3.03 What is SEO and how can you use it to optimize your article’s performance?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website though organic search engine results.

Let’s clarify a few of these terms:

quantity: the absolute number of visitors. When the number of visitors increases, our income based on ads will also increase, making traffic an important financial backbone.
quality: traffic is more valuable to users when the content of a page actually answers their questions. In reverse, people who find satisfying answers to their questions or read a nice article are more likely to return or to subscribe to a newsletter.
organic: without paying for ads. ‘Natural’ traffic.
search engine results: the overview of search results whenever entering a query in, for example, Google.

So, basically, Google rewards providing comprehensive answers to questions our target audience may have. Keep this in mind when looking for new subjects to write about.

Using Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a tool in WordPress which makes SEO performance of your articles more insightful. It allows you to enter a specific title and meta description for your article and it gives hands-on SEO advice and suggestions for improvement by means of a ’traffic light’. In general, red means there’s still a lot of room for improvement, green indicates that your article is in good shape. However, don’t be fooled, getting the traffic light to turn green is not a goal in itself. Some common misconceptions:

• Stop using general keywords such as ‘lowlands’ or ‘sziget’ just to make the traffic light turn green. Instead, make them (much) more specific, including verbs en synonyms.
• Don’t alter the keywords you provide as an input to Yoast, just to turn the traffic light green. Start writing articles from a subject and a keyword, instead of adding them as an afterthought.

Want to know more?

Our dearest colleague Victoria gave a full-blown lecture on some important SEO basics. She explains why SEO is important and explains how you should use it to your advantage, rather that it being just a necessary evil. Watch the full lecture or have a look at the slides now!