Many people who hear the acronym “SEO” aren’t quite clear what it is. If you’re wanting to learn more about what exactly SEO is and what it can do for you, read on. In this post I will cover the basics of SEO – from the ground up, making as few assumptions as possible about your computer and internet knowledge. Granted, if you’re hearing the acronym SEO, I’m going to guess you are somewhat savvy with working on a computer and the internet. Maybe you’re a new web or graphic designer, or maybe you’re a small business owner with a website. Or you might be someone researching internet marketing, and have discovered the importance of learning all about SEO.
SEO is pretty much what this website is all about (the “Rank Higher” part is, anyway!). The acronym ‘SEO’ stands for Search Engine Optimization, and before we even get into definitions of what that is, we probably should first clarify what a search engine is. A “search engine” is simply the search functionality you find with Google, Yahoo, Bing, AOL, or whatever platform you choose to search on the internet. So when someone talks about a “search engine”, they just mean the search results you get if you enter a phrase or a word to search into Google, Bing, MSN (there are plenty of them!). Now I know we are getting extremely basic here for some of you, but I just want to be sure we have everyone covered in this post.
Definition of SEO
“SEO”, or “Search Engine Optimization” can be defined to mean making your website optimized in such a way that search engines such as Google or Bing can place your website higher in their search result listings. There are certain elements of any website that the search engines look for which flag your website as being particularly meaningful in relation to any search phrase people enter. So for example, if you were to go to Google and search for “used cars”, you end up with websites such as AutoTrader.com being first, UsedCars.com second, and others (this is what I get at the time of this writing). The question to ask is, why do those websites show up first, and not others? If you take that same search phrase and extend it just a bit, say for example, search for “used cars for sale” in Google, now you get UsedCars.com first, and AutoTrader.com second. So why UsedCars.com first this time around, with AutoTrader.com second? What changed? Basically this is what SEO is all about – taking certain search phrases and making your website optimized in such a way that you boost your own search result listing for that specific phrase.
How it’s helpful for you should be obvious. You want your own website to show up before others, so that someone else searching for a particular word or product or information will be more likely to click yours more than others. I mean, think about it – how often do you scroll through pages and pages of Google results looking for that perfect website? Most of will sometimes click through lots and lots of results, but most often, we click on something within the first page of results. And most of all, we click on very top 2 or 3 of results. It might surprise you to know that over 40% of clicks are on the website that is in the #1 spot. That’s a lot of clicks, at least more than the others, and this is where SEO comes in. SEO is the efforts you make with your website to get ranked in that prime #1 spot.
In another article, I will discuss getting started with specific, concrete steps you can take in optimizing your website for search engines. For now I hope I have covered the core basics explaining what SEO is. SEO is simply optimization of your website with the intent of ranking higher in Google, Yahoo, AOL, and other search engines.
If you have comments or questions, feel free to use the Comments form below, or send me an email with your specific question. Thanks for visiting! – Eric
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hi Eric like the post and you explained the elements of SEO well, I wish you lots of luck with your business and by the way your son is so adorable ! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the info….i am trying to get my site to rank for the exact term Used cars for sale…lets see how long it takes me to get there!!