This article was last updated in 2020. Tools and interfaces change; the principles still apply. Ask us if you want the current version of this advice.
For the novice, the total beginner, the guy or gal who’s trying to get a grasp on what SEO is, and how you do it I have laid out the following description, starting with a basic definition: Search Engine Optimization is the work that is done on and off your website in the pursuit of gaining higher ranking for it in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
You’ll notice that I distinguish work that is done on your website, as well as off it. That’s because there are things you can do both on your website, like improving the relevancy of the meta tags, improving the relevancy of the content, and ensuring that you have no broken links, as well as off the website, such as link-building, which is done through reputable and relevant websites, social media, and directories.
It is important to keep in mind that the ones who make all the rules in the game of SEO are search engines like Google. It’s also important to remember that they can change the rules at any time, and that, actually, no one has ever had the complete ‘rulebook’ at any given time. Google does not share the formula on how they rank websites, it’s like the recipe for Coke, the value of which is another topic. However, Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, and SEO poster boy, has given plenty of clues about the algorithm over
Matt Cutts is kind of like Moses for SEOs, bringing down the good word from the almighty Google, except instead of specific commandments we get suggestions, stories, and sometimes a smile and a wink. It is through his carefully crafted words, and of course, through websites loved by SEOs, like searchengineland.com, that we have crafted the rulebook, or guideline, if you will, that keeps getting modified.the last decade or so.
You might be wondering how it all started. Well, in the early days of the internet a search for your favorite musical artist could produce results of obscene pictures, or just results that clearly had nothing to do with that singer. Being that the nature of the free market is to bring out the best product through competition, Google started to improve upon its algorithm to deliver the most relevant results for what the user searched for, thus the industry of SEO was born.
The latest modifications to this SEO rulebook came last month in May, and was called Panda 4.0. As usual, the entire update was not published, but the information that was released through SEO websites was that it focused on penalizing poor content, and that it focused its efforts on different languages.
If you’d like to get a more in depth analysis on specific things SEOs do on and off websites you can read my last article, 5 Ways SEO Can Help Your Website, and as usual, if you’d like to get SEO service for your website call our office to talk to my manager, Mike about our cost-efficient ways of getting a higher ranking from search engines for your website.
Allan Todd, Chief Marketing Officer
Digital marketing expert with 22+ years in marketing, SEO, content marketing and website design. Has worked with hundreds of businesses in Colorado Springs and nationwide since 1997.
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