# 🎯 SEO Explained #1 - Basics of SEO

Following my goal of this "SEO Course", and as I said in the [intro article](https://hashnode.com/post/clo99vjvo00020ams70t18dif), I will give you the basics you need to know to get started.

So, don't expect a very detailed article that consumes a lot of your time ⌛️

*Let's begin, taking 'Google' as our principal Search Engine,*

## How do websites get ranked in Google?

Getting ranked on Search Engine Result Pages(SERP) works on a **process of 3 steps** and I will simplify them for you,

* 🔍 **Crawling:** Google has robots called <mark>Web Crawlers</mark>, and their work is to explore the web & download the content found on internet pages.
    
* 💾 **Indexing:** The content crawled gets analyzed and stored on the Google database that's called <mark>Google Index</mark>
    
* ✅ **Serving Results:** When a user searches a query such as "Best SEO Course" in the Search Engine, Google shows the best optimized & relevant results from the Google Index database for this query.
    

## SEO stands on 2 essential parts

To simplify your understanding, **SEO is divided into 2 essential parts**,

### **1) On-page SEO**

Related to any improvements made <mark>inside your website</mark>. The following are the most important elements to take into consideration about the **ON-PAGE SEO**

* **Meta tags:** `<meta>` tags help Google get data & information about your page. The most important meta tags are the <mark>meta title</mark> & <mark>meta description</mark>, but there are also meta robots and social media, and some other less important meta.
    
* **Website structure**: Your website should be well structured using categories & subcategories, structuring pages by importance, and using relevant URL slugs*(eg. https://domain.com/this-is-a-slug)*.
    
* **Keyword Research & Optimization**: This is a very important step before creating your page content because you will get keyword ideas and have your list of keywords to use wisely on your content and this is important to get well-ranked. *In the next article, I will give you the tools needed to accomplish this step.*
    
    <div data-node-type="callout">
    <div data-node-type="callout-emoji">💡</div>
    <div data-node-type="callout-text"><em>A full article about topic clusters, keyword research &amp; optimization coming soon in the course</em></div>
    </div>
    
* **Page Content**: Using a well-structured hierarchy(eg. `<h1> title`, table of contents, `<h2>-<h6>subtitles & main sections`, `<ol>-<ul>lists`, `<table>tables`, `<img>images` breadcrumbs, follow-up content ...) helps Google and users easily understand your content.
    
* **Internal Linking**: Having links between your more & less important pages passes the "page authority" between them and helps Google index your pages rapidly and improve your ranking.
    
* **Technical SEO**: Securing your website with HTTPS protocol, making your website mobile-friendly, optimizing your images, improving your page speed, and your [Core Web Vitals](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9205520?hl=en&sjid=3839227214664366384-EU) can give a great push for your website ranking in the search engine.
    
* **Sitemap**:*(a technical SEO element)* This is simply a file that you submit to Google where you provide information about your pages & content, so Google can read this file to crawl your site more efficiently. [More about the sitemap here](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/overview#:~:text=A%20sitemap%20is%20a%20file,crawl%20your%20site%20more%20efficiently.)
    
* **Robots.txt file**:*(a technical SEO element)* A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which URLs the crawler can access on your site. This is used mainly to avoid overloading your site with requests. [**More about the robots.txt file here**](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro#:~:text=A%20robots.txt%20file%20tells,or%20password%2Dprotect%20the%20page.)
    

### **2) Off-page SEO**

Related to any improvements made <mark>outside your website</mark>. The following are the most important elements to take into consideration about the **OFF-PAGE SEO**:

* **Local SEO**: Adding your website to Google Business Profile (*formerly* *Google My Business*) lets you appear on Google Maps and get more local visitors.
    
* **Link building**: This is the act of getting links referring to your website to boost the “authority” of your pages in the eyes of Google and rank better in the SERP.
    
    <div data-node-type="callout">
    <div data-node-type="callout-emoji">💡</div>
    <div data-node-type="callout-text"><em>A full article about link building coming soon in the course</em></div>
    </div>
    
* **Directories & bookmarks**: This method stands on getting backlinks by submitting your website on some directories and bookmarks (you should be careful of those websites' quality).
    
* **Guest posting**: This method lets you get backlinks by creating articles/content to be published in other blogs and linking to your website.
    
* **Forums & blog comments**: Commenting on articles and forums is also a good way to have links to your website. (should be [do-follow](https://ahrefs.com/seo/glossary/dofollow-link) links)
    
* **Social signals**: Sharing your website content & links on social media lets you improve your social reputation and SERP ranking.
    
* **E-Reputation & Branding**: Promoting your website as a brand is a great way to increase your e-reputation and enlarge your user base. *This will let you have users searching for your brand by name.*
    

## Last word

I hope you enjoyed reading the article and finding it useful & valuable.

Let me know in the comments 💬 if you have any opinions or thoughts 💭

In the next article 📝 I'll dive into the key performance indicators *(KPIs)* 📊 that will help you measure the success of your SEO efforts & essential tools 🛠 to use for your SEO journey.

Don't forget to [follow me on Twitter(𝕏)](https://twitter.com/hamzaamoustaid) and [subscribe to the newsletter](https://creator.hamzamoustaid.com/newsletter) to get notified 🔔

Thank you for your precious time 🙏