Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving how a website ranks in the organic results on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. The goal is straightforward: use proven techniques to make your pages more visible, more relevant, and more clickable, so more visitors find your site through search.

What is white hat SEO?

White hat SEO is a set of coding and content techniques designed to make a website readable by a search engine spider and meaningful for a human user. It focuses on practices that follow search engine guidelines rather than trying to game them.

Keyword research is a key part of any white hat strategy. Keywords are the words and phrases that help a search engine understand what your content is about, and they should guide how you write titles, headings, and body copy.

Rich meta tags are another core tactic. These tags describe the contents of a web page, and placing keywords in the title tag of a webpage is one of the most important steps you can take to improve your PageRank.

Why does structured data matter?

Structured data is a vital part of search engine optimization. It helps Google understand your content better, makes your website more searchable, and increases click-through rates from the search results page.

Unlike unstructured data, structured data follows a predefined format, which makes it easy for search engines to read and analyze. It also benefits visitors by helping them find what they need faster.

Common uses for structured data include marking up articles to highlight product information, telling Google your organization’s logo or company name, and populating the Knowledge Graph box that appears on SERPs. Structured data is also useful for showing additional local information in search results.

For AMP pages, structured data is especially important. AMP pages that use it can appear in rich results or featured snippets, which are more visually appealing and tend to attract more clicks.

How long should a meta description be?

Meta descriptions can make or break a search engine results page (SERP) listing. A good meta description tells the user what the page is about and the benefit of clicking through, and it can help your page rank higher and earn more clicks.

Choose keywords that match the page’s topic and place them near the beginning of the description. Google and Bing recommend a minimum length of 120 characters, though longer descriptions are allowed and risk being cut off in the results.

Why write content for humans, not just Google?

SEO ultimately exists to generate organic traffic, and that traffic comes from people searching the web for answers or information. Google processes 8.5 billion searches a day and indexes more than a hundred billion webpages, so it knows how to find top-tier content for its users and will reward relevant pages with better rankings.

That said, writing only for Google is a mistake. Visitors need useful, relevant content: product details like pricing, images that actually show what you offer, and helpful context. Avoid stock images that don’t tell readers what they are seeing, and make sure your images include descriptive metadata with relevant keywords.

FAQ

What is white hat SEO?

White hat SEO is a set of coding and content techniques that improve a site’s ranking by making it readable for search engine spiders and meaningful for human users. Common tactics include keyword research, writing relevant content, and using rich meta tags with keywords in the title tag.

What is structured data used for in SEO?

Structured data is a predefined format that helps Google read and analyze your content. It is used to mark up articles, share organization details like logos and company names, populate the Knowledge Graph box, show local information in SERPs, and help AMP pages appear in rich results or featured snippets.

How long should a meta description be?

Google and Bing recommend a minimum of 120 characters for a meta description. You can write longer descriptions, but they may be cut off by Google in the search results.

Related coverage

• How Search Engines Rank Websites: A Beginner’s Guide to SEO
• The Definitive Guide to SEO for Business Owners: How to Optimize Your Website for Search Engines