If you are like most people, the acronym SEO may not mean much to you. If it does have some familiarity, the definitions you have may not be fully accurate. Some of the explanations you come up with are something similar to this:
- “I know SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization” and it has something to do with Google.”
- “It’s the way our website gets ranked when a person searches on the internet.”
- “I don’t fully understand it, but I know it’s about getting internet users to find my website.”
All those explanations, despite their simplicity, are indeed true. They do not represent the holistic truth of what SEO is, however. The Search Engine Journal, in the article “An Introduction to SEO Basics,” puts it this way:
“Search engine optimization (SEO) is about increasing your website’s visibility in the organic search results of major search engines.”
Our goals with this article are to help clear up some of the confusion you have and to give you some starter tips for an effective SEO strategy. And despite what you might think, the basics of SEO may just be enough to get your website visibly ranked.
Here are some initial pointers to get you started:
- One of the most important things to understand is though there are a number of search engines out there, Google is far and away the largest, most comprehensive, and most often used. Google has not only set the bar, they are the bar. So it makes sense to understand their Webmaster’s Guidelines for getting your website indexed, found, and ranked by them.
- Keywords are key (pause for effect) words. These are the logical terms and phrases that your typical internet users enter into their browsers when beginning a search. For example, a person might be craving a pizza in Cleveland, OH, that is similar to the pizza they used to get in New York. But how does entering “authentic New York-style pizza Cleveland, OH” ensure that the person will get the pizza they are looking for? Check out this chapter on keyword research by MOZ to learn more.
- Algorithms. Backlinks. Click Bait. What do those terms mean? Why do they matter to your SEO efforts? This SEO Glossary will help shed some light on the words and phrases you’ll hear as you dive in!
There is much to learn on this topic. Yet we understand that you have a business to run that requires you to do other bottom-line related work. Consider the team at Imphasis your SEO agency for all things related to these efforts. It’s our specialty. Reach out to us today to get the conversation started.
