What does SEO stand for?! Explaining the basics:

First things first, what does ‘SEO’ stand for and what does it mean?

Search Engine Optimisation: How to optimise your website to rank higher on search engines (such as Google.)

Why Is SEO Important?

When we search for something online, the words we search for are analysed, and the search engine suggests results of websites that it thinks will be relevant. The most relevant will be nearer the top. People rarely look past the first page of results, so that is where you want your website to be!

What are Keywords?

You will create your SEO plan to fit certain ‘keywords’; these will be the words which your ideal customer or client will type into their search. For example ‘Yoga in Southampton’ or ‘Hotels in the New Forest’. If your website includes lots of text and titles which include the words ‘yoga’ ‘Southampton’ or ‘hotels’, ‘New Forest’ then the search engine will rank your website higher, because it knows that you are providing relevant content. The concept is so simple!

However, the layers of SEO possible today mean that it has become a lot more complicated. Staying up-to-date with the latest trends is almost a full-time job, something which business owners do not usually have time to!

Many people choose to outsource aspects of SEO to a professional. However, even doing this can feel intimidating if you feel like an SEO novice – what if they start using jargon you don’t understand!? We hope this article will give you enough confidence to start a conversation about SEO, even if you’re not an expert. Most people aren’t!

What do I need to know about SEO?

• SEO is an ongoing process which you need to continually monitor and track. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as setting it up and leaving it to look after itself!
• You do have to be clever and genuine in the way that you put keywords into your website. If you ‘stuff them in’ in a way which hampers readability, the search engine will know! It must be done naturally.
• The speed of your website is a factor in how highly it ranks in a search engine. If a site is slow, this affects the user experience and the search engine will not put it near the top of the results.
• Having hyperlinks that direct people to other places on your site and other websites also affects your SEO. Ultimately, you want other websites to make hyperlinks to your site as well.
• As well as text, there are important changes you can make to the images on your website. They all have labels which are called ‘ALT-TEXT’. BY labeling these with your keywords, such as ‘Yoga’ and ‘Southampton’, your SEO is improved.

SEO is an ever-growing and increasingly complex part of marketing your business, but one which can produce wonderful results when done properly. There is a lot that can be learnt by reading articles online, or by booking in a training session with someone who knows their stuff! At LittleBigBox, we offer training at a very reasonable rate for group or individual sessions tailored to suit your level. Get in touch if you’d like a full session, or just have a specific question to ask!

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