SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the process used to affect the visibility of a website in a search engine’s (such as Google) unpaid search results. The benefits of your website coming up first in Google are obvious. But what can small businesses with tighter budgets do to affect their search results before investing in an SEO expert to super charge your efforts?
Often referred to as “natural,” “organic,” or “earned” results, SEO as an Internet marketing strategy, considers how search engines work, what people search for, the search terms typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience.
A beginners guide to SEO
Although this guide won’t tell you any secrets that’ll automatically rank your site first for queries in Google (even Google doesn’t share those juicy tidbits), following the best practices outlined will make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and understand your content.
The K.I.S.S Disclaimer
Even though SEO is important in every digital marketing strategy, our view is to ALWAYS base your SEO decisions on quality user and brand experience. Which means no unsightly keywords
Focusing too much on specific SEO tweaks to gain ranking in the organic results of search engines may not deliver the results you are looking for. With that said, if you’re just beginning your SEO journey follow these best practices to ensure you have a solid foundation for SEO.
The following guide has been prepared by our pals at Google. But before we send our SEO friends running for the hills, we understand that a. this doesn’t NOT substitute the amazing work SEO experts do, rather it will help prepare a solid foundation and b. there are other search engines that this can apply to (think Bing, Yahoo etc.) Google doesn’t have the while piece of the pie (just a massive, massive slice).
The folks at Google have summarised all of this into a neat e-book download it here:
The Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide
Download it, read it, action it and enjoy. Don’t forget to post your comments and results below.
See you next week
Darnelle
CHECK OUT OUR RANGE OF PRACTICAL SOCIAL MEDIA WORKSHOPS FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS.
[otw_is sidebar=otw-sidebar-1]
