Search Engine Optimization Tips for Beginners

If you are creating your own website, you need to know about search engine optimization. Especially if you are starting your own business, it is crucial to at least know the basics in order to get your website ranking higher on search engine results pages. Here is a quick overview containing our best search engine optimization tips.

When thinking about search engine optimization, it’s all about understanding what search engines (like Google or Bing) are looking for when they crawl your site. There is no short answer to what they are looking for, and in fact how your site will be ranked is based on several complicated algorithms that you could spend weeks trying to understand. Instead, become familiar with ranking signals, which are various items that let search engines know your website is complete and deserving of a high ranking. Below will be a list of some of the most important ranking signals that you need to be aware of when launching your website. Google also released a starter guide that will help you with understanding the basics, as well as some more complex ideas when it comes to search engine optimization.

First and foremost, never forget that the content you create is what matters the most. It’s easy to get bogged down with all the various components that make a website come together, but what will always be most important is the actual information you are providing. Your users or customers expect great content, and can always go and find it somewhere else if they aren’t satisfied. Therefore, of all the search engine optimization tips, this one is most important. Without anyone visiting your website or buying your products, there would be no need for your website at all. Web crawlers also reward good content, so always make this the priority.

As for specific ranking signals that will help shoot your website to the top of results pages, something that has become increasingly important is being mobile friendly. More and more users are searching for things via their mobile devices, meaning that you need to have a mobile friendly version of your website. Again, this is a tip that will help with ranking highly, but also is about making sure your customers are able to access and enjoy your site.

When planning the content of your website, you need to first do keyword research. Keywords clue web crawlers in on what your website is about, so you need to do a really good job of selecting the right words based on the industry you are in and what your website is selling or providing. From there, your keywords will be used throughout your website in areas like titles and meta descriptions. Overusing keywords will only penalize you, so be sure to use them wisely. Also, keep in mind that web crawlers are not able to “read” images, meaning that any images you have on your website will not help you rank higher unless you provide them with a description. This description, called an alt tag, will allow web crawlers to have an understanding of what the images are, which will only give them a better idea of what your overall website is.

There have been several search engine optimization tips dealing with keywords, and that is because they really are crucial when building your website. By taking the time early to determine which keywords will work for your website, you are saving yourself a lot of time and energy down the line. Fixing an old website and making it search engine friendly is much more difficult than creating a new website, and will result in waiting longer to see results. Start early, plan ahead, and you’ll be in great shape!