Small Business Brief

Marketing

Here are the SEO Basics You Need to Know


If you’re new to SEO and you want to learn more, then you won’t want to miss this article. Click here to discover the SEO basics you need to know.

Are you curious about what SEO is all about?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is quickly becoming the go-to when it comes to effective digital marketing tools. Businesses everywhere are harnessing the power of SEO in order to increase their online visibility.

SEO makes the most of the fact that most people rely on search engines like Google or Bing to find information.

The good news about SEO is that anyone can do it, even without a marketing background. What’s more, it can start paying off within hours.

If you’re new to SEO, read on. We’ve got everything you need to know when it comes to SEO basics and more!

SEO Basics: What is SEO?

In a nutshell, SEO is a marketing tool. It’s powerful because it can boost your brand visibility and drive traffic to your website–all through the work of search engines.

Think about the most recent Google search that you performed. You likely typed in a word or phrase that approximated what you were looking for.

When you clicked “search,” a bunch of listings appeared. You likely scanned the listings on the first page, prioritizing the ones at the top of the page.

This is because Google does it’s best to give searchers the closest match to what they search for. It puts the best matches at the top and the less authoritative options on additional pages.

As a result, websites with higher Google rankings for specific searches are more likely to get a click from organic visitors.

Businesses wanting to “get seen” by their audience can use SEO to rise to the top of search listings. Successful SEO campaigns can mean more clicks to your website, which can boost conversion rates and drive profit margins.

How do you take advantage of this powerful tool? Start by optimizing all of your online content.

How to Optimize Content

You can implement SEO by optimizing your online content for popular keyword searches. Let’s look at how to do this.

1. Choose Keywords

When it comes to SEO basics, the golden word is “keywords.”

For example, let’s say that you run a greeting card company in Boise, Idaho. You could optimize your content for keywords that could lead people to your website, such as “greeting cards” or “greeting cards in Boise.”

You could also optimize your content for other terms visitors might type into Google in order to find your site. These may be categorically specific, such as “affordable greeting cards” or “birthday gift ideas.”

Successful SEO campaigns choose one keyword per individual page of content.

How do you pick the best keywords? You can use Google’s Keyword Planner if you want assistance.

Or you can brainstorm on your own.

Perform some test searches to see what keywords are trending in your industry. You may also want to see what searches bring your competitors to the top of Google listings.

The good news about keywords is that they are flexible. You can test them out, and if they don’t work, you simply can incorporate new ones.

2. Integrate Into Content

This is an important step when you’re learning SEO basics.

SEO is an art. It is much more than just cramming keywords onto your pages in hopes of boosting their ranking.

It’s important to integrate keywords into your existing content seamlessly. Ideally, readers should scan through a page of yours and not notice the SEO keywords.

Try to use about five keywords for every 500 words of online content you produce. This is a good rate to shoot for in general.

When you integrate keywords, make sure you use one in every page’s title, conclusion, introduction, and a secondary header. You can even optimize images!

If all of this sounds intimidating, you can rely on professionals for help. Check out See All Media as an example of expert SEO services.

3. Track Your Performance

SEO is always changing because customers are always changing when it comes to the things they search for on Google. As a result, SEO basics involve keeping tabs on your campaign’s performance.

You can perform keyword audits using online tools, for example. These can test the integrity of your keywords.

You can also use Google Analytics to see what SEO is doing for your website traffic.

Lastly, you can type your own keywords into Google to see your ranking.

How to Make the Most of SEO

The steps above are fairly foundational when it comes to SEO basics. To really leverage your SEO efforts, keep the following in mind.

1. Produce Relevant Content

Google doesn’t assign top rankings arbitrarily. Web crawlers routinely check out sites to make sure they deserve high rankings.

Namely, Google wants to make sure that your site is relevant to visitors. It likes clean, concise, and useful content.

Spend some time cleaning up your web content so that you can be an authority on the keywords you’ve chosen. Every page on your website should be unique, easy to read, and to the point.

If you launch social media campaigns or have other digital platforms, make sure your content is what visitors need. Get rid of that fluff!

2. Use Social Media and Local Citations

Having a strong social media presence can boost the authority of your website. What’s more, you can optimize social media posts for keywords.

Establish a foundation across social media platforms. Create robust business profiles on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Furthermore, acquire local citations to boost your credibility. Register your business on Google My Business and urge customers to give you reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp.

3. Optimize Your Website

Lastly, SEO basics involve spending some serious time on your website itself. It’s important to make sure visitors will stay on your site once they navigate there.

Keep visitors on your site by optimizing it for mobile use. Make sure it’s easy to navigate between tabs and that your contact information is always within reach.

Check with your web hosting platform to ensure your site is loading at the fastest possible speed.

SEO Basics

SEO can be your key to success when it comes to promoting your brand online. It’s easy to implement, especially once you have the basics in mind.

Once you do optimize your website, make sure you use all tools at your disposal to leverage the power of your SEO campaigns. This includes data analytics tools, social media, and your website itself.

Small Business Brief is your SEO central. We love giving you the small business news you deserve!

Join one of our forums now so that you can be a part of the SEO community.



Next



Previous