The Advanced Guide to SEO Testing
For businesses, you’re not the only one searchable on the internet, so are millions of other businesses around the globe. You've gone from having a small, local business that was only accessible to people in a town to be able to service anyone on the planet. So how do you make sure people can find you in a crowded virtual marketplace? With SEO!
If you’re new to SEO or you want to refresh your skills, we’ve put together a guide to help you maximize your SEO potential. But first, let’s go over the basics.
Before you can begin to optimize your website and other content for search engines, you need a basic understanding of search engine functionality. Search engines use an automated system that relies on an extremely complex set of mathematical formulas known as algorithms. Algorithms are, at the simplest level, conditions or rules that then build on each other to become more sophisticated and produce the desired results. At the start of the internet age, search algorithms were much simpler, and unfortunately, open to exploitation or abuse. Today’s search algorithms are much more sophisticated and nuanced. Algorithms won't fall for simple keyword stuffing techniques anymore.
The biggest challenge with finding ways to increase your ranking on search an engine is that Google isn’t telling anyone exactly what works and what don’t. While Google itself has some suggestions on how to improve search rankings, the key pieces of information, such as what their algorithms are and what they are looking for, are trade secrets that Google won’t share with anyone. So while they provide good, general advice they do not tell you precisely what variables will raise or lower your ranking.
There’s no denying that now when most people want to find something, their reflex is to go looking for it online. Using a telephone to call up information, or even resorting to the old standbys like the thick "Yellow Pages" phone books are things of the past. Why go through all that when you can pull out your Smartphone and type or even verbally ask a question and get an instant answer from a search engine like Google?
If you’re new to SEO or you want to refresh your skills, we’ve put together a guide to help you maximize your SEO potential. But first, let’s go over the basics.
How Search Engines Identify the Best Results
It’s not doing that by having a staff of humans conducting manual searches, so how does Google manage?
A “good” web page, back in the day, was defined by algorithms as using a relevant keyword a lot of times. So, if a financial services website used the word “accounting” five times, and another website used it ten times, the website that used it more was defined as “better” and got a higher position on search results. Unfortunately, this resulted in some people simply copying a word thousands of times and stuffing it into their website to a higher ranking.
That is where testing comes in! Not only does Google not reveal the details of their SEO algorithms, but they are also constantly improving and updating the algorithms. So SEO is a constant “arms race” of discovering new trends that seem to be producing better results and then putting those trends to use for your own content. So what works now may not work next year, and you’ll need to start tweaking your SEO practices to stay relevant and keep or improve your search rankings.
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