SEO serves as the foundation for search engine optimization and promotion of businesses on the web.

Business promotion online is pretty much useless without optimizing your website for search engines. It has a huge impact on brand visibility and reputation, brings in quality traffic from search results, helps you get real customers, and increases sales. Let's say you type a query into a search bar. The search engine then scours millions of websites and compares them based on different factors to give you the most relevant results. By optimizing your site for specific search terms, you can influence where it shows up in search results. The better you optimize, the higher your chances of showing up at the top.

All actions aimed at improving the visibility of a website in search engine results are commonly referred to as SEO (search engine optimization). In this article, we will discuss what SEO is, how it works, and the various methods of SEO optimization that exist today. We will also address many related topics. **What is SEO?** SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the process of optimizing a website to make it more visible in search engine result pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases. The goal of SEO is to increase organic (non-paid) traffic to a website by improving its ranking in search engines. To effectively optimize a website for search engines, it is essential to understand how search engines rank websites. Search engines use complex algorithms to determine the order in which websites appear in search results. These algorithms take into account various factors, such as the relevance of the content, the authority of the website, and the user experience. A successful SEO specialist must have a deep understanding of these algorithms and how they work. They must also be able to analyze and optimize a website's content, structure, and technical aspects to improve its ranking. In summary, SEO is a process that involves optimizing a website's visibility in search engines to increase its organic traffic. It requires an understanding of how search engines work and the ability to optimize various aspects of a website to improve its ranking in SERPs.

The "eyes" of search engines are special robots that constantly "walk" on the Runet, visit sites, scan them, and include copies in the database of a specific search engine where they are indexed.

Indexing is the analysis of the content of an Internet page and its subsequent inclusion in the search results or index.

It is from the indexed pages that the output is generated, which the user can see by entering a particular search query into the search. Pages that have not yet been indexed cannot be shown in the search results for any queries.

At the moment when the output is being generated, the search engine faces a difficult task: to determine the order of site display. Ranking algorithms that determine the value of each web page help in this. The larger it is, the higher the site will be shown in the search.

The search results are constantly changing. Even if you enter the same search query, there are many factors that will cause the composition of sites in the search results to change, for example:

geography;
previously visited sites and personal preferences;
days of the week and time of day;
user's device;
the presence of advertising.
No one knows for sure how the algorithms of Yandex and Google work. The developers keep such data in the strictest confidence. At the same time, search engines are constantly being improved. However, the basic principles of their work are well known.

As you probably already guessed, classic SEO is based on user search queries. But if 15 years ago it was enough to fill the site with the necessary keys, today, in order to occupy high positions in the search results, it is important that all content matches the search query.

In addition, SEO is influenced by behavioral factors. The site should be filled with content that encourages visitors and customers to stay on it longer, comment on blogs, click on links and show other activity.

For successful SEO promotion of a website, it is necessary:

create a semantic core corresponding to the site's theme;
to carry out technical optimization: to work out the structure of the site, add useful thematic content, prescribe meta tags (headings h1-h6, title, description);
to carry out external and internal optimization: to develop a linking system, to place links, to work on increasing the credibility of the site on the Network;
monitor and improve behavioral factors;
analyze the effectiveness of promotion, draw conclusions based on the results of work and, based on them, make changes.
To get an idea of how the SEO promotion of the site is going, only two indicators are used:

The position in the search results for a specific search query. You can find it out if you enter a keyword in the search bar.
Traffic from the search. In his assessment help services, web Analytics, Google Analytics and Yandex Metrika.
The better search engine optimization is performed, the higher the position in the search results the site occupies and the more high-quality traffic it receives.

What is SEO for?
Search engine optimization involves constant refinement and development of the site, as well as its promotion, which is carried out taking into account the requirements of search engines. SEO is necessary for any website, be it a corporate website, an online store, a business card site or even a landing page. Why – we'll talk about it further.

What is necessary for
Increased search traffic. When creating any website, it is assumed that it will receive traffic that will increase sales, increase the profitability of the project, inform the audience about something, organize fundraising depending on the goals set. Users, customers and customers will not come from nowhere, the resource needs to be promoted, and SEO is the only way to attract traffic with minimal investment.

Improving the user experience. Search engines strive to provide the best possible response to a user's search query. This means that the search results will contain the most relevant, informative, convenient, authoritative sites and blogs. For example, the following parameters are taken into account when ranking:

download speed;
site security;
adaptability to different devices;
matching the search query with meta tags;
availability of information on guarantees, payment, delivery, and reviews on the site.
Other reasons to optimize the site. In addition to getting targeted traffic and improving the user experience, SEO helps to solve other tasks:

improves conversion rates;
allows you to effectively manage your budget;
increases brand awareness;
helps to bypass competitors;
It helps to create a convenient and fast website that fully meets the requirements of Yandex and Google.
It is possible to achieve an improvement in behavioral factors and traffic growth using only permitted promotion methods. Other ways to get to the TOP with a high degree of probability, on the contrary, will lead to sanctions from search engines and pessimization. You will read more about site optimization methods in the following sections of the article.

The evolution of SEO
It is most convenient to track the history and development of SEO by period. From its inception to the present day, this technology has gone through several stages, during which the tool has turned from frankly clumsy to high-tech and thin.

The beginning (until 1998). The very first Russian SEO involved adding spam keys to sites like "Rent an apartment in Moscow", "Refrigerator repair in St. Petersburg is cheap". This is exactly what all search results looked like, so the era of the origin of SEO is commonly called "dirty".
Era of links or PageRank (1998-2009). The founder of this algorithm was Google, and in 1999 it began to apply and Yandex. The place in the search results was determined depending on the number and quality of external links, i.e. links to the site from other resources. It is logical to assume that in the TOP during this period there were those who managed to purchase more links.
Machine learning (since 2009). The Yandex search engine releases the first Matrixnet machine learning algorithm, which introduced ranking factors. Now, to get into good positions and get traffic, the usual purchase of external links was not enough, it was necessary to create sites with a well-thought-out structure and high-quality content.
The linkless era (since 2012). With the release of the Penguin algorithm (Google), a serious struggle with links began. Yandex acted even more cunningly – since 2014, links have ceased to affect the ranking formula, and in 2015, the Minusinsk filter was released, thanks to which many sites were punished for link spam.
Modern SEO (since 2016). At this time, it became clear that relevance is at the heart of everything, and effective search engine site promotion requires constant identification of relevant keys, improvement of content, usability, and design. To date, the ranking formula includes more than 800 factors that affect the position of sites in search results.

Factors of successful website promotion
When SEO optimization of a website is required, the best option is to hire a good SEO specialist. If it is not available, you can independently start promoting an Internet resource by performing a number of actions.

Factors
Competitor Analysis
First of all, you need to find in Google sites devoted to similar topics. For example, you sell and install climate systems, so you need to find similar sites and study them carefully.

Just enter a search query into the search engine that customers can use to find your site, and select resources on a similar topic. Make a list and select the ones you can compete with.

Competitive analysis
What to analyze:

the structure is the pages that are on the site, their nesting levels (categories, subcategories), in other words, the site map;
content – what information is published, in what format is submitted;
commercial techniques – headlines, lead magnets, calls to action, competitive advantages, guarantees;
The reference mass is the number of external links to the competitor's website.
The main task at this stage is to understand what a typical competitor site looks like from the search.

Choosing a segment and search engines for promotion
Before starting SEO promotion of a website, it is worth determining for which segment it will be optimized. There are three varieties:

Only for PC. This option is mainly chosen by online stores with the expectation that the demonstration of goods on a large screen will be more effective. But every year the number of such sites decreases, as more and more users want to be able to access sites from computers, smartphones or tablets.
Only for mobile devices. Such sites are mainly devoted to the development of applications and mobile games. They are ideally adapted for such users.
For both PC and mobile devices. Combined sites are the most popular. They allow you to reach the entire user audience and are the most preferred.
You also need to decide on the priority search engine at the very beginning. Two search engines are popular on the Russian-speaking Internet: Google and Yandex. They account for about 97% of the visits. Below are the TOP 7 search engines used by Russians at the end of 2022:

Google – 53,9%.
Yandex – 43.1%.
Mail.ru – 2.7%.
Rambler – 0,1%.
Bing – 0,1%.
Tut.by – 0,01%.
Yahoo – 0,001%.
Setting a promotion goal
It is necessary to formulate exactly what a particular site needs SEO for in the long term. It can be:

increase in business sales and profits;
demonstration of a unique product, promotion of an idea;
brand awareness and loyalty;
the growth of traffic, attendance, and user activity.
Without a clear goal, SEO will be ineffective, lead to loss of time and waste of budget.

Connecting analytics services
Webmasters use 2 types of tools when working with websites. Some of them are designed to detect technical errors, while others help analyze user behavior.

The most common services in identifying problems on sites – Yandex Webmaster, Google Search Console.

Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster
With their help, you can find out:

how the site is viewed by search engines;
what search queries do people use to search for it?;
which pages are already in the index, and which have not yet been indexed;
what is the site loading speed?;
are there any errors?
You should start using these tools as early as possible, because search engines need time to scan the site.

For the analysis of behavioral factors used by Yandex Metrika and Google Analytics. With their help, you can find out:

Yandex.Metrica
how many visitors visited the site at a certain time;
where did the user come from;
time spent on the site, etc.
It is recommended to enable analytics before launching the site.

Stable operation and download speed
SEO promotion is directly influenced by the technical component of the site. One of the most important indicators is the download speed. Neither users nor robots like slow sites, so search engines lower them in the search results. It is important to refine the site so that it "flies".

PageSpeed Insights
To do this, exclude:

long-term processing of requests;
memory leaks;
"heavy" media materials, which may make the site load slower.
The same goes for job stability.

The correctness of the layout
An optimized website should be not only useful, convenient, but also beautiful. Moreover, for users of both PCs and mobile devices. Mobile layout is also evaluated by search robots. Nothing should "leave", the elements should be clearly visible when viewed from any screen.

Adaptive layout
It is better to arrange the data blocks so that they are accessible without unnecessary actions. All buttons and other elements should work. Special attention should be paid to the menu.

Site hygiene
The "cleanliness" of the site plays a huge role in SEO promotion. As part of hygiene, it is recommended:

delete broken links, i.e. those that lead to non-existent pages;
work with redirects to redirect from old pages to updated ones;
to monitor the formatting and structure of texts, the presence of subheadings, lists, relevant images and videos – all this is loved by both search engines and users;
monitor comments, remove commenters from bots that place ads and link to low-quality sites, or set up comments so that comments are closed from search engines;
carry out the prevention of email newsletters so that emails do not go into spam from recipients due to their low reputation in mailers.
Backlinks and the age of the site
Despite the fact that the PageRank era has long ended, backlinks still play a role in SEO promotion. If someone links to a site, it not only increases its value, but also stimulates traffic growth.

Links
It is very important that the backlinks are placed on high-quality sites. "Bad" resources can only make things worse.

It is best when ordinary users link to the site in their social networks, in comments to discussions, on forums. It is also effective to register on aggregator sites, where you can leave a direct URL to your resource. Such a site is, for example, Yandex Maps.

The age of the domain has a lot of weight for SEO. The older he is, the more trust there is from search engines.

How to check that SEO is working well
To find out how well SEO works, you can do the following:

Make sure that the site is not pessimized and is not subject to any other search engine sanctions. This happens if the site has violated any rules. For example, sanctions may be imposed due to irrelevant and useless content or spam of text with keywords. To check if Yandex has imposed sanctions, go to the Webmaster and view the Summary section.
Check the traffic and the position of the site in the search results. This is also visible in Yandex Webmaster by clicking on the "Query Statistics" section. If there is an increase in positions and traffic, then SEO is effective.
Analyze the conversions. A conversion can be any targeted action that a user performs, such as a call, purchase, or subscription. To evaluate conversions, go to Yandex. Metrica in the "Conversions" section. The increase in conversions indicates positive SEO results.

SEO optimization of the site
Search engine optimization of a website includes internal and external SEO. It is important to pay enough attention to each of them, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve high-quality optimization.

Optimization
Let's look at internal and external optimization in more detail.

Internal optimization
Internal optimization involves carrying out work within the site. Within the framework of internal SEO, they perform:

Internal
semantic core collection and clustering;
writing meta tags;
optimization of the structure;
content optimization;
technical optimization;
troubleshooting errors.
This is an incomplete list of possible jobs. We will analyze them in more detail further.

Semantic core collection and clustering
The semantic core(S) is a set of search queries that reflect the subject of the site and that users enter into the search bar to find it.

It is best to collect them before creating a website, this will help you think through its structure and navigation. If the site already exists, you may need to redo it for the core.

To begin to pick up keywords from a list of popular search queries in Google. A number of search queries will be collected at the stage of competitive analysis.

Specialized services help in this, for example, the simplest one is Yandex Wordstat. Just select the desired region, enter a query and click "Pick Up".

Yandex Wordstat
It is important not only to collect a pool of search queries, but also to find out the level of competition for each of them. The higher this value, the more difficult it is to move forward on a specific request.

In addition to Yandex Wordstat, there are other tools for collecting data. Here are some free services:

Google Keyword Planner or Keyword Planner from Google;
Alphabetics;
Slovoeb.
Paid programs are more functional, they are used by SEO specialists to facilitate the selection of queries:

Serpstat;
Semrush;
Moab Tools;
keys.so;
Mutagen;
Key Collector and others.

After parsing, you will get a huge list of queries that need to be cleared of "junk" keys that do not correspond to the subject of the site or the direction of work.

When the semantics have been collected, you need to cluster or group keywords into categories. If it is small, you can do it manually, otherwise specialized software will help, for example: KeyAssort, Rush Analytics or SEMparser. However, the results of any program will still have to be finalized by hand.

Writing meta tags
Meta tags are part of the html code of the site.

meta tage
The following meta tags are subject to optimization:

h1 is the title of the text, which corresponds to the essence of the entire content.
title – the name of the page with a length of up to 70 characters, which is displayed in the search results as the title of the snippet, as well as on a tab in the browser. The title includes the most frequent search query, the USP and the solution to the user's problem. This is one of the key elements in website promotion.
description – a small description of the page that can only be seen in the search results. If you do not specify this tag, the search engine itself will display some piece of text, and it is not a fact that it will be readable in the context of the query. The description should not duplicate the title, it is desirable to include the rest of the relevant keywords in it, and the description length is up to 160 characters.
These are the main tags. Previously, the keywords meta tag was also used, but today it does not have a significant impact on SEO, so many optimizers do not fill it out at all. We recommend specifying 2-3 main keywords separated by commas.

Optimization of the structure
It is worth creating the structure of the site at the very beginning. Most often, this is done either after analyzing competitors, based on maps of similar sites, or after collecting the semantic core, using additionally collected keywords.

The quality of the structure of an Internet resource depends not only on the logic of providing information and the convenience of its search, but also on the evaluation of the site by search engines.

When compiling the structure, it is necessary to follow the rules of nesting: all important pages of the site must be removed from the main page by a maximum of three clicks.

It is convenient to create the structure of the site using a mind map. This tool makes it possible to visually represent all sections, subsections and pages.

Structure
To link pages together and optimize the site, you should use internal linking.

She helps:

improve usability;
distribute the weight correctly;
speed up indexing.
Depending on the type of website and the purpose of promotion, different linking schemes are used. Here are some examples:

site map;
menu;
"bread crumbs";
links in the text;
lists of links in the basement;
lists of similar products and services;
banners and sliders.
Content optimization
Content is all the information that is posted on the site. It includes not only text materials (commercial texts, blog articles), but also photos, images, infographics, videos and even advertisements. It is desirable that all keywords from a specific group of the semantic core be used in the text.

Any content posted on the site must be relevant. Getting to the page from the search for a specific query, the visitor must receive an answer to the question of interest.

The more useful and interesting information there is on the page, the better. It is ideal when data is presented that competitors do not have.

Content
The content can be called good if it:

relevant to the query;
interesting and useful for the user;
unique;
structured;
easy to understand;
it is presented in a competent and understandable language;
contains occurrences of keys from XIA that are invisible to the reader;
it is written "for people", without spam and "water".
How much text to write depends on the tasks of a particular page. For example, 2500-3000 characters are enough to describe a service or category, while an informational article in a blog can reach several tens of thousands of characters, since the main task in this case is to maximize the topic.

There are services for checking the quality of texts that can be used in the process of SEO optimization:

Turgenev – helps to assess the overall style of the text and the risk of falling under the sanctions of search engines;
A spelling chart is a good tool for finding spelling and punctuation errors.;
The editor–in-chief points out the verbal garbage in the text.
For SEO analysis of texts, in particular to check the amount of "water", keyword density and other SEO parameters, specialized tools are designed, for example, Advego, Istio, Miratext.

Technical optimization
The technical condition of the site is important primarily for search engines. Most of the problems will not even be noticed by a human, while the robot will detect even the smallest flaws in the code during scanning. That's what you should pay attention to when it comes to technical SEO.

Technical optimization
Page duplicates and indexing.

The file is responsible for setting up indexing robots.txt , it is usually located at the root of the site at site.ru/robots.txt . The Disallow: / line indicates that the site is not indexed by search engines, Allow – on the contrary. It is with their help that you can configure the pages that should be in the index. If there are a lot of duplicates on the site, you can close them from search robots in robots.txt .

Errors in the file robots.txt they can cause the site to be demoted in the search results, despite its good optimization in general.

Various online services help to find out about the presence of duplicate pages on the site, for example, free Xenu and Majento "SiteAnalyzer", as well as paid Serpstat, Semrush, Se Ranking, Netpeak Spider, Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool, ComparseR, WebSite Auditor.

Download speed.

Pages with long loading times do not attract either people or search robots. Slow loading is a failure factor. It is recommended that the page is fully displayed in a maximum of 3 seconds. A WPO study showed that a download acceleration of just 0.85 seconds ensures a 7% increase in conversion.

You can check the speed of the site and get tips on speeding up its loading using various services. For example, Google PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, GTmetrix, Dareboost.

Error 404.

If any page does not exist on the site, it returns a 404 error and notifies the user about it on the screen. If the server response code is 200, then the non-existent page will be included in the index and considered a duplicate.

In order for the page with the 404 error not to become the reason for the user to go back to the search, it is desirable that it:

I reported that the page at this URL does not exist;
it was designed in the same style as the entire site;
I offered the visitor to use the site search form;
She referred to the main categories and headings.
It is very important to exclude internal references to non-existent pages. To search for them, you can use the functionality of Google Search Console, Yandex.Webmaster and other duplicate search services are listed above in the article.

CNC is a human-friendly URL.

For a better understanding, let's compare a regular automatically generated URL and a human-readable ONE.

The usual one:
site.ru/index.php?id_catalog=76582

CNC:
site.ru/catalog/detskie_igrushki/

Both people and search engines prefer CNC, but it is worth avoiding spam in the URL, for example:
site.ru/kirpich/kirpich-stroitelnyy/kirpich-stroitelniy-polnoteliy/kirpich-stroitelniy-m-100/

The main mirror.

It doesn't matter to a person which URL to enter in the address bar, but for search engines, any changed letter in the address will mean another site. For example:

site.ru;
www.site.ru;
https://site.ru;
https://www.site.ru.
All these are mirrors of the same site, but for search engines they are different Internet resources with the same content.

It is necessary to determine the main URL and set up 301 redirects from the other URLs to it.

HTTPS.

Connecting an SSL certificate provides a secure connection protocol, which is necessary to encrypt users' personal data (phones, names, bank details, etc.). Due to this, fraudsters cannot intercept personal information, and sites with https are ranked better.

Sitemap.xml.

This file is a map of the site, which is necessary for search robots to quickly and completely scan the data. It lists all the pages, which allows you to speed up indexing. The file is located sitemap.xml in the root of the site and must be specified in robots.txt . It is important that the contents of these two files do not contradict each other.

Micro-markup.

Micro-markup is used to structure data for search engines. At the same time, the snippet looks more attractive in the output, because it is supplemented with the display of additional data. When you repost on social networks, the information is also displayed more beautifully if you use OpenGraph. Schema.org it is more effective when displaying products, contacts, articles, recipes, reviews, and movies.

Server response headers.

If there is nothing wrong with the page, it gives the response code 200. Otherwise, you need to look for and fix the problem. Here are the most common codes:

4XX – the page is deleted (410) or unavailable (404);
5XX – problems on the server side;
3XX – page redirection.
For verification, you can use Yandex or Google webmasters, as well as Bertal or Mainspy services.

Optimization for mobile devices.

More than 50% of modern users access the Internet not only from a PC, but also from mobile devices, and some use smartphones and tablets exclusively, so the mobile version of the sites is given the same attention as the desktop version.

The search engines themselves help to check how well the site is optimized for mobile devices. Yandex has this webmaster.yandex.ru , from Google – search.google.com .

Page-by-page optimization
On-Page optimization (On-Page SEO) involves optimizing individual web pages in order to get relevant traffic from search engines and higher rankings. If there is a semantic core and a site structure, you will have to embed keywords in the content on each page. In this case, the content is not only the text part, but the entire content.

On-Page optimization
On each page, optimization is subject to:

the Title meta tag;
Description meta tag;
content – Body;
Alt – html image markup attributes;
URL structure;
micro-markup.
We have already discussed all this in more detail above, now we have to work on SEO for each individual page.

Commercial factors
If a website is created or operated for the purpose of making a profit, commercial factors play a significant role in SEO optimization. There are quite a lot of them, so we will try to list the most significant ones.

Commercial
Contact information. Phone numbers of different departments, all possible means of communication (email, messengers, etc.), map and directions, company details – the more detailed this information is, the greater the degree of trust potential customers can get and the better for promotion.
No ads. Any third-party banners and advertisements on a commercial site have a negative impact on SEO.
Social media accounts. Users like to contact companies on popular social networks, and search engines take this into account. Instagram Facebook, Instagram, VKontakte, Twitter, Youtube, it's always good to have representative or community pages with real subscribers and useful content.
The variety of the assortment. The greater the choice of goods / services, the more sales. The number of services, positions and product categories affects ranking, traffic and helps to increase profits.
Easy navigation through the catalog of goods and services, filters. The presence of categories and the ability to sort products according to certain criteria helps users and has a good effect on SEO.
Product card details. Offer the client a detailed description of the product or service, characteristics, configuration, operating instructions, 3D model, video review, photos from different angles, popularity rating, reviews, information about delivery and availability - all this will be appreciated by search robots.
The ability to compare products. This is relevant for online stores that sell similar products of different brands or with different configurations.
Customer support. This is an online consultant, FAQ sections, "Help", CallBack, phone numbers of technical specialists and managers.
Delivery. As for the client, it is important for SEO to have on the site a description of the methods, timing, geography of delivery and its cost, and the possibility of pickup.
Guarantees. The section describing the guarantees and conditions for the return of goods increases the loyalty of potential customers and improves positions.
Promotions, sales, discounts. If you have similar suggestions, tell us about them on the site, it is useful for people and SEO.
Consistency of content and meta tags. If the user clicked on the link where it was written about prices, he should find the prices.
The depth of the nesting of the pages. The closer the main pages are to the main page, the better.
Readability of the domain. Often, customers visit the sites again only because they have remembered the domain. A readable, easy-to-remember domain that corresponds to the company's field of activity contributes to its recognition and is liked by search engines.
Adaptability. Correct display in any browser and on any device is required.
Improvement of behavioral factors
User behavior has a huge impact on website promotion. Moreover, the behavior is important not only on the pages of the resource, but also in the search engine when viewing snippets.

Snippet
Each snippet has a CTR, a clickability indicator, which is defined as the ratio of clicks to impressions. Snippets with a low CTR (compared to the CTR of other snippets) are gradually decreasing in output. For search engines, this is a sign that a particular snippet does not contain the necessary data for the query.

Knowing this feature, you can use it to provide accurate information to the user, which will increase the number of clicks on the snippet and its CTR.

As for the behavior of visitors to the site page, it is important for search engines:

time spent on the page and on the site as a whole;
depth of views – the more clicks to other pages, the better;
traffic to other pages within the same domain;
actions on the site – watching videos, clicking on active elements, sending a request to the mail;
bounce rate – the number of departures from the site immediately after visiting it;
actions after closing the site – if the user returned to the output, it means that he did not find the answer to his question on the first site. This is a negative marker for SEO.
Accordingly, it makes no sense to create a bright snippet title in order to attract visitors to a useless site. With a high click-through rate, it will receive a large percentage of rejections and will not be able to get into the TOP of the search results.

To improve behavioral factors, it is worth using interesting elements that will not only give clicks, but also keep visitors. It can be interactive, video, infographics.

External optimization
External optimization is a set of works aimed at increasing the reference mass, increasing brand awareness, and improving reputation.

External
Search robots believe that if one site is linked to by others, it means that it is reliable and of high quality. Accordingly, the more external links there are, the more authoritative the resource is. But their quality is even more important. One link from a visited thematic site, which will provide a lot of traffic, has more weight than several from unrelated sites, from where there will be practically no traffic.

The reputation and recognition are positively influenced by the writing and publication of press releases, on the basis of which news may come out later. It is also worth mentioning customer reviews, they have a significant impact on online promotion.

External SEO Strategy
The big mistake of novice optimizers is the thoughtless purchase of links. Not only will this not help the site, but you risk harming the promotion. Adding a reference mass requires a specific strategy. An important role in this is played by the analysis of the closest competitors from the TOP 10 search results.

What to look at in competitive analysis:

number of external links;
linked pages;
sources;
type (branded, anchor, non-anchor);
the increase for the month.
Services like serpstat, megaindex, majestic, ahrefs help to analyze the external reference mass of other sites.

Local SEO optimization