Baffled by search engine optimization (SEO)? Here are ten quick facts to help you get to grips with this important topic.
1. Keywords help search engines understand what a page is about
If a page doesn’t contain the right keywords, search engines won’t be able to understand what that page is about. That means people are unlikely to find that page through a search engine.
Learn more about identifying and using keywords on your website here.
2. Links help search engines find pages
To understand the web, search engines send out bots which crawl pages and process the information on them. To do this, the bots follow links. That means if a page doesn’t have any links, search engines won’t know it exists. Make sure all your website’s pages have at least one link, even if it’s just a link from elsewhere on your site.
3. Search engines aim to satisfy their users, not website owners
Search engines don’t exist to give your website a boost, they exist to provide people with good results when a search is made. That means you need to understand the user intent behind any query you want to rank well for.
You can learn more about user intent here.
4. You must get the basics of SEO right if you want to rank
If you don’t get the fundamentals of SEO right, your website will struggle to achieve good rankings.
You can learn about the fundamentals of SEO (which include keywords, user intent and site structure) here.
5. Trying to cheat search engines can land your website with a penalty
Search engines have rules aimed at stopping website owners from cheating their way to high rankings. If you break those rules, either accidently or deliberately, your website could be removed from search engine results.
You can find Google’s Webmaster Guidelines here, and Bing’s version here.
6. Website security can be an SEO issue
Search engines don’t want to direct their users to a hacked website. That means if your site is hacked, it could be removed from search engine results. You can learn more about website security in this guide.
7. Major search engines offer free tools to help you get to grips with SEO
There are free tools you can use to get a better understanding of how major search engines view your website. These are Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
8. Local SEO has its own set of rules
If you run a business that serves a specific local area, you need to get to grips with local SEO on top of standard SEO. This guide will help you get started with local SEO.
9. You need to keep an eye on your competitors
Your website doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Your rivals will be trying to rank for the same keywords as you. Understanding their approach to SEO can help improve yours. You can learn about competitor research in this guide.
10. SEO is always changing
SEO techniques that worked 10 years ago no longer work today. SEO techniques that work today won’t last forever. That means you need to keep up to date with changing trends in the world of SEO.
Need help with your SEO? Try GoDaddy’s Search Engine Optimization tool. It can help you identify relevant keywords, track your rankings and more.
If you create a website with GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, then our SEO tool comes as part of the package.
