What Is SEO, And How Does It Work?

It is surprising how many business owners have websites built but they don’t take make the effort to learn about how websites work and how competitive the search engine environment is. If you build a website, you have to make it has to be optimised for search engines.

What is SEO?

SEO is the abbreviation for Search Engine Optimisation.

It is to optimise your website with relevant keywords so that your website can found on those particular search terms or keywords. In other words, when someone types in a phrase in the search engine, your website should appear amongst the list of search results.

Take a moment to think about your website. What do people type into a search engine to find your products or services?

Now think about whether you have that particular phrase or word on your website. If that keyword is not on your website, it will simply not appear in the search results.

The first step would be to determine which keywords people search for to find your type of business. Then you need to add it to your website, about 3 to 4 times. It also needs to appear in the meta description and meta tags.

In addition, you need to compose the content for each page so that it adheres to all the search engine optimisation rules. These include the keyword being in the heading and the first paragraph. You need to do this for each web page. There are certain online tools that you can use that will help you to determine whether your website is optimised. Alternatively you could have an SEO expert do this for you.

As part of SEO, you also need to build links to your website on a regular basis. It is a clever way to advertise your business indirectly, too. There are many ways to do this which includes listing it on business directories or article sites. Avoid automated computerised link building where you can buy bulk links. If search engines notice that you are using computerised means to do SEO, they can shut down your website.

Search engine optimisation is often over looked because you think about the design first, but the body of content is more important. If you don’t have the relevant keywords on your website you won’t be found.

Take the time to analyse your website from an SEO point of view so that you gain the full benefits of owning a website.