Get to Know SEO
Are you new to SEO? Don’t worry. We’ve put together this brief overview of the topic to get you up to speed. If you’re already an SEO expert, then enjoy the refresher. Either way, don’t skip this page—the knowledge collected here will come in handy later in the project.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the practice of optimizing various aspects of a web page—from the readable content to the technical source code—so that it’s more likely to appear in the results of a relevant web search query.
Of course, ranking near the top of a search engine results page (also known as a SERP) can increase traffic to a web page, but SEO is about way more than just getting clicks. It’s really about increasing the quality of the experience readers have with the content you want to share with them.
In fact, one of the best ways to improve SEO is to make sure a web page is actually helpful and useful to potential readers. This is called content SEO.
It’s also important to ensure that certain technical aspects are in place so that search engines can actually find, recognize, and properly index your web page. This is called technical SEO.
This project will focus on content SEO rather than technical SEO, but in many ways they’re two sides of the same coin. We’ll mention both types in this overview, so you can learn how they relate to each other.
Know your Audience
Readers are looking for something when they input a query into a search engine. Based on the structure of their query, search engines can recognize the intent of a search, which broadly falls into one of these three categories:
Informational searches seek to answer a question
Navigational searches seek to arrive at a specific page or site
Transactional searches seek to complete a task or action
To help search engines connect potential readers with the information they are looking for, certain elements on your web page should signal what the page can help readers accomplish. In the case of web pages on iFixit, this means including keywords and phrases that appeal to readers who are looking for repair information about how to fix their things.
As a writer, it’s always important to know your audience—and to know what it is they seek. If you are creating content for the web, then you also need to consider the fact that your audience isn’t limited to only humans.
In other words: Don’t forget the spiders!
How Search Engines Work
Search engines function by first creating vast databases of web pages. They create these databases using bits of code—often called bots or spiders—that crawl all over the web, evaluating each page they come across. These web crawlers index pages based on the information and keywords they find in both the readable content and the source code. Next, each indexed page is ranked within those databases using proprietary algorithms.
When you type a query into the search box of your favorite search engine, the results you receive are actually the top-ranked entries in the database related to the words and phrases you used in your query.
As we’ve pointed out, the best way to optimize your web page is to create content that is helpful and useful to your human audience. But it's important to keep in mind that non-human bots are reading your web page, too.
That is, if they can even find it.
Optimize for Findability
You can craft the greatest content in the world, but what good is all your effort if no one can find it? Making your web page findable is key to connecting readers with the information you want to share with them.
It’s important to be aware of the elements that web crawlers rely on to find and index your page. There are technical elements—such as robot.txt files and meta tags—that can play a role. For content SEO, though, here are the most essential:
Keywords - These are the words your potential readers are most likely to type into a search engine to find your page. Since we’re all about helping people fix things, it's no surprise that "repair" is an important keyword on the iFixit website.
Page Title - This is one of the most important signals to web crawlers, since they attribute the most weight to keywords found in page titles. Still, titles should be short and sweet—don’t try to stuff in too much. Make sure your page title includes the most pertinent keywords in a way that is easily understandable to your human readers.
Search Summary - The search summary appears underneath the title on a search engine results page (SERP). It is usually pulled from the meta description component of the HTML code for a given page. Your summary should be written in concise, natural-sounding language so human readers can easily understand the purpose of your page.
Note: Google will sometimes substitute the text specified as “meta description” in the HTML for another snippet of text from the page and use that as the search summary instead, especially when the snippet contains key phrases from the user’s query. This happens with more regularity if the query is “long-tail,” or more than just a couple words.
Format for Readability
The formatting of content on your web page can help readers find what they need more quickly and easily. It can also reduce the likelihood that readers who land on your page will quickly leave your site to search elsewhere—a behavior measured as bounce rate.
Organized and well-formatted content won’t just keep readers engaged; it will also help web crawlers parse the information on your page so that search engines can return more accurate results. Bots also use formatting to pick out answers to specific questions readers might have, which can increase the likelihood that readers view your web page as helpful and worthy of visiting.
When formatting content, remember:
Headers help readers quickly navigate to the information they need by highlighting key concepts and visibly showing how content is organized on your web page.
Bullets and lists are great for conveying detailed information like technical specifications in concise, digestible, bite-sized pieces.
Paragraph breaks prevent daunting walls of text from scaring off your readers. Short, well-written paragraphs organize ideas into coherent chunks that help guide readers through the content of your web page.
Link text should clearly describe what readers will find when they click on the link. Nothing is worse for readability than dropping a long, scary URL into the content of your page, like this: https://developers.google.com/style/link-text
What is Great Content?
Good content is anything that is helpful and relevant to your reader. Great content just does it better than everyone else.
Web crawlers and the algorithms that power search engines aren’t as good at judging content quality as humans (yet)… but that doesn’t stop them from trying. They rank the quality of your page based on certain criteria, like how much original text is present and whether or not the links on your page lead to other reputable sources.
Substantial content is vital. If your page is short on readable text, search engines may deem it as thin content that isn’t worthy of listing on a SERP. The best way to avoid this fate is to make sure your web page relays plenty of relevant information that readers will find useful and interesting.
Originality counts. Since they’ve crawled virtually every page on the internet, search engines like Google can tell when a page is padded with duplicative content copied from elsewhere on the web. Also, they’ve seen enough to ‘know’ when the writing on a web page is just blather or fluff that isn’t saying anything useful or informative.
Links build reputation. Links between sites are one of the main ways that search engines determine trustworthiness and reputation. Providing external links from your page to relevant content on other authoritative websites signals to web crawlers that you’ve done your homework and can be trusted. Trust is exchanged in the other direction as well. Backlinks that direct readers from other reputable sites to useful content on your web page also builds reputation.
The Importance of E-A-T
E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. These are three important metrics search engines use to determine how a page should rank.
Plenty of articles have been written about E-A-T by professionals who obsess over SEO all day long. But here’s what you need to know for this project:
The best way to boost the trustworthiness of your content is to craft a compelling profile that details your relevant experience and credentials. Since you’ll be credited as author on your web page, search engines will connect the merits and qualifications showcased in your profile to your page’s content, thereby increasing your web page’s E-A-T level.
FOCUS ON User Experience
The purpose of SEO isn’t to please the bots, feed the spiders, or trick the Google algorithms. Never lose sight of the fact that SEO is really about giving your readers a great user experience (UX).
UX is an intriguing field of research that concerns itself with how users feel and what they perceive while interacting with a technological system. While UX can be hard to define, we can all recognize good UX when we see it.
Look at your own web page and ask yourself these questions:
Did you clearly convey to readers the purpose of your page?
Did you help readers accomplish what they came to do?
Did you make it easy for them to navigate content and find what they needed?
Finally, did readers ultimately benefit from interacting with your page?
After all is said and done, what really matters is that you helped your readers fulfill the intent behind their visit to your web page—and that they had a great experience from the moment they arrived.
Learn More
If you want to dive deeper into the world of SEO, you’re in luck! We’ve compiled a list of helpful resources for you on our Learn More about SEO page.