Beginner's Guide to SEO

SEO stands for search engine optimization — a term for the methods that search engines (like Google and Bing) use to rank web pages in search results.

On this page:

How SEO Works
Where AI Comes In
Create New Content that Ranks
Boost Ranking for New or Existing Content

How SEO Works

1

The Site Crawl

Search engines use “bots” that comb through websites for new pages or updated information on old pages. Bots also crawl pages for links, which they use to navigate through and crawl those pages. This process continues until every available page has been crawled.

2

Indexing

Indexing is when a search engine processes and analyzes content, determining whether and how to store it in a database so the information can be retrieved quickly when a user performs a search.

3

Ranking

Once a search engine has crawled and indexed your site, it will use specific criteria to rank that content on the search engine result page (SERP).

There are hundreds of factors that go into ranking. Some of the most impactful factors include:

Whether your page title and content use keywords that match the user’s search phrase
Whether the site is mobile-friendly and displays quickly and clearly on cell phones
The quality of your content — whether it's unique and authoritative and how easy it is to read
How many (top-ranked) websites link to yours

Watch this video by Semrush for more information on how SEO works.

Where Artificial Intelligence (AI) Comes In

Search engines use artificial intelligence to more accurately recommend content based on a person’s search intent. This means that stuffing keywords (placing them on the page as many times as possible) won’t help your SEO strategy. But using specific keywords to help answer user questions will.

For example, if you are creating a program page for Marketing and Communications Studies, writing “marketing and communications studies” every few sentences will not get your webpage ranked higher. However, including “marketing and communications undergraduate degree in Maryland” strategically in the copy may help the page rank higher.

Google's AI Overview Feature

Google Search has started including their AI Overview with every search result. This is a new feature through which Google's AI tools create a summarized answer to any search query by analyzing indexed pages. For example, if someone searches “why study marketing and communications,” and your “why study” page has ranked high on Google’s index, that page content may be used to answer the question through the AI Overview. It's currently unclear whether this feature will offer more clicks to your site.

Optimizing Content for Search

In general, SEO improves when users stay engaged on a particular page or site. When you are writing for the web, be sure to always follow web best practices.

5 Steps for Creating New Content that Ranks

If you want a high-ranking page, consider:

Conducting a search using a keyword phrase you’d expect your audience to use. Make sure the search results are relevant.
Evaluating what content format would rank highest; if video is showing in your search, then video is most authoritative in that space.
Clicking on high-ranking pages to see what content they cover and how that content is formatted.
Repeating this process with different keyword phrases to understand the competitive landscape.
Finally, writing content that is better, more thorough and authoritative than your competitors.

Before creating a new page, consider also if there's a page on your site that already includes a lot of the same information. Is it a page you can edit to be more comprehensive?

Remember that Google sees older, more established pages as more authoritative, and ranks them accordingly. You may be better off updating older pages with new and relevant information.

Before You Publish

Confirm the following before publishing your page:

You’ve chosen keywords and have used them throughout the page and in headers.
Headers are relevant, easy to understand and used in the correct order.
Related TU content or other high-ranking resources are linked.
Content is easy to read and accessible.

For a detailed guide on SEO, visit Google’s SEO Starter Guide.

For more information and help improving search ranking of your content, email Digital Strategy at digitalstrategy AT_TOWSON.

Where to Start with Keyword Research

Keywords are words used by search engines to help pull relevant information for users.

In general, keyword research is done strategically at a high-level for an entire website so that every page targets a different keyword phrase and content does not compete.

While the Digital Strategy team cannot support all keyword research, we recommend using free resources to get you started, especially when creating a new page.

Ahrefs free keyword generator gives ideas for different keywords to use on Google, Bing, YouTube and Amazon based on your topic.
Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty Checker shows how hard it would be to rank in the top 10 search results based on your keyword.
Google Trends allows you to compare different keyword variations to see what is most popular. This can help determine how people are currently phrasing searches to find the content you are creating.
Sign up for Answer the Public and get three free searches a day.
ChatGPT can help you think of possible keywords for your topic. Ask questions like “What are the three best SEO keywords for x topic?”

Keyword Phrase Length

A keyword phrase could have 2 words or many more depending on the search volume.

Typically longer keyword phrases with 3 or more words will have a lower search volume, so sometimes the best strategy is to incorporate lots of low-volume, longer keyword phrases on a page. This way your page will more likely rank higher since it has less competing content across other sites.

For a more in-depth look at keywords, visit Yoast's guide to keyword research.

Enhancing New or Existing Content

Use Images and Snippets

When appropriate, images and snippets can help keep users engaged. By adding visual components and easy-to-scan sections, users are more likely to stay on the page and stay engaged. Using unique, informative images with strong alt text goes a long way.

Use Descriptive Headers

Headers (h2, h3, etc.) when used in the correct order, keep people engaged on the page. Headers which incorporate keywords, a top ranking factor, show search engines whether the content on your page is relevant to a user. Descriptive, unique headers improve readability of content, making it much easier to skim and understand. Make sure that headers summarize the content in the section and make sense to your audience.

Use Correct Alt Text

Alt text (alternative text) plays an important role in both accessibility and SEO. Alt text can help drive traffic to a page from an image search. For more information on how to best use alt text, visit Alt Text Best Practices.

Confirm Content is Accessible

In addition to alt text and headers, there are a couple other ways you can ensure your content is accessible. When linking, make sure the link is descriptive and not generic (i.e. if you’re linking to a program, say “discover more about Program Name” rather than “read more.”)

When possible, put all content on the webpage rather than linking to documents, especially for content that is frequently updated and shared on any digital platform.

Use Internal Linking

Internal linking is when you hyperlink other pages from your site onto your page. This helps keep users engaged and shows Google that your website is an authority. When it makes sense, link related pages within the text or use the Related Links snippet.

Link to Trusted Sources

When appropriate, it can help to link to outside sources. When a search engine sees that you have linked to a trustworthy source, it will consider your website more credible as well.

Keep URLs Simple

When naming your URL, be sure to use dashes – not underscores _ and include keywords rather than a random generated URL.