As a beginner to Search Engine Optimization, instead of focusing all your efforts on learning HTML, focus on creating lots of high quality content
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be overwhelming and daunting to understand. There is so much information coming out daily about SEO that even so-called experts don’t know half of what they’re supposed to know. However, all of that said, SEO is the key to driving traffic to your website.
What is Search Engine Optimization? It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial,” or “natural” listings on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing. It is how you can optimize your website, blog, Internet pages, or forum so that it appears at the top of the results on the search engines. All major search engines have search results where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engines consider most relevant to users.
Search Engine Optimization can help make the content on your website more relevant and easier to understand when major search engines are crawling your site and indexing the database. The goal when using Search Engine Optimization on a website is to increase traffic and to have the pages appear on the first few pages of the major search engines. SEO also helps ensure that the website stays in a high position on the search engine and comes ahead of the competition in major search engine results.
As a beginner to Search Engine Optimization, instead of focusing all your efforts on learning HTML, focus on creating lots of high quality content. By doing this you’ll have 90 percent of the puzzle solved. Here are three tips to get your website on the right track.
1. Focus on Content – Last year, Google made it clear with Google Hummingbird that if websites want to improve their site rankings, they need to make sure they are content driven. A focus on keywords alone is not nearly as important as a high, intense focus on quality content that’s posted on a very consistent basis.
To provide faster answers, Google released Google Knowledge Graph as part of its search algorithm. For example, if a user is searching for how long the Nile River is, the new search algorithm will provide them with the results directly on the page. While a search for something like, “How can I get a better insurance premium?” Google cannot provide a clear-cut answer. If a website wants to rank well for a search like this, it needs to create valuable content. Remember “Content is King!” And it’s no longer only about the right keywords.
2. Meta Descriptions – Make sure to fill out your meta descriptions on each page of your website. The meta description is what Google searches, but it’s what also appears under your title in a Google search. It’s important that you craft the meta description to include keywords while also explaining what the reader is going to learn from the content. This is the section that entices them to click on your link instead of your competitors.
3. Mobile – Finally, make sure your website is mobile-friendly; if it’s not, then you’re missing out on half of all website traffic. Today most people check links and information from their cell phones and/or tablets. You should ensure that your website is accessible on all kinds of devices. This is very important for driving traffic. Also make sure to keep an eye on the latest trends of mobile data and update your website with anything that might be necessary.
If SEO still seems confusing and overwhelming, we can help! We regularly create high-quality content for websites and blogs that can help your pages be found and ranked highly on the major search engines. Give us a call today and we’re happy to answer your questions.
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