When a character dies on entertainment TV, there are multiple scenarios for what might happen to the dead body. Sam & Dean Winchester from Supernatural choose to burn the body (we don’t want them resurrected; I repeat we don’t want them to be resurrected). How to Get Away with a Murder shows the struggling-with-what-to-do with dead body version. But when it comes to mobster movies, that’s a different story. They always find a way to hide the dead body, even when things go south.

With all the creativity of mobsters, they have missed a place where dead bodies can never be found. It’s the Wonderland for their Alice. It’s Narnia for their Lucy. And It’s the Hogwarts for their Harry. Some might ask, what is this magical place? Where is it? Well, I’ll tell you. Let’s not keep it a secret. Are you ready?

??????????Drum Roll??????????

It’s page #2 in Google.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. In simple terms, it is the process of optimizing and improving your website to increase its visibility for people when they search for a product or a service related to your business using Search Engines.

The better your visibility, the more you may maintain your current database of customers and attract new leads.

Why SEO?

Page #2 in Google is a dark place. Darth Vader, Mobsters, and dead bodies are there. No one goes there and neither should our pages and websites. We want our website to be among the top results in a search (if not the first). This is where our Super Hero, the SEO comes to save the day.

Benefits of SEO

There are many benefits of implementing SEO on our website. And the best part is, it doesn’t even cost a penny. We will list the benefits of SEO below. Grab a drink:

1. Better Ranking in Search Engines: The better your SEO is, the better your ranking on the result page.
2. Reaching More People: Not only you will get to keep your existing customers. You will also reach and attract more people to deal with your business thus, increasing your revenues and increase the confidence in your business.
3. Competitive Advantage: The better your ranking, the more you increase your chances of being noticed before other businesses.
4. Cost Free: It costs absolutely nothing to implement SEO on your website. Once you become a part of your practice, you’re in for life.. And for free.
5. Helps with PR: Think about it, being able to brag about the idea that your site is the first result on search engines? If that’s not Hot, I don’t know what is.

SEO Types

Just like anything, SEO has many types. Mainly, all types of SEO are categorized under these 4 types:

1. On-Page: It’s the process of optimizing the content of your websites such as researching keywords, optimizing metadata, and internal linking.
2. Off-Page: It’s the process of increasing the reputation of your business outside your website. For example, the spoken words or making connections.
3. Technical: The process of helping the search engine crawl your website. A fast website, a mobile-friendly website, and a structured site will help the search engine crawl your site and increase your rank.
4. Local: It’s the process of focusing on local customers instead of targeting everybody. This is being done by creating a GMB (Google My Business Account), Social Media accounts, getting positive reviews…etc.

SEO Testing & Techniques

In terms of Information Technology, it’s not only about implementing SEO. It’s also about testing the implementation to ensure that we’re getting the best results and avoiding any flaws. There are testing types and testing techniques that are to be implemented.

In SEO literature, there are 4 main types of SEO testing and they are:

1. Split (A/B) Testing: It’s a method of comparing 2 versions of the same web page against each other to determine which one performs and ranks better.
2. Multivariant Testing: A method to determine which combination or multiple variables on the same web page would get the best ranking.
3. Redirect Testing: A method to test separate web pages identified by different URLs. We need to make sure that all links are working and no link redirects to an empty page.
4. Personalization Testing: It’s a method to tailor the experience of customers by showing different versions of the website, depending on the geographical location of the user.

But where literature fails to explain something, a technique is invented. Below, we’ll mention the main techniques of SEO testing and what usually is being tested:

1. Bold Tags: Bold text should be used wisely. For example, it should never be used within a paragraph.
2. Dates in URLs: URLs should not contain dates inside them. This might lead the user to question the relevancy of your content. Especially if it’s viewed after years.
3. Dwelling time: The longer the user stays on the site (before heading back to the search engine), the better. Our intention here is to match the search intent. This happens by adding and updating the content, updating stats, use video and audio, upgrade visuals, enhance readability, adding a sitemap…etc.
4. Site’s pruning: We need to remove the sections that don’t enhance the quality or are no longer valid or needed.
5. No-follow links (rel=”nofollow”): No-follow links (although they are not counted in your SEO rank) can still provide a push to the hits your site receives.
6. Site’s loading time: Each page on the site needs to load as fast as possible. The longer time it needs to load, the higher the probability that the user will bounce and thus affecting your ranking. The loading time should not exceed 3 seconds.
7. Content’s relevancy & format: The content should be relevant to the search content. Also, it should be in a format that makes it easier for the user to read and understand the information.
8. Tweak CTA (Calls to Action): This means how to develop your site in a way that won’t pressure the user to visit it. It’s more of developing a site that the user wants to visit using the psychology of consumers. You need to guide the user through your website without actually forcing him. An example of this is the “See More” button.
9. Internal links and anchors:  you need to check if the internal links are actually decreasing your bounce rate. Also, if the anchors are actually increasing your rate. 
10. Meta Tags: Meta tags need to be relevant to the site, easy to anticipate, include numbers. The more related the merrier.
11. User Experience: The site has to be easy to use even for a first-time user. Also, it needs to be designed to guide the user to the wanted results with the minimum amount of clicking.
12. Answer Boxes: The answer box has to include enough and short information for the user to make the decision of clicking on the site. Yet not too much information that they need to enter the site is no longer needed.
13. Mobile Friendliness: You need to make sure that your site is mobile/tab friendly. All the mentioned above tests have to apply on the mobile as well.

Gaps and Challenges

When performing any kind of testing, there are some gaps and challenges that the tester faces. First, know your enemy then learn how to defeat it. Our 4 horsemen of the apocalypse are:

1. A paid tool is needed to perform SEO testing as free tools are not reliable. Also, the human eye will miss something.
2. A content creator and digital marketing experience are needed to perform some of the tests.
3. The developers need to follow the best practice and normalize implementing SEO in the development process.
4. In the SEO literature, some testing types require groups of people to perform the tests (Split test is an example).

Conclusion:

20 years ago, it was “So Cool” to have a website. Not too many people or even companies had one. By that, having a website was considered to be a measure of how big your company is. Today, it’s no longer enough to only have a website. If your website is not among the first top results then you’re not utilizing the opportunities your website is offering you to the maximum. And trust me when I say: if your website is on page #2 on Google then there’s a problem.

Implementing SEO in your website will boost your company’s competency. It will increase the ranking of your site which will attract more customers and thus generate more leads. Yet the question remains, what is the fixer elixir that will satisfy both the Search Engine’s and People’s tastes? The answer to that question is who your targeted audience is?