ABCs of SEO
First, a crash course in SEO. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process used to get your website listed and ranked by the search engines. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But take two minutes to begin searching “SEO” on Google and you’ll realize that there is a lot of information out there concerning SEO. So much information that you might begin to feel overwhelmed by it all. It’s hard to know where to start when there’s a host of experts, beginners and everyone in between all talking about those same three letters: SEO.
The easiest way to begin to to start with baby steps. Learn the ABCs of SEO. Give yourself a checklist of the first steps to take toward improving your company’s SEO. Once you’ve conquered these first steps, you can graduate on to more advanced stages. Remember, improving your company’s SEO is always a work in progress. The only place to start is at the beginning.
ABCs of SEO
A. Make your current webpages the best that they can be.
Before ever thinking about optimizing your pages for SEO, make sure your content is great. Really, really great. At the core of SEO is providing searchers with quality information. That’s why, first, make your page the best page is can be for that specific need or topic. Provide the information that people are looking for with enough depth and insight that they stay on your site, click around, and even take action, like contacting you or sharing your content.
B. Understand who you are improving your company’s SEO for.
Who are your marketing to? If you can’t quickly answer that question, dig into the specifics. An easy way to answer the specifics is to develop buyer persona/s for your company. If you’re confused by “buyer persona,” check out this blog post.
C. Create content for actual human beings, not search engines.
Do you find yourself ever creating content or updating your site solely for the search engines? When you find yourself doing that, stop and ask yourself why. Search engines try to anticipate what humans want even before they begin their search…so provide content that they (your site visitors) can read, understand, digest. Don’t get caught up in links, keywords and ranking unless it directly benefits the readers.
The ABCs of SEO are simple enough for anyone to undertake. Start here, and then begin working your way through the rest of the alphabet. And, if you’re ready to dive a little deeper into SEO, check out our “Beginner’s Guide to SEO.”