When it comes to understanding SEO, most of us have no idea where to start. Other than knowing it is something our websites need, understanding SEO is something which can leave us feeling stressed, overwhelmed and completely confused. That’s why we’ve written a short guide to help you get to grips with what SEO is and how you can use it.

Understanding SEO – What is it?

SEO or search engine optimisation, are the things you do to increase your website’s visibility and ranking in search engines. The main aim of SEO is to increase your organic or free traffic from search engines, ranking on the first page in search results, which increases your traffic.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing use the information you have provided in your SEO work to decide whether to show your site in search results and if so, where it should be placed. However, there is never ever definitive answer on the type or quantity of SEO you should perform for a website. There are 3 main types of SEO.

Understanding SEO – 3 Types of Search Engine Optimisation

There are three main types of SEO work for a website:

    • On page SEO
    • Off page SEO
    • Technical SEO

Each of these areas or types are highly specialised and you’ll generally find SEO experts tend to specialise in one area specifically. While each type of SEO is important, some parts are easier to implement than others.

On page SEO

This mostly refers to the content you can see on your website. Things such as headings, meta tags, written content, headings, internal links, keywords keyword density, page titles and image SEO. This is the easiest area for you to work on improving and includes keyword research.

Off page SEO

These are the factors which are not contained on your website. This includes factors like the links to your site from other sites and the length of time you have owned your domain. Creating amazing content that attracts your audience is one of the best tactics for Off page SEO. Other factors can include social media engagement, Influencer outreach and even giving testimonials to companies you like.

Technical SEO

This is mostly concerned with the way your website has been built and how well it can be ‘read’ by search engines. To improve technical SEO you need to have (at a minimum) Google Analytics, Google Search Console and if you have a WordPress website, the Yoast plugin activated.

Website Resources

One of the best resources on the web which helps with understanding SEO was written by Moz and is called The Beginner’s Guide to SEO. It is well worth a read and will help you dive deeper into understanding and using SEO.

Remember that when it comes to SEO, there can be no definitive answers. Search engines use hundreds of different factors when it comes to ranking a website and are constantly updating their algorithms.  For this reason, SEO is never static and should be regarded as something you are continually updating, not something you do and forget about.

Look at our Services page for information on how we can help you grow your presence on the web, without costing you a fortune!