It is really important to begin by saying that in actual fact Search Engine Optimization is by no means basic. In no way is the process of optimizing a website for the likes of Google or other top Search Engines an easy process or one that can be explained in idiot terms. Having said that, it would be helpful for people new to SEO or new to internet marketing in general to be fed a few of the most important facts in the simplest of fashions possible.
What would not be helpful would be to bombard SEO fledglings with SEO jargon at every turn. Articles that do not cater for those new to the subject force potential SEO users into turning off their computers after reading only one or two paragraphs. These poor, disheartened souls then go back to the old school process of simply creating more business leaflets and brochures to hand out on the street and leave in cafes around town
Confusing potential SEO users is not the best way of encouraging progress. Businesses and organizations need progress and making good use of the Internet is an absolute must in the 21st century. Any business or organization that is not utilizing the power of the Internet is at a severe disadvantage, particularly when considering the fact that the process of SEO, even though perhaps difficult to master at first, is FREE! For this reason, this article is VERY basic, but also VERY accessible. You’re never too old or too much of a dinosaur to learn SEO.
With that in mind, the lecture begins…
The following ten points outline how the information from millions of websites is translated by Google into an organized number of listings for its SERP. The ten points are clear and free of jargon (well, there’s not too much jargon included) so that all those people new to SEO won’t be feeling the need to run for the hills.
More importantly, however, these top ten tips are a little more dynamic and fun than a lot of the content to be found about SEO on the Internet today. Contrary to popular belief, SEO geeks are fun, cool and hip. They have social lives to die for and reputations for being the life and soul of any party they attend. SEO is cool and to prove that claim, the ten points below are accompanied by ten different music references. Whilst learning about SEO, you can also have fun trying to match the names of the songs and artists to the lyric phrases we have highlighted. (All answers are listed on a separate page that you can click to via a link at the bottom of the article… but do try NOT to cheat!)
So, read on, learn about SEO in simple terms and sing along to some good old favorites and lesser known beauties whilst you do it!
1. “Caught me crawling baby, crawling round your door”
The first thing that a search engine does that is important for SEO purposes is it crawls the Internet looking for pages and documents that are relevant to a search inquiry.
2. “Split second, I did not want to be stuck, one second longer than I had to be there”
Once the search engine has crawled through the pages, it organizes everything into a giant list of contents that it can later search through within a fraction of a second.
3. “You and me together we’re a perfect match”
When an internet user enters a search query into the search engine’s browser, the giant list of contents, already created in point number 2, is scanned through to find as many matches as possible. These matches are then listed on the Search Engine’s Results Page (SERP) and the internet user can click on any link they wish to.
4. “He’s a smooth operator, smooth operator”
A really important fact to be aware of in SEO terms is that there are a series of different operators that internet users can utilize in order to help the search engines filter the results even further. For more information about the operators that Google uses to distinguish between different kinds of search engine inquiries, a link to a handy breakdown has been included here.
Operators are very important to SEO because they help to filter keyword matches. If an SEO expert can cover all possible boundaries concerning the combinations of possible keywords and operators, their website will become much more searchable and feature more regularly on the first page of a Google Search, for example.
5. “Full stop. Ranking full stop. Said ranking full stop. Brr-yeah”
Once the search engine has found all the results which it determines to be relevant matches for any given search query, it begins to rank them in order; from best match to poorest match. How it decides to rank the websites is very important to SEO. If you understand the ranking process, your SEO will improve. To find out how websites are ranked, keep reading…
6. “But don’t you wanna be relevant?”
Search engines rank the order of their websites firstly through relevant content. If the website is full of lots of fresh content that is relevant to the search query it will feature higher in the search listings. For example, if keyword matches abound, the website is likely to be considered more relevant. In addition…
7. “How important can it be, that I tasted other lips?”
Search engines also rank the order of their websites because of how important that website appears to be. If there are a lot of hyperlinks linking to that site from other sites, the search engine considers that site to be an authority on the subject and therefore more important than others. A good SEO technique to try is to get other websites to link to yours. Incoming links make your website look important and improve SEO quality. Do be very careful, however, of offering link exchanges with other websites. Links going away from your website reduce its authority and its importance. Drive the traffic in, not out! Furthermore…
8. “With a little bump and grind, with a little bump and grind”
Bumps are things that hinder the ability of spiders when crawling your website. They prevent websites from being featured highly on SERPs. Bumps can be found in websites that have complex links or sites that are deep with lots of pages, making URLs unnecessarily long. Therefore, to improve SEO quality, keep the website simple and keep those URLs as short as possible.
9. “I’ve banged my head too long, on these brick walls”
Walls are another example of things that can hinder the crawling of search engine spiders and therefore the SEO effectiveness of a website. Walls come in the form of pages requiring drop down menus, pages requiring a log-in, or documents accessible only via a search box. Get rid of website structures like these to improve your SEO.
10. “Direct me straight to my woman’s love”
The overall key to SEO success is to make sure that site content is fully accessible to crawling spiders. To do this, make sure you provide direct, HTML links to each page that you want the search engine to index. If a page cannot be accessed from the homepage, where most spiders crawl, it is probable that the search engine won’t index it.
Well, there we have it. That was a very quick, easy to read and hopefully “less painful” explanation on the basics of SEO. We repeat.. BASICS of search engine optimization. For the answers which match all the lyrics to their respective songs and artists, click here. If you have any further queries or comments about SEO, please do click on the Contact Tab in the top right hand corner of this website and a PPC Account Manager from Webrageous Studios will be in touch as soon as possible.
Aside from that, make sure you keep up to date with all the blog posts and articles on the Webrageous Studios Website. Help us to keep you abreast of all matters SEO and PPC Management related.
