"I want to do SEO, but I don't know where to start"—many people share this concern. Rather than fine techniques, Google's SEO is most importantly about the accumulation of basics: delivering information useful to searchers in a form that search engines can correctly understand. This article organizes and explains, in a way that is easy even for beginners, the SEO basics you should keep in mind to aim for top rankings in Google Search.
What Is SEO (Search Engine Optimization for Google Search)?
SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization." It refers to measures for displaying a website higher in search results on Google and others, increasing traffic from search. In Japan, Google holds almost the entire search engine share, and Yahoo! Search also uses Google's system, so SEO is essentially almost synonymous with "optimizing for Google Search."
Unlike ads, SEO can function as a "self-running acquisition channel" that continuously attracts traffic once you achieve top rankings, even without paying continuously. On the other hand, you also need to understand its characteristics: it takes time to produce results and is affected by Google's algorithm updates.
How Google Decides Top Rankings
When considering SEO, first knowing how Google decides search rankings deepens your understanding of measures. Google reflects web pages into search results in three major steps.
Crawl: A program called a "crawler" patrols the web and collects page information.
Index: It analyzes the content of the collected pages and registers them in Google's database.
Ranking: When a user searches, the algorithm evaluates the registered pages and displays them in order of relevance.
In other words, SEO is the effort to optimize each of these stages: "being found (crawl)," "being correctly understood (index)," and "being highly evaluated (ranking)."
The Three Pillars of SEO
SEO is broadly divided into three: "content SEO," "on-page measures (technical SEO)," and "off-page measures." Because they work together to produce results, it is important to address them in a balanced way.
Content SEO (Meeting Search Intent)
Most important is creating high-quality content that meets the user's search intent. Capture "what the searcher wanted to know," and prepare a page that answers that question or need without excess or shortfall. Rather than thin articles made for search engines, providing information that helps people leads to Google's evaluation.
On-Page Measures / Technical SEO (Enabling Correct Understanding)
On-page measures optimize the internal structure and code of your site so search engines can crawl and understand it easily. This includes appropriate settings for title tags and headings, clear URL structure, organization of internal links, mobile support, and improving display speed. It is also characterized by being easy to control yourself and less affected by algorithm updates.
Off-Page Measures (Building Trust)
Off-page measures raise your site's trust and authority through backlinks from other sites and mentions (citations) on social media and the web. Google regards pages evaluated and referenced by third parties as valuable. However, quality matters more than quantity for links, and natural backlinks from trustworthy sites are valued. Avoid unnatural link purchases, as they are subject to penalties.
Be Conscious of the Quality Axis "E-E-A-T"
In recent years, Google emphasizes "E-E-A-T" as an indicator for measuring content quality. This is an acronym for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
Especially in fields that greatly affect people's lives, such as health, medicine, and money, who is publishing and on what basis is strictly evaluated. Raising the trustworthiness of content through first-hand information based on real experience, supervision by experts, and clear disclosure of operator information and sources becomes the key to top rankings.
Basic Steps to Start SEO
If you are starting SEO from now on, proceeding in the following flow is efficient.
Select keywords: List the keywords your target users are likely to search, and decide which to target based on search volume and competitiveness.
Analyze search intent: Actually search with the chosen keyword, check what information the top pages cover, and grasp what users want.
Create high-quality content: Create content that meets search intent with comprehensiveness and originality.
Set up on-page measures: Optimize the technical side, such as titles, headings, internal links, and mobile support.
Measure and improve results: Check search rankings and traffic with tools like Google Search Console, and repeat rewrites and improvements.
Points to Keep in Mind for SEO
It takes time to produce results: SEO is a mid- to long-term measure. Rather than seeking results in a few weeks, a stance of continuous effort is necessary.
Face the user, not the search engine: Trying to deceive the algorithm with petty techniques risks a large drop in rankings during a core update.
Don't panic during algorithm updates: During a core update rollout, rankings fluctuate easily, so the basic approach is to wait until the rollout completes before judging, rather than making big changes immediately.
Check the latest information: Google's evaluation criteria change. Make it a habit to check the latest policies in official information (Google Search Central).
Summary
Google Search SEO comes down to the basic of "delivering content useful to users in a form that search engines can easily understand." Specifically, advancing the three—content SEO that meets search intent, on-page measures that enable correct understanding of the site, and off-page measures that raise trust—in a balanced way, and raising quality while being conscious of E-E-A-T, is the shortcut to top rankings.
Rather than being swayed by trendy techniques, if you set being useful to searchers as your axis, you can grow a site that continues to be evaluated even as the algorithm changes. Start by steadily working on the basic steps introduced in this article.
Related Articles
What Is an h2 Tag? Effective SEO Usage and Writing Points
An h2 tag is an HTML tag representing a web page's subheading. This article clearly explains what an h2 tag is, from the...
