About Organic SEO

Definition: Organic SEO refers to the process of achieving non-paid, natural results on search engine pages. 

Unlike paid results that appear with the "sponsored" or 'ad' label, organic results are based on their quality and relevance. 

We firmly believe that approximately 60% of Google's ranking factors stem from establishing authority and delivering high-quality content. 

(Related: paid ranking and the difference between organic and paid results).

To ensure effective and sustainable organic SEO, we delve into the following technical aspects ...

Content Strategy

A well-designed content strategy is the cornerstone of a successful organic placement. 

Our content strategy combines technical expertise, AI-powered analytics, and optimization techniques to create impactful, highly-targeted content. We are committed to driving organic ranking and sustainable organic traffic growth for your business through our customized content strategy.

Keyword Research

Extensive keyword research is conducted to identify the most relevant and valuable keywords and phrases that your target audience uses to search for products or services similar to yours. This is based on Google search for specific regions and languages.

Increasing Average Visitor Time

Your ticket to success is to increase information sharing on your core pages. This, in turn, can increase the average view time of your website. Many believe this influences the search engines to trust your content!

Put differently: When someone goes from a Google query to a website, time can be used to validate the authority status of the page relative to the query and can increase the ranking of your content in Google Search and on other search engines.

Site Structure and Navigation

A well-structured website accompanied by intuitive navigation is paramount for achieving success in SEO. This not only enhances user experience, but also reduces bounce rates and amplifies the overall usability of your website.

Technical SEO

Our aim is ensuring that a client's website is fully mobile-friendly. (Given the prevalence of mobile browsing, it is crucial that your business website provides a seamless and user-friendly experience across a range of screen sizes and resolutions). 

We utilize and teach our clients how to manage various optimization techniques, including image compression, lazy loading, and responsive design, to ensure that your images are delivered seamlessly across different devices and network conditions. 

Another critical aspect is implementing schema markup. This will enable search engines to better interpret your content and present it in visually appealing and informative rich snippets. 

Further reading: 

'Rich results, structured data and Schema: a visual guide to help you understand'.

Related: 

• What creators should know about Google’s helpful content update

• Google’s Search Quality Raters Guidelines (PDF file).

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On/Off-Page SEO Tips & Suggestions

Important: There is no such thing as a ‘one-size fits all’ checklist when it comes to SEO.

• Make OUTBOUND links to authority pages which validate and/or expand on what you are saying. See Google Scholar | Khan Academy | Wolfram|Alpha and MDN Web Docs.

• Alternative text should not contains extraneous information and should NEVER be used to stuff keyword phrases into your page.

• Your navigation of a site should exclude planned sites and planned pages. Stick to what is ready and live and not what is “up soon”.

• Tip: Twitter and Pinterest are the best Social Media sites for SEO in 2023.

• Never optimize multiple pages for the same keyword phrases. (Aim for two per page at most).

• Use Google Trends to help you define keywords based on past search history for a given market. (See ‘Understanding the data’).

• Watch for rising searches on Google Trends. We read “(…) If you see ‘Breakout’ instead of a percentage, it means that the search term grew by more than 5000%.” Source (Google).

• Study well the ‘Structured data markup that Google Search supports’. Related: ‘Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search’.

• Use ‘Microsoft Clarity’! It is free and provides heatmaps, color coded scroll map (which shows the depth of scrolling by a user) and more.

• Want to make an “accordion” (open and close interactive on-page slider) and avoid JavaScript? In HTML5 there is the easy to use “Details disclosure element”. (See also ‘HTML vs HTML5: Learn the Crucial Differences Between Them’).

• See link qualifications. Learn about noreferrer, noopener and nofollow. (See also ‘User Generated Content’ or the UGC Link Attribute and the rel=”sponsored” link description).

• Scan your pages with Google’s Lighthouse. For SEO Audits see this Google page.

• Tell your story a few times in a long page. Here we go: Our Palo Alto SEO company specializes in organic ranking. How? In a sentence: No one-size format for SEO. 

• Add breadcrumb navigation.
  Example:
  /Start of markup/
  <nav aria-label="Breadcrumb"> 
  <ol class="breadcrumb">
      <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="#">Home</a></li>
      <li class="breadcrumb-item"><a href="#">Content</a></li>
      <li class="breadcrumb-item active" aria-current="page">Sub-Section</li>
  </ol></nav>
  /End of markup sample/

• Watch for negative SEO. (Advanced users should report issues of bad links to Google. See: 'Disavow links to your site').

• Keep updating your core page! See how to expand on knowledge sharing. (Related: Google Search Essentials).

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Prerequisites To The Study Of SEO

Self-managing Search Engine Optimization without the ability to understand a page’s source code will not get you far. You should have an intermediate knowledge of HTML and PHP. 

In addition, you should gain a basic (to intermediary) understanding of JavaScript, CSS, and server configuration.

Study Suggestions

• HTML basics - HyperText Markup Language is one of several languages used to build web pages. It is based on tags and attributes [Example: Some common HTML tags include <html>, <head>, <title>, <body>, <p>, <a>, <img>, <ul> (used for a random list of items and generally rendered as bullet points), <ol> (used for a list in which the items are intentionally ordered and typically rendered as a numbered list), <li>, <table>, <form>, and <input>] which define the structure, content, and appearance of a web page. See more: HTML markup basics.

• CSS - Cascading Style Sheets allows for the centralization of style information. It defines, for example, font, color, spacing, and layout, for web pages. CSS rules are applied to the elements in the document.

• JavaScript - We read: '(…) JavaScript is a scripting or programming language that allows you to implement complex features on web pages — every time a web page does more than just sit there and display static information for you to look at — displaying timely content updates, interactive maps, animated 2D/3D graphics, scrolling video jukeboxes, etc. — you can bet that JavaScript is probably involved. (…)'. Source MDN Web Docs.

• — Mobile web development - As the name implies, mobile web development refers to creating content optimized for usage on mobile devices. This will be achieved by using responsive layouts, optimizing content for fast loading speed and other means.

• Serve images in modern formats - Serving images in modern formats can result in smaller file sizes and faster page loading times, improving the overall user experience on a website. See more: Image file type and format guide and Graphics on the web.

• Audio and video delivery - Note: The success of sound and image delivery depends on factors such as the type of media format used, the speed and reliability of the user’s internet connection, and the capabilities of the user’s device.

• Progressive Web Apps - PWAs are web applications designed to provide users with an app-like experience by taking advantage of modern web technologies and delivering them through a web browser. They offer several key benefits, including offline support, push notifications and the ability to install the app directly on a device’s home screen, making them accessible even without an internet connection. — Adapted from the Wikipedia about PWAs.

• User input and controls - Examples of user input and controls are text boxes, drop-down menus, buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, and other elements.

• Unix — Apache introduction - Plan on Using a UNIX server? The .htaccess file is a configuration file for Apache web servers, which allows you to define custom rules for the server to follow, such as URL rewriting, security measures, and IP banning.

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