With our introduction to the digital world, came the constant urge to leave everything behind and escape into that world, whenever possible, from the hurly burly of the real world. 

In the digital world, everything is built in bits and data, in a simpler way, a combination of 0s and 1s. Every letter, every image, every video, every number in that world that we see and engage in is a representation of a pattern formed by 0s and 1s. 

Surprisingly, a world that is built in numbers and equations in its core with no feelings has the power to control our emotions. And through that control, that world of bits and data decides how our life should be; for almost everyone of us who seeks solace in that world.

This goes without saying that every time we  connect to the internet and go to Google or any other search engine and type in our query (read: keywords); it is not the most genuine or informative or authoritative results that show up. What shows up is the most optimized response of what we enquired about. Every response in every page is a manipulation (read: optimization) and why wouldn’t it be?!

Imagine, if we had any control over the real world in a way that we can manifest (read: manipulate) things in our favour then would we let go of that opportunity? Unfortunately, no matter how much we try to control things in the real world, something always goes off track and we have to live with the half-baked manifestation (read: manipulation) of our actions.

But, in the digital world - in the world of 0s and 1s, we can be ‘GODS,’ and I am not over selling it. Every aspect of your presence in the digital world can be optimized in any way, you want to cater to anyone you want. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play.

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

To understand SEO or Search Engine Optimization, you need to understand what a search engine is? A search engine is a platform through which we find information on the indexed internet. Best examples of search engines are Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.

How does a Search Engine function?

After connecting to the internet, with help of an internet browser like Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, Opera, etc, we can go to the designated search engine website and we can type in our query which in technical terms is also known as keywords in the search bar. Once we enter the query or the question or the topic that we want to learn about and press the enter button on our keyboard, the search engine goes through the internet and collects all the relevant (read: optimized) information and shows that on the search engine result page (SERP).

Now that we know what search engines are we can easily understand what SEO is. The full form of SEO Search Engine Optimization. Through Search Engine Optimization or SEO, we can improve our brand’s website's visibility and reach. The way it functions is that every time someone enters a query (keywords) in the search bar of a search engine and presses search then all the relevant brands or websites, providing information on that particular topic or question are shown up in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  

The words in a query match when matched with the information on the websites, those websites get a preference on the search results page and the information they provide are listed on the top of those result pages. The more relevant your content to the search query, the higher your brand or website ranks in the search results and the higher your website ranks, the higher visibility your website or brand has.

This higher ranking on SERP has its own set of benefits.

What are the benefits of SEO for schools?

Search Engine Optimization has its own set of benefits and those benefits include:

• Increase In website visitors or traffic: If your website will rank higher on the top three or top five positions on the search engine results page, your website is most likely to be visited by more people which is also known as traffic. The purpose of SEO is to promote a website or a brand, organically, i.e.,not by spending money to rank higher on the result pages . So, if money is not being spent on the ranking and the ranking should always be in the top 3, SEO is the only way to achieve that. 
• Increase in brand awareness: If your website is able to maintain a position in the top 3 of result pages, more people are likely to come across your brand or website and the brand awareness is amplified. And, if your brand is visible repeatedly it creates brand recognition among the users.
• Lead generation: With an increased number of visitors or website traffic the chances of generating more leads gets higher too. More leads equals to more conversions, depending on the domain of your website or brand.

Search Engine Optimization is not a one time process that once done, it won’t need to be looked after again. It is a regular process because search engines keep on updating their search algorithms and to ensure that your brand’s website is fitting in all the criteria of the constantly evolving algorithms, your website and the information it provides needs to be constantly optimized, as well.

Now that we learnt about the benefits of SEO, let’s discuss what are the various types of SEO that can be benefitted from.

What are the various types of SEO and why are they important for schools?

Search Engine Optimization can be categorized in three major types. On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO and Technical SEO. Let’s find out in detail about the major types of SEO.

On-Page SEO:

This type of SEO mainly involves enhancing the elements on each and every page of your website itself to make its ranking better for relevant searches on the search engine result pages. On-Page SEO enhances:

• Relevant Content: No content is irrelevant, only poorly optimized. So, no matter how good or bad a content is if it is properly optimized  through the usage of the relevant keywords that have a high search volume and all the required attributes such as the Meta Tags, slug, etc., will give your website’s content a higher chance to rank in the top segment on the result pages.
• Content Structure: By optimizing the content structure of the content on your website, you can get an edge on your content ranking over others. A proper structure of the content will make it easier to navigate and understand for the visitors and it helps in reducing the bounce rate of your website. Lesser bounce rate means more time is spent on the website and if users are spending more time on your website that means your content has some value that people simply cannot miss out on or ignore. So, search engines will give your website priority for the next searches on the relevant keywords. To ensure your website content is properly structured or not use internal linkings and proper use of the headings (H1, H2, etc, tags).

Why is On-Page SEO important?

On-page SEO is important because it is the first step of search engine optimization. This is the basic optimization that is recommended for all web pages and websites. This helps in making the content relevant or valuable for website visitors.

Off-Page SEO:

This type of optimization is mainly used to build credibility of the content on your website, or of the brand in its entirety.  This technique is used to connect or reach the potential target audience of the brand. When people come across your website through other websites, it builds authority and relevance; search engines take notes of this. The aspects that come under Off-Page SEO are:

• Backlinking: Backlinking other websites to your website is another way to build credibility and may also improve on getting indexed on the web. If a website that has a higher Domain Authority (DA) backlinks your website, your website’s authority gets a boost.
• Brand Promotion: Posting your website links in communities and forums can also help in giving your brand a boost.
• Social Media Promotion: To get more traffic on your website or blog, social media promotion can be a better way to reach out to more people who are not directly searching for your content or website. 

Why is Off-Page SEO important?

Off-page SEO impacts your website's credibility and authority in the metrics of search engines. Backlinks from trusted and reputed websites serve as a vote of confidence that affects search engine ranking for relevant keywords.

Technical SEO:

This segment of the SEO deals with everything else that is not connected to the content and backlinking. The purpose of Technical SEO is to enhance the visitor experience and also search engine crawling. These includes:

• Speed of website: The faster your website loads, the better experience your website visitors are going to get and it is the same for the search engine crawlers, too. The faster your website is crawled the faster your website is indexed and that helps in improved ranking. Search Engines thrive in delivering lightning fast delivery of results and if your website can do that, your website is obviously going to get a preference.
• Mobile responsiveness: The increased number of cellphones and mobile phones have the majority of search engine searches happening on mobile devices, so having mobile-responsiveness for your website is crucial.
• Website Mapping: Some websites have a lot more web pages than the others and for search engine crawlers, to go through pages randomly on a website may not be beneficial for websites. As for every genre of website, a certain crawl budget is allocated and if the allocation slot empties out before the crawlers get to the important or crucial pages of your website, your website will not be properly indexed and search engines may not show your website on the top even to the relevant keywords, when searched. XML Sitemap and HTML Sitemap are crucial for indexing.
• Schema Markup: If Schema Markup is added to the content of your website, it will provide additional information to search engines about your content, potentially faster and improved ranking in the search results.

Why is Technical SEO important? 

Technical SEO is important for your website because it ensures all the aspects that are related to user and search engine crawler experience. It also helps in accessing, understanding, and indexing your website.

Other than the three major types of SEO, there are a couple of not so major SEO types that also take precedence.

• Local SEO: This is required to boost your brand or your website in the local searches. This is important because if your brand or website is providing a service or a product that has a local requirement of your brand’s location and place then this becomes a necessity to enhance your brand locally.
• E-commerce SEO: This type of SEO is required to optimize online stores to help them to rank higher for product-related searches and purchases.

So, by implementing all these types of SEO we can help our website to rank high on the search engine pages when someone searches for a similar service or product like yours on search engines.

What are the SEO best practices for schools?

As we have an understanding now, of what are the various types of SEO and why are they important let us know dig deeper into the SEO best practices to follow in 2024:

Content is Queen/King:

• Impactful and Valuable Content: The first and primary thing to do is to create content that is impactful and valuable to its readers. The lack of quality in content will eventually crash no matter how strong the rest of the aspects are. The tweaks and tunings only can add an edge to the content when the content is awesome. The content should have a focus on solving user problems, providing value to the users, and establishing your expertise in your field so that your users can benefit from it.
• Focus On Relevant Keywords: Target the keywords that resonate with your business or industry, and use those keywords as the building block of your content. Instead of stuffing the keywords to your content, use those keywords to guide your content and in that way your content will not feel superficial.
• Understand Search Intent: Every time someone searches something on the web they can have any of these three intentions behind their search or all three. Navigational, Informational and Transactional are the three search intent of a user. If your content can match with the intent of the user, your content will have a higher chance of being in the top of the search result page.

Technical SEO is must:

• Mobile Optimization: Your website must have a better user experience for mobile users too as most searches on the internet happen on a mobile device than on a website.
• Fast Loading Speed: The core web vitals of your website must be checked and maintained for quick delivery of your content or services. This factor focuses on user experience and that is top priority for ranking.
• Organized Website: The more organized your website is with a clear navigation path and proper internal linking the more help your website can get from search engines in understanding and indexing your content.

On-Page Optimization for Schools:

• Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Schools must focus on crafting content that have catchy titles and meta descriptions that mirror the content of your website.
• Photo Optimization: Taking advantage of the Alt Tags of the images can help in faster indexing and better visibility for your website. The Alt Tags must have the relevant keywords.

Building Trust and Authority:

• Building High-Quality Backlinks: This part falls under Off-Page SEO and this has its own benefits that have already been discussed.
• Local Listing: Focusing on Local SEO is also a must for schools. The schools can benefit from listing in local directories.

Stay Updated and Adaptive:

• Check Your SEO Results: You must keep a track of your school’s SEO through analytics tools and use that data to identify areas for improvement, and take action to improve it.
• Stay Up to date with Search Engine Algorithms: The search engine algorithms are always changing with time, so schools must stay up to date with the latest updates and tweaks.

By following these SEO best practices for schools and staying updated on the latest trends and updates on search engine algorithms, your school can also have maximum visibility.