Domain authority, SEO, and the Google algorithm – A quick overview

What is domain authority?

Domain Authority is a ranking score that is assigned by a search engine, such as Google. The rank or score correlates to how successful that website is in relation to a search engine result. For example, Wikipedia, YouTube Psychology Today, Forbes, and Quora are websites with very strong domain authority, because they are consistently successful with search engine results.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it has to do with how you rank on a search engine results page (SERP). If you want your website to receive more web traffic, you have to rank higher on the search engine results page, and you do that through Search Engine Optimization.

SEO has two sides: the front-end, content-focused side and the back-end, technical side. There are many technical actions you can do on the backend of a website to improve your SEO, but on the front-end, one of the most effective ways to improve your SEO is to consistently post good quality, organic content. By routinely publishing new and useful content that is highly relevant to your target audience, you are making it easier for the Google Algorithm to find you and feature you on the SERP page.

What is the Google algorithm?

The ever-changing, mysterious Google algorithm is the complex code behind the Google search engine. Essentially, it is how Google retrieves all the relevant information from its search index so that it can present the most relevant information. The Google algorithm is what searches through billions of websites and pieces of web content looking for keywords and phrases that closely match the query.

What are Google Crawlers?

The Google Crawlers (also called spiders or Googlebots) are the pieces of code that “crawl” websites searching for relevant info for search queries. When the crawlers find new and updated content, they index it in Google’s database. To put it simply, if you are not routinely posting keyword-rich, organic content that is relevant to your website’s target audience, your web traffic will not improve, because the crawlers aren’t visiting you. The more the crawlers visit your website, the more Google knows to pay attention to your website.

Resources - How to learn more about SEO

1. Free 2-hour SEO course for beginners

Ahrefs and SEMrush are two of the biggest players (besides Google) in the SEO world. For those who are tech savvy and would like to take a deeper dive into understanding the fundamentals of SEO, Ahrefs free, online tutorial is comprehensive and easy to follow.
Ahrefs Complete SEO Course for Beginners – Ahrefs (YouTube)

2. SEO for therapists
Private Practice Skills is a small by mighty YouTube channel, and the channel hostess, Dr. Marie Fang (Psychologist in private practice) breaks down SEO specifically for therapists. Cool, right?
Keywords Tutorial for Private Practice – Private Practice Skills (YouTube)

3. Local SEO training course (quick and easy)
Local SEO is paramount for private practices, and I thought this two-hour course by Fiverr was very well done. I highly recommend it.

Local SEO: Put Your Business on The Map – Fiverr

Need assistance?

I am a freelance copywriter, mental health columnist, and storyteller on a mission to help empower the world through healing, SEO-friendly content. Request a custom project quote or contact me.

This article was written to complement my conversation with Lisa Mustard, host of The Therapy Show podcast. For more on this topic, you can listen to the full podcast episode at the link below.
The Power of content Creation for Your Website with Rebekah Hudson