Beginners Guide to SEO
Beginners Guide to SEO
Are you a newbie to SEO? This article is designed as a quick intro for beginners like yourself looking to learn the basics of SEO and ultimately become experts in the field.
Whether this is your first lesson on the subject or you already have a semi-working knowledge of SEO, this is your guide to the basics, including links to resources to continue from where we stop here.
What is SEO?
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. When we talk about search engines, we are referring to programs or software designed to execute web searches. Google and Bing are prime examples of such programs. So, the ability to improve a website or web page to make it more visible to web users who turn to search engines to find what they are looking for is known as search engine optimization (SEO).
Why is SEO Important?
Considering that more than 4 billion people around the world browse the web every day, one might get the misguided impression that one’s website or blog is more likely than not to hear the footfalls of a goodly portion of those billions. The epiphany comes with the realization that there are over a billion websites in the world today and you are competing with a goodly portion of that billion for the attention of web users.
So, SEO is crucial because that’s how you move your online presence to the front of the aisle. Using SEO-speak, it’s the systematic steps you take to drive traffic to your website or online presence. Of course, you could choose to attract traffic by using paid search. This is called Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Unlike SEM, the footfalls you get using SEO are categorized as organic traffic. Nothing stops one from deploying a combination of SEM and SEO. But as you will come to agree with the rest of us, SEO is the better way to go for long-term results. Besides, SEM only works when you pay.
By now, you have a pretty good idea of what SEO is all about. Before we take a quick look at how SEO works, below are recommended resources to sharpen your SEO knowledge and skills –
1. SEO Marketing: Your Essential Guide to Putting Together Powerful, Google-Friendly Marketing
2. How to Use Keywords in Your Content for Maximum SEO Impact
3. The Complete SEO Guide for Beginners
How Does SEO Work?
When you understand how SEO works, it’s easier to follow the tips and tricks of the trade. For example, a good understanding of the inner workings of SEO gives you a proper grasp of keyword usage to drive traffic. So, how does it work?
Bear in mind that user experience is the primary concern of search engines. That means search engines want the experience of searching and finding stuff online to be as effective as possible. Naturally, this means ensuring search results are relevant and of high quality. To do this, search engines crawl through different websites, using yardsticks like keywords and readability to deliver high-quality search engine result pages (SERP).
So, SEO is what you do to convince search engines that you are the most relevant answer to a user's query for a particular keyword or keyphrase. The better your content looks to search engines, the higher its rankings on SERPs. The resources itemized above can teach you how to convince search engines to place you on the front row when people search for what you offer.
Moving from SEO Beginner to Expert
Again, you will not learn everything you should about SEO in this article. This is a quick introduction to the subject while bearing in mind that you can never know all about SEO. Why? SEO strategies keep changing. In fact, experts estimate Google, the biggest search engine in the world, updates its search algorithms about 600 times a year.
While most of these changes do not make a significant impact on SEO strategies, some do shake up the landscape significantly. Remember, you must be visible to search engines to be visible to web searchers.
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