Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. S.E.O is the whole of the work done to ensure that our websites gain more visibility in search engines. We can increase our visitor numbers by placing in better positions (rankings) on Google and other search engines.
How is Google SEO Work done?
Since the most used search engine today is "Google", the organization that determines SEO and internet rules has also been "Google". “Google” always gives priority to high quality and popular sites in its search results. The issues we call quality are on-site optimizations, technical structure and text content. The issue of popularity is also considered as work done outside the site. SEO work actually has a preliminary preparation and planning. Projects that progress in line with the correct preliminary analysis can always achieve success. To give an example of these preliminary analyzes, we can show keyword research, competitor analysis and sector analysis.
What is On-Page SEO? How is it done? (On-Page SEO)
On-site SEO is a quality study. Sites where Google bots navigate comfortably and users spend a long time are examples of the concept of quality. Search engines give quality scores to websites, within certain rules. The main items affecting these quality scores are; The text and visual content we use throughout our site are clean and fast code structure, user-friendly interface and certain search engine tags. Our main purpose in on-site optimization is to prove to search engines that we are of high quality and user benefit and to help search engines to scan our site.
Text and Visual Content Optimization
It is among the most important issues that the texts we use in our site content are original and in a flow that gives pleasure to the readers. In addition, writings that do not have spelling mistakes, comply with grammatical rules, and are written by paying attention to punctuation marks form the basis of quality content. The more quality and natural the articles we have prepared for our site, the more people will read our content and spend time on our page. The images we use on our pages are just as important as our text content. The originality and quality of the images we use throughout the site will both increase the quality score of our site and leave a unique impression in the eyes of our visitors.
Site Speed and Clean Code Structure
Most internet users leave a slow opening website quickly. Quickly leaving your site reduces your site quality score significantly. In addition, search engine bots want to encounter a clean and easily scannable code structure instead of a complex and unnecessary code structure while crawling our site.
User Friendly Website
Let's take a look at the user experience, which is perhaps one of the most important building blocks of ranking in Google. In internet projects, issues such as misleading redirects, catchy and long URL structures and poor quality designs, besides not being user-oriented, reduce our quality by attracting the attention of bots. To give an example of a user-friendly website, layout and accessibility should be among our main items. People of all ages and levels should be able to use our site easily. We can say that projects that give importance to fonts, site colors and internal links will achieve success step by step. The main purpose of SEO is to provide users with quality and useful information. It should not be forgotten that a user-friendly website is also search engine friendly.
Important Web Data (Core Web Vitals)
"Core Web Vitals", or Important Web Data, which Google introduced with the end user experience update, has now become a ranking factor. Accordingly, optimizations to be made in line with the following concepts have become important.
Largest Visible Content (LCP)
It refers to the time that the largest content on the visible screen occurs, from the time the site visitor provides the first login. Great content; can be thought of as images or videos found on the page. The important issue here is the screen area that the user sees first. In other words, the bottom parts of the page are not affected by this situation. The creation time of the content on the screen that appears must be 2.5 seconds or less. For this, it is recommended to add the images and fonts in the first screen entry as a preload (rel="preload"). In addition, unnecessary and unused javascript files should be removed.
First Input Delay (FID)
It measures the interaction of a user who logs into the site for the first time. For example, it includes the response time after the creation of the Web site, after the user clicks on a link or form button. It is recommended that this time be less than 100 milliseconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
It means that the components on the page are formed in the right size and order during the time until the page is created. For example; Images that do not have height and width values will cause some drift in the time it takes to load the page. These shifts will change the position of the button on the site or the layout of the text that the user wants to click. Since this will negatively affect the user experience, the design integrity must be protected at the maximum level between the first loading order and the final screen output.
Search Engine Tags
Search engine meta tags, which are the technical subject of on-site SEO, ensure that our site is well perceived by bots and correctly indexed in search results. The main parameters shown among the meta tags are; There are tags that signal bots such as page titles and descriptions, language tags, correct page address displays. With properly configured meta tags, Google can navigate and perceive our pages more healthily. For this reason, we can say that meta tags are an important SEO criterion that directly affects our rankings.
What is External SEO Work? (Off-Page SEO)
External SEO work, as the name suggests, includes all interaction and sharing that takes place outside the site. We can also think of this work as increasing the popularity and awareness of internet projects. Off-page SEO is a very sensitive issue that needs attention. Among the biggest reasons why the biggest mistakes are made in SEO work and the way to deletion of sites from Google; We may show off-site posts intended to trick Google. Off-site works that are far from natural and with artificial popularity will endanger our site in the near future, if not today. Google shows a high level of performance in detecting such artificial shares. Websites exposed to negative detections lose their rankings over time and enter into difficult paths.
What is Backlink?
A website linking to another website as a reference is called a backlink. We can think of this situation as follows; If a website that is safe and popular by Google recommends you on its own site and recommends it to its users, Google will trust your site in direct proportion. Thus, by providing a popularity, both traffic and awareness will be provided to our site. With the latest Google updates, the backlink issue emerges as a subject that needs to be handled much more sensitively. Some websites that manipulate this structure can be detected by Google and filtered in search words. For this reason, unnatural and paid backlinks are dangerous for projects.
How Should Natural Backlinks Be?
Actually, the answer to this question is very simple. If you present good content, your site visitors will want to easily reference the information they get from you. In this case, you will gain a natural link. However, the biggest and critical mistake made starts here. Since people related to SEO see all work as getting links, they expect to be promoted with paid links from busy and poor quality news sites. When this manipulation occurs in a short time, they are deleted from the search results. Instead of such links that are not obtained naturally and for a fee, links should be gained naturally by preparing quality and up-to-date content.
So Where Should I Start?
SEO puts your store on a busy street. It brings together people looking for products and services with the most appropriate budget. In addition, among the benefits it provides; brand awareness, reputation and sales increase. What is SEO with all its lines in our article? We tried to answer your question. Of course, no matter how deeply we explain, this is a consultancy service. Since each website and each project has its own unique structure, it is important to work specifically for the project. A good expert should start the process by creating a correct work plan as a result of the analyzes he will subject the project to.