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The A.R.T. of SEO: Pulling the Curtain Back

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Krista Neher

Dec 27 2022

The A.R.T. of SEO: Pulling the Curtain Back

There are three basic elements that Google uses to determine what you see. We break this down into the A.R.T. of SEO – Authority, Relevance, and Technical.

How Do Search Engines Work?

When you search for something, Google (or other search engines) navigates the web by “crawling” websites to find the most relevant content based on what you searched. The goal of Google is to bring you the most relevant content based on what you searched for.

While it’s good to have a basic understanding of the mechanics of search engines and key terms, you don’t need to understand all the details to use SEO strategically.

Authority

For most searches, millions of websites could be displayed as the search result. Google looks at the authority of your website when determining how high your site will rank in SERPs – Search Engine Results Pages.

Authority = how important Google thinks your website is.

Google determines the authority for both your website overall and for individual pages. For example, you could have a website that Google feels is pretty important, but individual pages that aren’t as important.

So how does Google determine authority? In general, Google looks at a variety of factors to determine how important your site is, including things like the age of the domain if your site looks like a legitimate business site, social media profiles, and links.

Power Tip – Backlinks: One of the most important factors in determining the authority of your site are your links. When it comes to links, not all links are equal. Links from more important sites count more than links from less important sites. Most links that you place yourself in a directory listing or from an ad don’t count at all.

Tool- ahrefs Link Checker:

The ahref Links Check is a free tool that will check the backlinks for any site. You can see the number of links and the specific links as well. You can also look at competitors to see how you stack up.

Tool – Page Rank Checker:

The site Rank Checker allows you to check your PageRank to see how important and authoritative Google thinks your site is. A score of 4 and above is good for most businesses.

Something you can do: Compare your PageRank or Domain Rating to your competitors’ to see how you stack up. Your aim should be to improve this over time, but it is helpful to know how your authority compares to similar sites.

Relevance

Relevance is about how relevant your site is for a specific term that is searched. Let’s say I search for “Healthy Pineapple Cake Recipe.” When Google is searching sites to display in search results, it will look not only at how important the webpage is, but which webpage seems to be most relevant for the search. 

Relevance = the content on your site compared to a specific term.

Use the phrases and keywords that you want to be found on your site. Google isn’t psychic. If you are a digital marketing training company like Boot Camp Digital, Google doesn’t know that this is what you do if you don’t use those words on your site. Be SPECIFIC

Big Idea: Have a Blog

Blogs allow for the creation of relevant content that signals to Google what a site is about. In addition, you can link to or reference blog posts, so they are powerful in improving your search rankings.

Technical

The technical setup means that the site is set up in a way that makes it easy for Google to understand the content on it.

Technical = your site setup. 

There are many technical aspects to setting up your site correctly, including things like making sure you have a sitemap, that your files are readable to search engines and more. We won’t go into these in detail, but there are tools that you can use to check the technical setup of your site.

Tool- WooRank:

WooRank.com is a free site that allows you to check the SEO score for your site. It includes links and content as well as technical audits. It will show you if there are any issues with how your site is set up that will impact your search rankings. Very few sites score perfectly, and you can choose to not have all the recommended elements present. 

Tool: Search Console

Make sure that Google Search Console is set up for your website. This will give you alerts if Google notices something wrong, and you can also check search engine traffic and performance.

Power Tip-Optimize on Google:

It’s important to also make sure that Google can read your site and know how your site is performing within Google.  Not only should you use Google Search Console, but you need to stay on top of your Google Authority.  Be sure to check Google and other SEO tools for their “score” to your websites, and aim to replicate how Google determines how important a site is if your score is not what you want. 

Earn your Master’s Certification in SEO with Boot Camp Digital. Learn more here!

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