SEO basics

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It deals with techniques used to increase the website findability in the search engine results page (SERPs).

Why should a website owner care about SEO?

Because:

1. The way a website behaves online can be improved even after it has been launched
2. The ranking of a website affects the traffic, and the traffic affects the return on investment
3. The competition does care about the ranking, and the competitors do their homework to advertise themselves online
4. Nobody wants the competition to win

White hat / black hat

There are several techniques out there that can be used to manipulate the behaviour of a website online. Some of them are not very fair play, and they are therefore called “black hat SEO”. But with the constant changing Google algorithms lately, black hat SEO has little chance to win. More often than not, the websites on which it has been performed are penalised by Google sooner or later. It is therefore better to avoid black hat SEO.

Things that matter, although you may think they don’t

1. Content

“Content is king” (Bill Gates, 1996).  Make sure you have enough content on your website before asking for SEO services. If a website is made out of only the homepage (containing 5 words and an image) and a contact page, there’s not much that can be done about SEO. Moreover, the content needs to be of good quality, relevant and original.

2. Blog

Having a blog matters in most cases. The blog is the one that can help you easily interact with your users. It creates the movement on your website, signalising to search engines that there is some activity out there. Not to mention the benefits it can bring to your users by keeping them up to date with your new products or services.

3.  Social media

Social media is equally important, do not neglect it. It’s not for teenagers only anymore! Social media is there to let you advertise your business and keep in touch with your customers. It will bring traffic to your website if managed accordingly and will eventually increase the number of your customers.

The reason why the above mentioned are important for your SEO strategy is because search engines have learnt how to check if web owners are genuinely interested into treating their visitors right. And they can show this interest by updating their content, blog, or social media accounts. Whoever has all these aspects in place will be ranking high!

Useful readings: 

1. Search Engine Journal http://www.searchenginejournal.com
2. Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/
3. Search Engine Land http://searchengineland.com/
4. http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/

Useful tip:

Follow these people and others like them on Twitter and connect through other social media, in order to be up to date with the constantly evolving SEO industry. Don’t leave yourself behind!