What is SEO?

What is SEO? And why does it matter?

In this blog we cover the basics of SEO in 2021 – what it is and how to get started.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. And it refers to all of the activities that you can do to optimise your website for search engines. And in most cases that means optimising your website for Google (in February 2021, Google accounted 86.6% of the global search market).

If you can master SEO it means that your website will be included in the results returned by Google when someone types in a search term that Google associates with your site. For example if you typed in “web hosting UK”, BeMoreOnline would be one of the sites returned in the results. The better your SEO and your content the higher your site will appear up the Google rankings. With ranking on page 1 for your keywords being the ultimate aim for those wanting to drive a lot of traffic to their sites.

And in basic terms there are two types of SEO;
– On-site SEO – things that you can do directly to your website
– Off-site SEO – things that you can do away from your website that Google will pick up on and factor in to how your site is rated.

Let’s start with on-site SEO. This can also be broken down into two categories.
– Google compliance
– Content

Google compliance means ensuring your site meets the rules that google set out for website owners. There is good news on this front. Google provides some excellent guidance on what it expects from websites. And importantly what it will not accept. Getting your SEO right can boost your website ranking, getting your SEO wrong can mean could mean your site is omitted from the search results.

So step 1. is to checkout the Google guidelines.  There is a lot to look at, and if you need any help, we can support you in making any necessary changes to your site – so please get in touch.

Pay particular attention to the type to the Quality Criteria which describes a number of techniques which are prohibited.  And some of these are SEO techniques that may have been used and may have worked in the past.

Step 2. is to review your content.  Google is now focussed on rewarding rich and relevant content.  They are encourage website owners to update content regularly and provide information that is useful and unique.  Fortunately they provide Content Guidelines too.

Lets move on to off-site SEO.  Off-site SEO are activities you can do away from your website that will help with your ranking on Google.  There are a wide range of these activities that you could use.  I have listed some of the techniques that we use and you could use to start off with;

– Search engine submissions – submitting your website to Google and other search engines encourages them to crawl your site. Which could increase how quickly your website is first indexed and ranked by the search engines.

– Reciprocal link building – getting in touch with other website owners who might be interested in adding your website details to their site.

-Guest post link building – their are paid and free blogging sites where you can share some of your content and link back to your site

-Video marketing – creating engaging content in the form of videos.  Including videos on your site and posting videos on YouTube can be a great way to attract traffic to your site and help with your ranking.

SEO can seem complicated and mysterious.  But by making sure you are Google compliant, regularly updating your site with great content and investing time in off-site SEO as well you will be off to a great start.

If you need any help or advice with any aspects of SEO, please get in touch over Social Media, through Live Chat or by using or contact form.

Source: https://www.bemoreonline.co.uk/