A beginner's guide to SEO
December 6, 2011 at 9:24 AMThis blog post was written by John Straw, VP of Business Development for Linkex, and has been reproduced here with his permission.His contact details are at the bottom of the article.
If you’ve got a website, you need to be doing SEO. It’s as simple as that. Search engine optimisation can help your website to feature prominently on search engines like Google.
So if you have a flower shop in Wigan, it’s about optimising your website so that when someone types in “flower shop in Wigan” on Google, your website is at or near the top of the results list. Without SEO, you may not appear at all.
SEO is a fast-moving discipline and there’s a lot of competition for the pole positions online. So SEO is something that has to be done regularly and it pays to keep up with the latest SEO tools and techniques. And that includes being active on social media as well as optimising your website with keywords.
What is SEO?
We’ve got a whole range of content to help small businesses with SEO — from beginners’ guides to more in-depth SEO strategy.
If you are an SEO novice, start by reading this article — What is SEO and why should you be doing it? by one of our SEO experts James Gurd. It includes all the SEO must-haves for your website. It’s also worth watching this four-minute video — What can SEO do for your business?
Keywords for search engine optimisation
It’s important to understand which words and phrases are commonly used in searches for your type of product or service. The Google Keyword tool can help you find the best words and phrases.
Keyword research — a beginner’s guide by SEO expert John Straw is a great place to learn about keywords. For more advice, read our ten-point guide, How to choose the best keywords for your website.
Building links to boost traffic
Google rewards websites that link to other relevant sites and especially those that attract a lot of links too. You can actively increase the number of good links in and out of your site to boost traffic. Find out how by reading John Straw’s article on Link building tips and strategies. Or check out James Gurd’s article, Building links to boost your website ranking.
Using SEO to improve local search results
The internet may be global, but most small firms are casting their net in their local area and their SEO strategy needs to reflect this. We’ve got lots of good articles on local search issues including: Local attraction: reach the top of the rankings and How to use Google Places listings to find customers.
Improving your SEO strategy
If you are ready to take your SEO strategy to the next level, set aside some time to read this excellent piece by Glen Allsopp, The ultimate guide to keyword research. It’s long but it is well worth it.
Having problems with SEO? Check out these useful articles — Three SEO mistakes you must avoid and Why have my search engine rankings dropped?
Finally, it’s vital to keep up with the latest developments. SEO is a fast-changing discipline. Read John Straw’s recent blog, Reflected glory: the changing face of SEO, to discover the latest thinking on SEO.
About John
Founder, VP business development at Linkdex
MacMillan House, Platform 1, Paddington Station, London, W2 1FT
Contact: John Straw
I have 16 years of helping start-ups with their digital marketing in California and the UK. I've seen how smart businesses benefited from staying ahead of the competition with their digital marketing.
I'm absolutely passionate about what I do and make sure I introduce my customers to the most up-to-date knowledge and the best marketing techniques for their business. I'm lucky enough to have been given a few accolades in my time, too, including winning eConsultancy's prestigious search innovation award 2011 and being named one of the top 100 marketers of 2009 by Courvoisier.
Want to know more? Feel free to get in touch.
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