A Beginner's Guide to SEO

Owned by Nathan Birch (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 16, 2021 by Havil Paspula (Unlicensed)

A simple guide to what SEO is and the basics of how it works.

What is SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. In short, it is the process of getting your website to rank highly on search engines such as Google for specific keyword search terms eg: estate agents in Putney

How does it work?
Search engines such as Google use various algorithms to work out what website should rank highly for certain searches. There are around 260 different things they will look for on a website, placing more emphasis on certain criteria than others.

Whilst some of these criteria are quite technical, the majority of SEO will be judged upon your website content ie: the wording you have used on your website pages and whether it is relevant to the keyword search term

What are the main factors that help?

  • Word content - Ensuring your website page content contains the relevant keywords in the titles and main body of text

  • A responsive website - ie: a website that works on all devices including mobile, tablet and desktops

  • Fresh content - It's important the content of your website is updated regularly to let Google know your business is active. A blog is a great way to do this

  • Video content - Google prioritises websites that contain video content

  • SSL security - Google actively penalises websites without an SSL certificate (which provides a padlock icon in the internet browser)

  • Ensure every website page has a different window title and meta description

  • Ensure any images you have uploaded to VIA have been has "alt tagged." Click on any image in VIA and simply add keywords to the image separated by a comma. This will help your SEO as well as ensuring those images appear in Google Image searches

  • Star ratings/reviews - Google Reviews, Feefo and Trustpilot are three great ways to get star rated reviews recognised by Google

  • Back links- If you can get a link to your website on a reputable third party website it will help. Writing guest blogs or getting a third party to share your blog is a great way to do this. Also, if you work with partners, it's a great idea to link to each other's website for mutual benefit