the content by tracking keyword performance and staying updated with new SEO tactics and strategies, including schema markup. To carve out best SEO practices, collaborate with people skilled in copywriting, web development, etc.

  1. Link Building Specialist

A Link Building Specialist is responsible for building backlinks using potential strategies that improve a website’s ranking and authority. If you’re searching for a career in link building, ensure you are skilled in SEO, particularly in linking building, for a minimum of 2 years and have better knowledge about Google Analytics, outreach and prospective tools.   

  1. Local SEO Specialist

Local SEO Specialists promote business in the local area to build their local presence. They localise the content, build links, and optimise the content with local keywords and local citations. They deal with the business profiles(Google My Business) so that they can post and optimise accordingly. If you desire to specialise in this, 3-5 years of experience is needed in local SEO and building an enterprise in citation building, local keyword research, schema markup, local link-building, search algorithms, competition analysis, and updates.

  1. SEO Data Analyst

SEO data analysts are skilled in tracking website traffic, content engagement, search ranking and backlinks. Then, they must understand the trends and user intent and improve by comparing the results. They act as a bridge between analytics from a website and SEO strategies. Their other strategies include content optimization, technical SEO recommendations, link-building strategies, reporting and communication. 

  1. SEO Trainer

SEO trainers are people who teach SEO as a niche, teaching fundamentals like keyword research, on-page optimization, and link-building. Aspects like technical SEO, content strategy, SEO tools and analytics, and staying updated on trends are also core to being an SEO trainer. This job role embraces training for beginners, marketers, business owners, etc., strategies and tools encompassing a wide range of digital marketing skills and techniques, interactive learning, skill development, and career advancement.  They also develop course training materials and consult on SEO training programs. 

Conclusion

As we wind up our topic here, let’s review on SEO in Calicut. Digital marketing is one of the popular courses that has created job opportunities in the coastal city; therefore, SEO, a niche in digital marketing, has been claiming its importance in the marketing world. More than understanding it as a mere concept, careers have also switched to SEO, which has helped businesses thrive from the basic issues of local and global reach and website optimisation.

           So SEO, as a part of digital marketing, has been proven effective in Calicut because of its reliability, adaptability, and cost-benefitability. This is surely a career option where you could explore your desire and the needs of the clients to create a sustainable job in the developing arena of marketing. This is almost used by every business sector like health, tourism, web design, education, etc., which has boosted digital marketing in a step-by-step manner.

Aviv Digital is one of the leading Digital marketing course in calicut. We offer a wide variety of globally recognized certification programs that include SEO, SEM, SMM, Email Marketing and Inbound Marketing courses. For more details, Contact us at: +91 8156998844