Search Engine Optimization Basics

Is one of your goals for the new year to learn how you can drive more traffic to your organization’s website? Whether you’re updating an existing website or building an entirely new one, finding ways to attract site visitors is important. But it’s a topic that people often find confusing and more than a little overwhelming.

Search engine optimization, most commonly referred to as SEO, is complex and constantly evolving. The terminology alone is intimidating, and an SEO expert is typically needed to help with the more technical aspects of creating and implementing a strategy. But learning more about the industry is usually a good idea for anyone involved with marketing and promoting a business or brand. This is especially the case when it comes to creating or overseeing ongoing content, such as blog articles or guides.

In this article, part one of a two-part series on search engine optimization, we’ll tackle some of the basics of SEO. Then, in part two of our series, we’ll dig into on-page SEO in more detail. That includes sharing some suggestions on what you can do to optimize the content on your organization’s website. While Google doesn’t disclose a comprehensive list of factors that help a website rank, they do say content is a driving force.

Getting to Know SEO

Let’s start with a brief explanation of search engine optimization. In the simplest of terms, SEO is the process of improving a website to give it the best possible visibility with search engines. While there are smaller search engines, such as Bing and Yahoo, Google continues to be the most dominant of all. Despite Microsoft Bing’s recent growth, Google continues to capture nearly 84% of the market.

There are three basic types of SEO:

• Technical SEO: The architecture of your website is vital. It needs to be easy for search engines to access, crawl, and index the entire site. An SEO expert’s goal is to make sure an organization’s website offers a thoughtfully designed experience — everything from the speed with which each page loads to how mobile friendly it is. If you already feel lost, you’re in luck! We can help you with your website design. Our team of multimedia designers are experts at making sure your organization’s website offers that intentionally thoughtful experience that is needed to get you noticed! 
  
  
• Off-page SEO: This includes things that aren’t actually a part of your website but help build your brand, such as logos and your organization’s brand, customer service, public relations, social media, reviews, and claimed listings on directories or list services. These items can create synergy that helps improve your SEO.
  
  
• On-page SEO: This is the practice of optimizing the website content and code for both humans and search engines. You’ll want to learn more about the tasks associated with each of these. They range from making sure your content is designed with an online reader in mind to writing a meta description for each page you post. In part two of this series, we’ll cover both of these in greater detail.
  
  

WeConnect Supports Effortless Websites

If you are looking for an easy way to develop a new website for your agency or organization, WeConnect offers a simple solution. Sign up for a free demo to learn more!