Understanding The Basics Of SEO - You Don't Need To Be Afraid!

If you're still not clear on what search engine optimization really is, or how it can help you, you've come to the right place. Today we're going to talk about the very basic components of SEO, to help business owners and marketers alike understand how it works, why it matters, and hopefully take something away that will benefit your work.

For starters - if you're not sure how the system of conducting a search and getting results on Google works, watch this really great explanation by Matt Cutts. This video has been watched nearly 2.5 million times, and really simplifies how your keyword search results in website matches.

Next, you're going to want to do some reading. My 3 favourite resources are:
- Moz
- Search Engine Land
- Search Engine Journal

Try to read at least one article daily; it will really help immerse you into the world of SEO and ensure you stay in the loop.

Now, it's time to learn the basics of SEO. It can really be broken down into two parts:
- On-Page Factors
- Off-Page Factors

On-Page Factors are the easiest component to understand. These factors are essentially the structure and skeleton of your website. This includes content, your URL, title and image alt tags, internal linking, site architecture, and a few other things. Many of you will choose to leave this stuff in the hands of your trusted web designer, and that's fine, as long as you have the conversation with them to ensure on-page SEO factors are included. Not all web designers have the technical experience, and you can't assume yours does, unless you ask the question.

Content is included in this section, but it's important to note that developing really great content is a major part of both ranking and customer conversion, and it's importance shouldn't be brushed over. Creating valuable, shareable content will also be a major part of your link-building strategy, as you need to have content that other people want to link back to.

Keyword research is also a critical component in developing your on-page factors, as well as your off-page factors. When it comes to knowing what words to include in your titles and tags, and knowing what to base your content around, the keyword research is a critical component of this. You can learn all about keyword research in this guide from Moz.

If you'd like to know more about all the on-page factors, Moz has another in-depth guide to walk you through each item separately.

Off-Page Factors is where this gets fun. This is the part that scares many people, but it doesn't have to. This is the area where your SEO efforts will have the biggest effect on your overall ranking. Link building is undeniably overwhelming at the best of times, and it might be the hardest part of this process to truly understand. I'd suggest reading this 89 page ebook if you really are committed to learning about link building. Another great resource from the lovely team at Moz.

So I hope that you now have a basic understanding of the core principals of search engine optimization. The core message here is that you don't need to be afraid of what you don't know. If you're in digital marketing, and have shied away from SEO, it's time to embrace it, learn it, and use it to help your customers. As you've already noticed, there are plenty of resources out there to help you!