"Everything to Know About SEO"

What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is the process of improving your website's visibility when potential customers search for products or services related to your business on Google or other search engines. The more visible your page is, the better your chance to attract prospective customers to your business.

I bet you're thinking, "I get what it is now, but... how does it work?" Well, let me tell you. Different search engines use a thing we often refer to as bots that collects information from websites on the internet. The bots then take that information and store it in a centralized location, and then pull that information whenever you need it. So, when you ask for that information, via a Google search. they present to you options in order they perceive as best to last based on the SEO data they collected from each individual website. The better your SEO data, the higher in the Google Search results you'll be placed. Unlike paid ads, you cannot pay search engines to place your website in a higher ranking. See why this article is important now? SEO experts have to put in work, but, that's where we come in!

“Impactful SEO is rarely executed by a lone wolf." -Jes Scholz

How to SEO Your Website

Let us ask you a question. Is your website actually on Google? You may think the question is crazy but, let us tell you why it's not. When you're creating your websites through Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress, etc. often times people confused their website being published, with their website being placed on Google. After publishing your website, you have to make sure you set it to be viewable on Google, otherwise, no one will see your site unless you send them the direct link to it. Don't feel bad if you skipped this step. You are not the only one. Trust Us! To see if you have completed this step, just do a quick Google search of your company name to see if you find your website in the search results.

If you're not outsourcing to experienced SEO writers, optimization of your website will take time as you learn what works and what doesn't. Give yourself grace and don't be too hard on yourself. Get a pen and write this part down, this is important tea I'm spilling here. Search engines like Google look for some key factors when pulling and ranking websites for consumers.

• RELEVANCE - self explanatory. They are looking for relevant results to the searchers query. How often have you googled something and thought, "that's not quite what I asked for?"

• QUALITY - Maintaining up-to-date and accurate content is a MUST.

• EXPERIENCE - Experience isn't always just about the number of years you've been doing something. In this case, it's actually talking about the user experience and the difficulty level to navigate your website. If it's overly complicated to find the information someone is looking for once they click on your website, that is the quickest way to lose a potential customer to the competition.

• COMPATIBILITY - Your website must be able to be used across multiple platforms. In the days of technology and millennials, most people surf the internet on their phones instead of pulling out computers these days. Taking the time to ensure that the mobile browser and the web browser are seamlessly cohesive is highly beneficial.

• INTERNAL LINKS - Table of Contents help users navigate your site with ease and can lead to higher "trust signals" from the bots on Google.

• SITE SPEED - Nobody wants a sluggish website and oddly enough Google recognizes that and will place your website lower on the search results list because of it.

5 SEO Tips For Beginners

KEYWORDS CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU

Brainstorm Your Ideas - write down the service or product you supply and the words relating to that. Also, make sure you take into consideration your location your intended client base might be in. You may also, try to find a keyword research tool. Results may vary.

CREATE AND CIRCULATE AUTHENTIC CONTENT

This speaks for itself, no? Make sure that when you are creating your content, be you!

BE SOCIAL

You may notice that when you Google businesses, their social media accounts will pop up first before their website. That is because social media is the most used method of communication now. Adding your social media accounts means that Google will be able to provide your perspective clients with more web pages that pertain to you when they search for your business.

Optimize Your Images

Whether you are uploading the images to your social media or adding images to your website, it is imperative to tag your pictures with keywords, remember that word from earlier, so that Google will recognize that your business may be what the searcher is looking for and it can accurately index your website in it's correct category in its online library.

Use Google Analytics Tools

Everyone loves Google. Use it to your advantage! Google provides a great tool to use that tracks the traffic coming to your website. It's designed to allow users to get the most out of their web traffic and see the areas of improvement for your website and its presence on Google.

Black Hat SEO VS White Hat SEO

Think of the Black Hat and White Hat SEO as the bad guys vs the good guys of marketing. The Black Hat SEO is a set of unethical practices used to improve the ranking of a website. This usually entails a LOT of spam. The White Hat SEO uses all of the approved and ethical techniques to optimize your website and social media.

Black Hat SEO	White Hat SEO
Hidden Text	Use, Well-Written Content
Keyword Stuffing	Keyword Research
Link Manipulation	Natural Links
Spamming	Content Strategy
Link Farms	Focus On Quality
Irrelevant Backlinks	Brand Building
Clocking Redirects	On-Page Optimization

We'll save the information on what each of these things mean for another article. But, I think we've given you enough information to get you started. Plus, we can't give you ALL the sauce because, then... what would you use us for? Always remember...

"In a world of social clones, dare to be different.

Be a social misfit."

-Carli Rae'