So. You’re interested in learning the SEO fundamentals, but aren’t quite sure where to turn. In many cases, the
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information out there isn’t targeted towards beginners, which can make learning from those sources a challenge. So we decided at SEOPeak that we would bring you a long and informative series of blog posts explaining the most basic components of a properly designed internet marketing campaign, and demonstrate how they work together. Without further ado:
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SEO is Only a Part of SEM – This is only one technique in the SEM toolkit.
The first thing to learn is what, specifically, SEO is. It stands for Search Engine Optimization, and is only a portion of a successful internet marketing strategy. PPC techniques are separate and distinct from the SEO fundamentals, for example. You can of course employ multiple strategies simultaneously, it’s just important to remember that organic rankings are only a portion of what you’re aiming for. And that is what the SEO fundamentals specifically are used for; attempting to manipulate search engines to rank your website as high as possible when people search online for specific terms, called keyword phrases.
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SEO Consists of Two Broad Groups of Strategies and Techniques
A properly designed campaign focusing on the SEO fundamentals is going to require web design skills, copywriting, editing, communications, CMS operation, keyword research, A/B testing, and more. Broadly, SEO variables are grouped into two categories: on-page and off-page factors.
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On-Page SEO Factors
On-page SEO factors are so called because everything that appears within the coding of your site or webpages itself falls into this category. That means things like the actual content of the page itself, as well as web design elements such as headers, footers, and the like. Meta and Alt text also fall into this category; that is special code that doesn’t render into visible characters for people to read on screen, but rather text designed to instruct the search engines directly as to what sort of content may be found on any given page. Here are a few things to keep in mind about on-page efforts:
- Good Content Engages Users – Search engines want to see that your website actually is engaging people who visit it. If it does, this demonstrates to them that they fulfilled their role properly, and sent a visitor to a site that fulfilled the need they were searching for. So make sure your content spurs actual user engagement.
- Good Content Should be Linked – The other important thing is that the content, in whatever format it may be (not all content is text…video assets, graphical assets, and more also count) is linkable. If it isn’t, it won’t be shareable throughout the internet in a way that will pass any link juice back to you or your site.
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Off-Page SEO Factors
Off-page techniques involve doing things on sites other than your own that will nevertheless bring traffic back to your site. Most often, these different techniques are variations on link building, which is one of the most important activities in SEO. Without having the proper amount of juice-passing links, from the proper sites, you just aren’t going to rank where you should be. Here is a fast breakdown of off-page factors:
- Link building – This is the bread & butter of your off-page SEO efforts. Attention must be paid to link relevancy and contextuality, and monitoring software should be put in place to ensure that your best links remain stable and functional throughout changes in websites. A proper, broad-based, organic and holistic appearance here is essential.
- Link baiting – This consists of producing content that is meant to generate direct links back to you. It includes making useful or relevant info graphics or eBooks which can be shared. It also consists of proper article marketing, directory submissions, and even touches briefly on social media marketing principles.
In future articles, we will address each of these aspects of SEO fundamentals in greater detail.