We get a lot of questions about SEO and SEO basics. Here’s a summary of how the conversation usually goes:
Client: “Does your team do S-E-O?”
Me: “Uh, you know, SEO is a pretty big subject. What sorts of SEO support are you looking for?”
Client: “I don’t know…I just heard I should do it.”
Me: “Do it? Do what?”
Client: “You know, turn on my SEO! Can you do that for me?”
Me: “Err…”
I know, a lot of you are waiting for the answer, right? Can we turn it on, or not? Seems like a simple yes or no question… Here’s the answer: It doesn’t quiiiite work like that. Optimizing a site for the search engines is a wee bit more complicated than “turning it on.” Getting the most out of the content you post is what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about. It sounds simple, right? The “How to do it” part though, that takes some work.
SEO Basics, and keeping it simple
Listen – It took me quite a while to figure out the SEO basics too. It’s complicated, and everyone has an opinion on it. So, what we’re gonna’ do, is a series of posts to cover the SEO basics for you. We certainly can’t include absolutely everything you need to know about SEO. Heck, there are books galore on the subject, big books too, as well as online and college classes. So, we’re just going to hit the high spots for you and – keep it simple.
We’ll share some ideas about website SEO; why it’s important and how you can help yourself with some basic SEO techniques and strategies. Next, we’ll go over the basics of content SEO; how to do it, why you should, and how it will help you improve your ranking in the search results
First – here are some things you should know:
SEO traps to watch out for
- No one can promise to get you to the top of Google, except Google – and those ads at the top of the page are paid for, folks. So, ignore anyone who makes you that promise (to get to the first page of Google, because it is…what’s the word…We’ll just call it “B.S” 🙂
- You can’t hire a company to “do SEO” for you for a month, and then expect to get big results. You have to keep doing it…and revising it…over and over and over…endlessly and relentlessly.
- Your friend’s teenage son, who is “good with computers,” might not be the best choice to hire to do your SEO (even if he DOES know how to use Facebook).
The basic summary is that this is a big specialty, with many parts, and if you want to see results you need to go with a pro. After all, if you’re going to bother to spend money on it, and also expect to get something out of it, don’t skimp. If you don’t really care, and just want someone to categorize your blog posts then, yeah, your neighbors’ geeky son might be the right choice after all.
As we move through this little series on SEO, we’re also going to provide some resources for you to grab more SEO info from the web, if you want it. In fact, Let’s do that right now.
SEO basics on the web
When you want to know more about SEO, the best place to begin looking is the web, specifically at companies who offer this service as a specialty. One of these is: SEOmoz blog. These guys are the go-to-guys of SEO. Go ahead and check them out to begin your SEO education. If you don’t care how it works, and want someone to check out your website and tell you what to do, I also think the folks at Titan SEO are great too!
We don’t know if we’ll be able to answer all of your, “What the heck is SEO, anyway?” questions in this series of posts we have planned. Admittedly, we don’t have ALL the answers about content SEO or website SEO ourselves. But, we know some stuff. We do promise, however, to share the SEO basics with you.
(This post 1 of 4 in a series on SEO and SEO Basics)
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