Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization Basics

There are many myths and misinformation going around when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). Whether you’re a curious business owner looking to expand online, or an entrepreneur interested in establishing the best SEO company around, the first thing you need to do is educate yourself on the facts surrounding SEO.

SEO started in response to the increasing number of websites populating the world wide web. At the time, developers foresaw the need to establish an indexing system for websites. Through this system, users could find and access websites by typing specific keywords on a search bar. This idea eventually took shape in what is now called a search engine.

While coding the software, developers faced a few challenges: What decides the order of the search results? What parameters decide why a certain website is positioned above another website with similar content? While the algorithm’s criteria has never been released, some people noticed a pattern among the top search results. When they identified their shared traits and incorporated them into their websites, they noticed a positive impact on their search rankings. This practice came to be known as SEO.

Does SEO even work?

With all the buzzwords and grandiose promises, it’s almost too easy to think you might be getting scammed. The truth is, search engine algorithms evolve and change over time, so the SEO techniques that may have worked just a year ago may no longer be effective now. This means that to run an effective SEO campaign, you must constantly be monitoring trends in user search habits and website design. You might even question if the outcome has a big enough impact on your business for all the effort to be worth it. To answer that question, let’s look at some statistics.

• 53.3% of all website traffic result from a search
• 28.5% of users click the first search result on the 1st page, and only 0.78% of users check the 2nd page
• SEO generates 1,000%+ more traffic than social media
• 76% of local searches result in a visit to a physical store
• 28% of local searches result in a sale
• 51% of users discover a company or product through an online search

What can we conclude from all this information? First, it quashes the misconception that running a business on social media is good enough. Social media is a good space to build a community and foster consumer-brand loyalty, but to maximize your business’ potential, building a website and applying SEO tactics is the way to go. Second, it proves that getting ahead in search rankings increases your organic traffic significantly, leading to increased brand visibility, which then leads to increased revenue.

How do I start SEO?

1. Research your customers’ search habits. It’s logical that understanding how your consumers conduct searches will allow you to optimize your content to match the most common keywords being used. For example, if you’re a cake shop in Glendale, you can assume that the most common ways people would search for your business would be “cake shop in Glendale” or some variant thereof. Take into consideration also the people who search using voice-prompted virtual assistants like Alexa or Siri. Most of them may search in the form of a question like “what are the cake shops around Glendale?”. By identifying the most common keywords surrounding your business, you can include them in important elements of your content like meta descriptions, titles, tags, body, and so on.
2. Optimize your webpages. Your website is your brand’s representative in the digital sphere. Having a slow, confusing, and non-secure website will reflect poorly on your brand, and it will also discourage visitors from proceeding further into your site. Invest in the necessary resources to keep your site safe, stylish and functional. On top of that, generate content that is valuable to your target market. It won’t benefit a game store to generate content about music or TV shows. Know what format your users prefer to have information presented to them. Do your videos and podcasts generate more engagement than your blog posts? Then focus on making more videos and podcasts. 
3. Start a link building campaign. Google developers have confirmed that the number of backlinks is one of their top 3 ranking parameters, so it is paramount to have as many external sites as possible linked to your own website. The reason most search engines see backlinks as a good thing is because they believe that websites wouldn’t risk damaging their own reputation by leading their users to a site that isn’t secure, high quality, and relevant to them. Ideally, you should be linked by sites with content and a user base similar to yours. It’s also preferable to have multiple external sites linking you instead of one site linking you multiple times. You should also ensure that the sites linking you are legitimate and not suspicious or spammy. Having too many of these websites link yours could have negative repercussions for your search ranking.
4. Track your success indicators. The only surefire way to confirm that your SEO campaign is working is to monitor several key metrics. Running a campaign without knowing your goals is like racing without a finish line. Tracking your success indicators allows you to streamline your efforts into tactics that work best and alerts you immediately on any stagnation or negative effects caused by implementing certain methods. There are a lot of great SEO tools available online like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, NightWatch, and the like, and you can just choose which is more suited to your needs.

When it comes to tracking site metrics, it’s easy to get overwhelmed due to the sheer number of data available. Instead of keeping note of everything, focus on these key variables:

• Search rankings. Obviously, one of your goals when carrying out SEO is to boost your rank on search engines, and if you observe an increase in your rank, then it’s a sign that you’re on the right track.
• Organic traffic. If you notice that your search ranking is increasing, that should also coincide with an increase in organic traffic. If it doesn’t then it may be indicative of a problem with how you’re going about your SEO strategy. Ensure your keywords and backlinks are relevant to your main consumer base.

What’s next?

SEO is an industry that’s constantly in flux. Search engines change their algorithms so often that you’ll need to religiously monitor the trends and parameters so you don’t end up lagging behind your competitors. Don’t expect overnight success either. Depending on how competitive your industry is, it may take months from when you first started your SEO campaign before you even see any concrete results. Most companies choose to outsource for this very reason. Having the guidance of an expert means you spend less time second-guessing and taking unnecessary risks. Still, with the sheer amount of misinformation and people who nefariously take advantage of the high demand for SEO services, you need to do your due research before hiring any SEO company to take over your online marketing. With ample patience and extensive research, you’re sure to find the best SEO company for your business.