SEO stands for search engine optimisation. SEO is the process of improving your website's performance in organic search results on search engines through best practice website structure, content and code. Got it? No? Ok, try this…
What is a search engine?
Search engines are software systems designed to search for information online to help you find what you are looking for. Google, Bing, and Yahoo! are the most popular. Search engines rely on the quality and reputation of their search results to survive.
What are search results?
When you enter a search on Google, it returns a list of suggested website pages called primary search results. This content is ranked based on what the search engine considers to be the most relevant to its users. The search engine works this out using its exclusively-developed algorithm that scans and evaluates all of the websites and content online.
What do you mean by organic search?
By organic, we mean search results that have not been paid for, so not the adverts on the results page or content you’ve paid the platform to distribute for you. One such example of paid-for advertising online is pay-per-click (PPC) where the advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked on. Another example is popup ads where a new window appears in futon of the website content.
What are algorithms?
Algorithms are lists of rules. In the context of search engines, we are talking about standards for best practice - such as website structure, content and code - and also misdemeanours which will result in ranking penalties or even being banned from the search engine entirely.
What is best practice?
SEO is a multi-billion dollar industry, so there’s no simple answer to SEO best practice, and things are changing all the time. However, here are some practical rules to follow:
Always remember that the words you use in your content, titles and links matter. Make sure your language is clear, concise and is how your audiences would write.
Search engines pay particular attention to titles and headers as these should be good indications of what your page is about and who would find it interesting - make sure they are just that.
Regularly flush your website with new, relevant content and remove and update old pages that are less relevant or not working.
Search engines are also interested in your brand mentions across the web, the performance of your social media channels and how many high-quality links you have to your website from external sources. So, don’t be shy to ask your clients, consultants, media partners, and suppliers to link to your site when relevant to do so.
What kind of misdemeanours?
Any tactic that is attempting to trick a search engine’s understanding of a website’s significance and influence receive ranking penalties. For example, ‘spamming’ - when extra links and nonsense content is created to attempt to fool search engines - and ‘cloaking’ - a technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different from that presented to the user's browser.
There are spiders?
Yes indeed. Spiders, crawlers and bots are all nicknames for the search engine’s programme that visits your website and crawls all over the pages, structure, and code.
Can I do SEO myself or do I need help?
As you would hope, there is a plethora of good quality guidance and advice online, so it is possible to teach yourself and your team the basics. Here is one such Guide to SEO by Moz and here is a fantastic review of 188 SEO Tools by Brian Dean, SEO guru and founder of Backlinko. However, there is a reason SEO is now an $80 billion industry, and I would heartily recommend talking to a few SEO Agencies about what they do and how they can help you.