Want to know what SEO is and how it works? We’ve made this simple SEO guide for you.
What is SEO?
As digital marketers based in Surrey, we understand that the world of search engine optimisation can seem a little daunting. One of the biggest questions that we get from our clients here is – what is SEO and how does it work? If you’re running a small business or just starting to build a website our digital marketing agency based in Surrey highly recommend familiarising yourself with SEO. Once you’ve learned the basics from this blog, the SEO world is your oyster and you’ll be generating traffic in no time.
Below, our digital marketing experts who are based in Surrey provide an answer to the million-dollar question – what is SEO and how does it work? We’ll also cover some of the basics of SEO so that you can better understand how it impacts your business and what you need to do to be in good shape.
In short, SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. Think of Google as a library index, its sole goal is to provide you with relevant information concerning your search. The quicker and easier you find your search goal the happier Google is. The more relevant your information is to the users query, the higher your page will rank.
Affect On-Page And Off-Page SEO
Our expert digital marketers believe that content marketing is always a good place to start. Simply put, the more quality and relevant content pieces that you have on your site, the more likely search engines will be to rank your pages higher on the search results page.
Here are just a few types of content that you can focus on to help improve your content offering and, thus, your search engine rankings:
- Blog posts and articles
- Social media content
- E-books and white papers
- How-To Guides and Tutorials
- Videos and audio recordings
- Infographics or other visual content
On-page SEO
Our SEO specialists based in Surrey see On-page SEO as an important starting point, but there are more elements that you can control.
Title Tag – The title tag on each page tells the search engines what your page is about. This should be 70 characters or less, including both the keyword your content focuses on and your business name. Its the group of words that will show on the visitors browser tab.
Meta Description – The meta description on your website tells search engines a little bit more about what each page is about. This is also used by your human visitors to better understand what the page is about and if it’s relevant. This should include your keyword and also provide enough details to tell the reader what the content is about.
Sub-headings – Subheadings make it easier for searchers to read your content. Achieving the page goal revolves around clarity! Use your subheadings to make your content more clear and better organised.
Internal Links – Internal links can be placed anywhere from previous blogs to infographics already on your site. This will help Google understand what your website is all about.
Your SERPs are also affected by off-page SEO.
Trust – Trust is becoming an increasingly important factor in a site’s Google ranking. This is how Google determines whether you have a legitimate site that visitors can trust. One of the best ways to improve trust is by encouraging quality backlinks from sites that have a good authority.
Links – One of the most popular ways to build off-page SEO is through backlinks. You want to be careful here as spammy links from non relevant websites can harm your rankings. Instead, take the time to build relationships with influencers and fans who create quality content and will link back to your site in their own content.
Social – Another important off-page SEO factor is social signals, such as likes and shares. When it comes to boosting SEO, you want to look for quality shares from influencers. The more quality content you publish, the more likely you will be to get people to share your content with others.
Contact us
Having read through our SEO list you should have a little more knowledge of what SEO can do to improve your business’ online appearance. We hope you now have a better understanding of the online marketing space. If you want your business to be found online then get in touch with our friendly team here at Thunderbolt. Call us 01252 413757 to set up a meeting!