If you’re a small business owner, you may have come across the term SEO and are wondering how to relates to the success (or failure) of your website and company. As with any modern technology, many of the SEO-related articles that are available both in print and online can prove brain-melting, even if you consider yourself far from computer-illiterate. So, with the help of UA Media – the top web designers in Lancaster – you can get your head around the basics of SEO in today’s blog where we tell you the key things you need to know in order to reap the benefits of internet search engines.
What is SEO?
It’s an acronym that stands for “search engine optimisation”, and it’s an essential part of ensuring that internet search engines like Google favour your website. By ensuring you stick to recommended industry standards, you can help attract more traffic (i.e. visitors or customers) to your site, and gain better page rankings. After all, if you’ve ever searched for a particular product on the internet, the chances of you clicking all the way through to Page 10 or more of the search results are unlikely. Therefore, you want to give your site its best possible chance of appearing on the first few pages – preferably, the first. If you don’t feel comfortable with optimising your website and its content yourself, you’d be well-advised to use the skills of professional web designers such as UA Media, who are based in Lancaster but help customers all across the UK.
Even though they’re not human, search engines can ‘scan’ your website to check for relevance. For example, if you’re selling cat food products, the likes of Google will want to ensure your site comes up in search results for “cat food products” and not “catteries”.
Is SERP the same as SEO?
In a word – no. SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. SERP relates to the order in which internet search engines rank pages, and provided you’re using SEO best practices, your SERP ranking will be good if not great.
How important is your website’s content quality?
One major element of SERP is high-quality content. As we mentioned earlier, search engines can’t read in the same way that humans can; however, they can sniff out bad practices like keyword cramming (using too high a density of key words that you wish your viewers and Google to focus in on), invisible text, and unrelated keywords to the content on your pages – tactics which are referred to in the industry as “black hat techniques”. Plus, search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, making it even more likely that your site will be penalised if you’re not using good search engine optimisation techniques. So, make sure your website focuses on your business’s or product’s unique selling point, and write interesting and relevant content that your visitors will find helpful, insightful and engaging.
Conclusion
So, now that you understand the basics of SEO, we’re sure you’ll want to ensure your website complies and, therefore, excels. You can save time, energy and, more importantly, mistakes by calling UA Media Web Designers in Lancaster today, and we’ll help ensure that new customers and clients can beat a path to your door. We can even help provide you with great web content that’s SEO friendly and tailored to your own business too!
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2014/10/30/seo-basics-for-small-business-owners/
