Ah, SEO. You might have heard of this dark art previously, or it could be completely new to you! Either way, this beginner’s guide will work though the different stages and steps and help you to understand SEO and internet marketing in general further.

In this first part, we are going to look at what SEO is and why it is needed.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is summed up best as a marketing technique focused on growing organic traffic and organic visibility for your web presence.

When we talk about organic, we don’t mean the expensive foods found in the supermarket! Instead we mean non paid for search traffic. This is traffic that has come to your site after searching in a search engine and has clicked on one of the links, not an advertisement.

Typically speaking, Google is the biggest search engine out there in the world of the internet, but there are also Bing and Yahoo to consider, alongside a few smaller and independent search engines.

When it comes to SEO, there have been a huge number of developments over the past few years. However, it is important that when you are creating your website, you are not doing it for the wrong reasons, or trying to please the search engines too hard. A website is first and foremost for the users! (remember that top tip!)

So, why do I need SEO?

SEO is still very important in the online world. SEO ensures that your website is technically sound, you have no health issues with the site and that it is converting properly. Marketing is a huge part of SEO, so once all of the health issues and technically points are resolved, marketing going forwards is the key! Blogs, outreach, offsite work, securing offsite links, social exposure etc. etc. The list is long, and the skills and knowledge behind all of this is complex. There is a reason that SEO is hard work and that’s mostly Google’s doing!

What things are important?

Within the realms of SEO, there are a few stand out points that are particularly important. These are:

  • mobile friendliness of the site
  • design and development
  • keyword and market research
  • usability and site experience
  • content
  • analytics

Over the next few months, we will be covering off all of the above mentioned key areas, so make sure that you stay tuned to our blog for more in-depth SEO knowledge!