SEO optimisation: what are the best techniques?

All the tips on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): how to improve a site's ranking on Google and other search engines

SEO optimisation is the set of techniques aimed at increasing the visibility of a website by improving its ranking among the organic (non-paying) results of a search engine. Below is an SEO guide with all the most useful tricks to make a website more 'liked' by search engines and, in particular, by Google, the world's most popular search engine.

What is SEO?

SEO is an acronym that stands for Search Engine Optimisation and, translated, means 'optimisation for search engines'. It differs from Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in that the latter is a broader discipline that includes both SEO related to organic search results and paid search results (SEA, Search Engine Advertising).

What are the best SEO techniques?

SEO optimisation strategies and practices are manifold and cover different aspects of a website, from HTML structure to link management.

Specifically, SEO activity is mainly structured in 2 macro-areas:

The On-Page SEO

The Off-Page SEO

On-Page SEO

The term On-Page SEO refers to the entire set of optimisation strategies implemented within the pages of the site to be positioned in the serp (the page returned by the search engine when a search key is entered into it). This macro-category, for example, includes SEO optimisation of HTML code and optimisation of website content.

Choice of keywords or keywords

To do SEO the right way, it is necessary to start with a first strategic phase, focused on analysis and the choice of the best keywords to use.

In order to obtain a good ranking on Google, it is advisable to avoid keywords that are too generic (with a high search volume but also a lot of competition and, therefore, with little chance of success). According to Chris Anderson's long tail theory, it is preferable to choose many specific keywords, with less search volume but also less competition and, therefore, a higher conversion rate.

These keywords should be used strategically in certain elements, such as Title tags, Meta Description, Heading tags and in the Alt Text of images.

The Title tag is the code that specifies to the search engine the title of a given page, and for it to be 'optimised', it too must be concise and include keywords.

The Meta Description, i.e. the introductory phrase that appears in the SERP under each web address returned by the search engine, must be clear and catchy, as well as consistent with the content to which it refers.

Within a page, then, it is advisable to use Heading tags (titles and subtitles, H1, H2, H3...), which help to clarify the content of the page itself both to users and to the search engine.

Since browsers are still unable to understand the content of an image simply by 'looking at it', it is also important to add Alt Text to them, i.e. an alternative text to the image that explains its content.

Optimising the content of a website

Another decisive aspect for the good ranking of a website is content optimisation. Generally speaking, they:

They must be unique and original, i.e. not copied from elsewhere.

They must be useful and interesting.

They must be up-to-date.

They must contain (in a natural way) keywords.

Off-Page SEO

External strategies and practices also contribute to a site's good ranking: let us now refer specifically to inbound link management.

Google believes that the most linked web pages are the most deserving and important. This belief, however, is not limited to a mere numerical aspect: the search engine, in fact, also takes into consideration the authoritativeness of the pages from which the links originate. What's more, Google also considers the spontaneity of links.

It is precisely this last aspect that gives rise to the distinction between link building and link earning: the former concept refers to the set of practices aimed at obtaining links in a non-spontaneous manner, such as guest blogging and even more artificial techniques (and now systematically penalised by the search engine) such as link exchange and spam.

Obtaining links to one's own web page in a natural manner, and thus conforming to Google's rules, is not easy: the advice is to produce quality content that is appreciated by users and, consequently, linked to.