SEO for Beginners: What is SEO?

Let’s talk about SEO.

You’ve probably heard about it.

You know it’s important for your brand.

You wonder if it’s a missing piece in your marketing strategy.

I’m here to make it a little less “scary” or “confusing,” and give you a quick crash course.

Here’s my beginner’s guide to SEO.

Starting with a definition helps:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Best practices to help search engines like Google read and understand your website’s content, so it can help you rank higher and more consistently for relevant searches.

The content on your website has two readers:
#1. Your human audience, of course

#2. Search engine robots, affectionately known as “spiders” that “crawl” your site (That’s as scary as this lesson gets, I promise.)

When you implement SEO strategies, you’re handing these robots information on a silver platter that says, “Here’s what my business offers, where we are located, and to whom we prove these services.”

There are several factors that play into your website’s SEO performance, including:

  • Quality of content
  • Quantity of content
  • Page load speed
  • Images and video use
  • Mobile responsiveness
  • Links to, from and within your website
  • Google listing optimization
  • And so much more!

So what are some of SEO best practices and how do I get started? 

Here are five important strategies that can have a big impact on your search rankings. Consider them the “low-hanging fruit” of SEO that you can start implementing today: 

#1. Write Your Content in Alignment with Searches

Google only knows what you tell it through the content and code of your website. So as a general rule, it’s a good idea to ask yourself, “How would someone likely search for this topic in Google?” as you’re writing website content. Here are a few tips:

  • Include questions in your headings – because people often type questions into Google’s search fields
  • Use common terminology – to align with the everyday words and phrases your audience is searching for 
  • Try how-to and step-by-step guides – because phrases like “how to” are very hot in Google
  • Address pain points – so you can offer a solution to a problem someone is researching

Want to take your SEO content writing to the next level? Invest in a keyword research tool to uncover the exact phrases your audience is searching for and back your work with proven data. 

#2. Location, Location, Location!

Are you trying to attract an audience who lives in your area? The first step is telling the robots where you offer your services. 

Realize that location terms are keywords too. People often search for terms that include “near me” or “in [insert city name],” so you want to write your content accordingly. Sprinkle them into your content as naturally as possible to help define your service area. Here’s an example:

Example:

Before: Example Brand offers premium pest control services and termite protection plans. Call us now for a free quote.

After: Example brand offers premium pest control services and termite protection plans for homes in the Tampa Bay area, including the communities of Carrollwood, Citrus Park, and Westchase. Call us now for a free quote.

In this example, Google now knows your service location and can say “Aha! This brand is targeting an audience in these communities.”

#3. Avoid Red Flags

SEO best practices can help you, and SEO red flags can hurt you. Here are a few content red flags that will can result in a penalty from Google:

  • Copy + paste content – Plagiarism is a huge “NO” in the SEO world (not to mention it’s super unethical).  Google sees duplicate content as a huge red flag, whether you’re copying the same content across multiple pages on your site, or stealing it from another source. Copy + paste content is only okay when you use it very sparingly and strategically, and copy your OWN content. 
  • Keyword stuffing – Search engines favor content that flows naturally, like a human wrote it. While keywords are important for your content, it’s important to not overdo it. Keep your keyword density (percent of keywords used in a web page’s copy) between one and two percent. If you don’t want to break out the calculator, think about using them with a gentle touch or like you’re “sprinkling” them in. 
  • Linking without credibility – When you add a link or URL to another site, you’re affiliating your website with the destination site. Before you provide a link to an external site, do a little research to see if it is following these SEO best practices too. Rule of thumb: credible sites linking to credible sites is helpful, credible sites linking to non-credible sites is harmful. 

#4. Google My Business Listing

Years ago, SEO simply referred to the practice of optimizing your website. 

Now, it’s equally as important to optimize ALL of your digital platforms (social media, videos, etc). Since this is an introductory lesson, we’ll start with the most important platform to optimize: Google My Business. 

Let me explain this point with an example:

You’re in a new city and you want to order a pizza. What do you do? 

Most likely, you Google search “pizza near me” and browse through a list of local pizza restaurants in Google’s listings. You can see pictures, read reviews, and even look at menus without ever leaving Google. 

You’re browsing through Google My Business listings, which are designed to keep you on Google. Your business listing is so important nowadays, whether you’re a brick-and-mortar business, eCommerce site, or service provider. 

 Here’s how to start optimizing your Google My Business listing:

  • Verify your information – proof your name, address (if applicable), phone number, and any other information
  • Upload pictures – Photos can significantly help your Google My Business Listing
  • Respond to reviews – Genuine, personalized responses can help boost your SEO (and your customer experience) 
  • Add awesome content – Fill in as much information as possible about your business, how to contact you, and all the wonderful things you have to offer.

#5. Make Your Site Fast & Mobile Responsive

While optimizing your content is a huge part of SEO, there are also some technical measures you can take to give your strategy a big boost. Long story short, you want your website to load quickly and look fabulous on mobile. 

These two factors can help you SEO tremendously. Since you’re most likely not a super-savvy developer who knows how to improve these items, here are a few things that can help:

  • Look at free or paid plug-ins that can help you reduce load time and file sizes
  • Choose a website template that’s responsive, meaning it formats itself to look attractive on desktop, mobile or tablet
  • Hire an expert, like a developer or a technical SEO specialist, to support your website

BONUS TIP: Set up Google Analytics

Just like all your other marketing efforts, it’s so important to measure your SEO work. You can integrate Google Analytics, a free reporting tool, to discover valuable insights like:

  • Demographics of website visitors
  • How visitors access your site (social, search, paid, etc.)
  • Which web pages get the most views
  • Bounce rate, time on page, pages per session, and more
  • Conversion rates

Get started with Google Analytics here.

Congratulations, you made it through my not-so-scary beginner’s guide to SEO. How do you feel? Less overwhelmed and ready to conquer the search engines?

Let me know in the comments which of the 5 tips you’re going to explore first!