Search Engine Optimization for Newbies: Part 1

Posted On October 12th, 2010 Author Kyle Racki Filed Under Business, Marketing 0

We often get asked about Search Engine Optimization when starting a new web project for a client. Usually the conversation starts something like “How do we appear #1 on Google for every keyword in the dictionary?” The client has no idea what SEO stands for or what it is.

It’s with that in mind that I write this 3 part series which may seem elementary to anyone who deals with websites on a professional level. But for people who are experts in other things, like law and real estate, SEO seems complicated and they need just a brief basic intro to help get acquainted with the really simple concept. This series summarizes the 20 minute conversation I usually have with newbies, it’s here for all to see.

The series will cover these 3 topics:

How do I get on Google?
How do I optimize my website?
How can I improve my ranking and get closer to #1?

How do I get on Google?

The first question you may ask when getting your website rebuilt, or recognizing the lack of search performance on your existing site is “How do I get on Google?”

I will use Google as the basis for this post, but please note most of what I am referring to is common among other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing, however with 83.34% of the market-share at the time of this writing, it’s safe to assume Google is the primary focus of your efforts.

How Google works

Google in a nutshell, is a massive database of links. It employs what are called ‘bots’ or ‘spiders’ which are automated programs that “crawl” virtually every website on the planet, reading it’s content and posting it in their database. So, really getting on Google is automatic, there’s nothing you need to do to get in it’s database. But keep in mind when first launching a site, that it takes time to even get on Google, let alone rank highly. Don’t expect to be #1 for a long time—if at all—unless you are prepared to put in the work.

Speeding up the process

If you have a brand new website, it will take the bots some time to get around to crawling your page. There are a couple of ways to make this happen faster, the most simple being to start a Google Webmasters account, add your site, and create a sitemap for google to crawl (basically just a text file with links to the pages on your website).

Being penalized

Also, if your site has been around for some time and it’s not showing up at all, even when searching specifically for your company name, there may be something wrong. Google may have your site penalized for unwittingly breaking it’s rules. This can happen for a number of reasons, and you can fix these issues yourself by doing a little home work or hiring a professional.

The second part of this series will deal with the question: How do I optimize my website?

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