Search Engine Optimization Simplified

Search Engine Optimization is something you will hear about over and over again. People will mention it when referencing a new update from Google. It seems like a daunting task, but with several simple steps, you can manage the optimization of your content for the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization = Content

That’s correct. When search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing come looking at your site, they are looking at your content. If you follow a few simple “rules”, you will be ahead of the game.

Content Title

Have you ever had your attention grabbed by a news articles title? That is what you are going for with your own contents title. Make the title stand out to show just what your content is about.

The Content

Your title should grab the visitor and draw them into the content. However, the content must 1) match the title in terms of subject matter, and 2) be broken down into bite size chunks. What I mean by bite size chunks is paragraphs and sections.

Don’t be afraid to break down your content using subheaders. Far too often I see content with just blocks of text, perhaps a photo thrown in here and there, and no subheaders. Subheaders are great when you are switching gears and want to not lose the visitor. Let them know what the next area of content is about.

Visual Aids

Graphics are great within your content as appropriate. Don’t simply throw them in to fill up space. If they serve a purpose, such as supporting your content’s topic, great. If they are just fillers, ditch them.

While on the topic of graphics, make sure that you are serving an appropriately sized graphic, both in height and width as well as file size. More on that in the article titled "Optimizing Your Site’s Graphics – Some Helpful Tips".

Use Your Tools

If you are a WordPress user, meaning your site is running on WordPress, then you have a few plugins that can help with a ton of the optimization for search engines. The two big ones are Yoast SEO and All in One SEO. Each is a topic of its own, so click on the one you are using and dive in.

That’s really it for Search Engine Optimization. Sure we could get into more detail and look at the various resources out there which will help us choose target keywords and so much more, but for the basics, this just about covers it. Happy Search Engine optimizing!

Additional SEO Training

Not enough about SEO for you? No worries. Frugal Web Guy offers affordable training on topics such as this and more, built around the WordPress platform. Be sure to checkout the training arm of Michael Mann Web Design today!