Ideas on what you should know about SEO, at least

by | Dec 2, 2013 | Informative Blog, SEO Tips | 0 comments

Search Engine Journal released a blog post: What’s The Bare Minimum You Should Know about SEO?. In this article they make some good points and I would like to  add just a few more. First let’s discuss a few of their points:

They point out it that it may be a bit strange to recommend that you should only know the minimum about SEO but the reality is, if you are a small business owner you must know a great deal about your profession, running your business, client support, purchasing, employee engagement and the list goes on. In truth most small business owners realize that they should know social media, blogging, website management, content and of course SEO. But the other hard truth is, there is just not enough brain space for more than the minimum that you MUST know.

In this post they point out that it is vital to know what it is and of course if you don’t know what it is then you do need to start there. They give their own definition:

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” 

I would like to offer an expanded more human definition or rather explanation. SEO is a process that if implemented well can help you rank better on the search engines. When I say “rank” I mean get on the first page of google. Just being found on Google does not help you. It is of no value if you are on page 109 because people rarely even get past the first page.

Doing SEO means putting a set of tactics such as updating your meta title, meta description and even meta keywords into action. 

Caution: Do not think just because you start SEO efforts that you will suddenly be on the first page of Google. It takes time, effort and yes more time and more effort.

What is a SEO Meta Title?

An SEO Meta Title is the title that people will see as a link on search engines. This title should not be more than 70 characters long. In a lot of cases it will be the same as your page or blog title but that does not have to be the case. There are times when you may want a clever page title or blog title but want to be a bit more descriptive in the meta title. I would recommend making your meta title informative first and catchy last. When people are searching for something online they want to find the answer to a question above being amused. If you manage to do both in one title the your odds of being clicked do likely increase.

What is a SEO Meta Description?

In essence, it is the description that people see on a search engine under the link. It is the description of the page that entices people to click on the page. This consist of around 150 characters and is one of the most important sentences that you will write for a web page. It will be the reason that people either click on your title link or scroll on down. In the image below the sentence in the red box is the seo meta description by Moz.

what should i know about seo?

 

What are Meta Keywords?

Meta keywords are seo keywords that are sometimes used by the search engines to help figure out what the page is about. It is said by many that the search engines no longer use these and that you do not need to fill them out. My theory is that do it all just to be on the safe side. If the keywords serve no other purpose, they will help you make sure that you are on track with your content.

Meta keywords are words or phrases separated by a comma such as:

seo terms, search engine optimization, what you should know about seo, seo tips.

The keywords above are what I actually used in my seo for this post.

What SEO Terms confuse you? What SEO phrases would you like to better understand?