SEO Basics 101

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

SEO aims to improve the rank of a webpage or a home page on Google, Bing or Yahoo! for targeted and specific keywords or key phrases.

It is correctly pronounced as S-E-O. It is not Se-Oh. It is not Cio. S-E-O is a noun. Search engine optimization is a part of online marketing umbrella. It is about marketing than sales.

Ranking your website on search engines is not a guaranteed sale. You do not have control if people are converted into buyers once they land on your site.

Types of SEO

On-page SEO – Everything that you can do once you are logged-in to a website, giving you direct control.

Off-page SEO – Everything that you can do to market your website without logging-in.

Techniques of SEO

There are three techniques in every type of SEO. These are:

White Hat

White hat techniques are the legal methods accepted by the standards made by search engines.

Strength: Long-term and visible results | Weakness: It takes more time than expected

Black Hat

Black hat techniques are the illegal methods highly discouraged by the search engine guidelines.

Strength: Produce short-term result | Weakness: Your website faces violation and disappears

Gray Hat

Gray hat techniques are those methods that stand in between the illegal and legal. It is a calculated risk to take.

Strength: Expected to yield faster result | Weakness: Waste of time

Understanding Periodic Table

I once printed the first edition of SEO Periodic Table in Search Engine Land. The new edition is available for free download on their website.

The first edition of SEO Periodic Table divides SEO into two – the on-page and the off-page. Each type has elements:

• 19 for on-page
• 15 for off-page

The on-page elements are divided into three:

• Content
• HTML
• Architecture

These groups have seven, six and six elements, respectively.

The Content is the first group of elements found on the inner leftmost of the table. The seven elements of Content On-page are:

Content Quality (Cq)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Are pages well-written and have substantial quality content?

Content Research (Cr)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Have you researched the keywords people may use to find your content?

Content Words (Cw)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do pages use words and phrases you hope they’ll be found for?

Content Engage (Ce)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do visitors spend time reading or bounce away quickly?

Content Fresh (Cf)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Are pages fresh and about hot trending topics?

Content Thin (Vt)

Type: On-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged.

Guide question: Is content shallow or lacking substance?

Content Ads (Va)

Type: On-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged

Guide question: Is your content ad-heavy especially above the fold?

The HML and Architecture On-page consist of six elements each, nine of which are declared safe practices for your site.

These elements belong to the technical side of SEO. You may need the expertise of a webmaster to understand it.

HTML Titles (Ht)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Do HTML title tags contain keywords relevant to page topics?

HTML Description (Hd)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do meta description tags describe what pages are about?

HTML Headers (Hh)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do headlines and subheads use header tags with relevant keywords?

HTML Structure (Hs)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do pages use structured data to enhance listings?

HTML Stuffing (Vs)

Type: On-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged.

Guide question: Do you excessively use words you want pages to be found for?

HTML Hidden (Vh)

Type: On-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged

Guide question: Do colors or design hide words you want pages to be found for?

Architecture Crawl (Ac)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Can search engines easily crawl pages on site?

Architecture Duplicate (Ad)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Does site manage duplicate content issues well?

Architecture Speed (As)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Does the site load quickly?

Architecture URLs (Au)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: are urls short and contain meaningful keywords to page topics?

Architecture Mobile (Am)

Type: On-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: does your site work well for mobile visitors on smartphones and tablets?

Architecture Cloaking (Vc)

Type: On-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged.

Guide question: Do you show search engines different pages than humans?

Off-page SEO means marketing your website in social media channels, guest blogs, forums and through email marketing.

The off-page SEO has 15 elements in total and is divided into four – links, trust, social and personal.

Link Quality (Lq)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Are links from trusted, quality or respected sites?

Link Text (Lt)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do links pointing at pages use words you hope they’ll be found for?

Link Number (Ln)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Do many links at your web pages?

Paid Links (Vp)

Type: Off-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged.

Guide question: Have you purchased links in hopes of better rankings?

Spam Links (Vl)

Type: Off-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged

Guide question: Have you created many links by spamming blogs, forums, or other pages?

Trust Authority (Ta)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Do links, shares and other factors make site a trusted authority?

Trust History (Th)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important

Guide question: Has site or its domain been around a long time, operating in the same way?

Trust Identity (Ti)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Does site use means to verify its identity and that of authors?

Trust Piracy (Vp)

Type: Off-page. Technique: Black hat. Priority: Highly discouraged.

Guide question: Has site been flagged for hosting pirated content?

Social Reputation (Sr)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Do those respected on social media networks share your content?

Social Shares (Ss)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Do many share your content on social networks?

Personal Country (Pc)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: What country is someone located in?

Personal Locality (Pl)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: what city or local area is someone located in?

Personal History (Ph)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Important.

Guide question: Has someone regularly visited your site and socially favored it?

Personal Social (Ps)

Type: Off-page. Technique: White hat. Priority: Highly important.

Guide question: Have your friends socially favored the site?

Conclusion

The Periodic Table of SEO arranges the terms and jargons of search engine optimization logically. It is the most objective start to study and analyze the basics SEO.