SEO 101: How to Get Found Online in 5 Easy Steps

By now, as a business owner, you should know that you need to be online if you want customers to find you. Since most people search for places on their computer, phone, or another mobile device, having a website is in your best interest.  However, in addition to a site, you also need to have the right information so that you stand out from all of the other pages that exist online.  That’s where SEO 101 comes into play.

By including some of the most basic information, you can rank on search engines and be found by customers. When it comes to how to use SEO, below are some of the things that anyone can implement and use.

1. Learn How & What People Are Searching For

If you’re like the vast majority of people in this world, when you need to find a business online, you probably type-specific terms into the search bar. Consider what you are typing in. It usually consists of what you’re looking for and where it is located. Your customers are going to be no different.

When you’re trying to figure out how people are searching for your business, put yourselves in their position. If you own a gym in Seattle, consider how you would look for it. More than likely, you are going to type in things such as “gyms in Seattle” or “places to work out Seattle” or even “gyms near me.”

If you want to know precisely what customers type in when looking for your business, ask them. Send out a survey in your monthly newsletter or ask people as they come into your business. Having even a few keywords and phrases is enough to ensure that you are using SEO correctly and get yourself found online.

There are also sites you can go to that will show you the most popular terms and phrases people use to find businesses like yours.

Some are better choices to use than others, but this will give you an idea of what is being typed into search engines to find businesses that offer the same thing you do and how often people are using it. You can then use these on your site.

2. Optimize Pages For Search Engine (And People)

Once you have an idea of what terms are being used and how people are searching for your business, you can then optimize your pages for them.

This includes making sure that the keywords and phrases are added so that search bots can find you, but you also have to make sure your page will satisfy customers when they click on your link.

As you are probably well aware, there is a lot of information on the web. There’s even a lot of information about other businesses that offer what you offer.

If you can’t attract a customer’s attention in just a few seconds, they are going to move on to someone who can. Thus, when they come to your site, make sure it is structured in a way that makes them want to stay.

Some things you want to include on your webpage is content that is easy to read and understand and navigation that makes it simple for customers to find what they are looking for.

Things that you should consider getting rid of include pop-up boxes, opt-in boxes, or anything else that might annoy people. If they have to work to get to the information, including closing out a pop-out window, this may be enough to push them away from your site.

There are other ways to make your site’s information appealing to both humans and bots. As mentioned, this means having the right keywords and phrases included in your content. However, it also needs to include the following:

• Short, descriptive URLs
• Meta titles and descriptions
• Headers and subheaders within the material so that the information is logically structured and easy to scan
• Images that have been optimized with keywords and descriptions

Including these elements on your page will make it easy for humans and bots to determine if what you have to offer is precisely what they are looking for.

They won’t have to dedicate a lot of time to the initial search, but if you have what they want, they can then dive into your page and spend some time considering what you have to offer.

3. Make Sure Your Site Is Found By Search Engines

Your SEO basics strategy needs to work for two different customers: the human’s ones and the search bots. Creating pages for humans is probably the easier of the two tasks, as you can ask them exactly what they want and expect from the experience. When it comes to the search bots, since these change and evolve, this task is a bit more challenging—but it’s not impossible.

Your Page Needs to Load Quickly

One of the things that both humans and bots look for is how fast your webpage loads. Remember, you only have a few seconds to catch your reader’s attention, and if they have to wait to get the information, they will move on and find someone who can give it to them faster.

On average, you have 3 seconds to grab the customer’s attention. If your site takes longer than that to load, they will move on. Bots will also take this into consideration when searching the web. Make sure your information is engaging and loads quickly to appease both humans and bots alike.

Your Page Needs to be Optimized for Mobile Phones

When it comes to how to do SEO, not only does your website need to load quickly, but it also needs to be optimized for various devices. The vast majority of searches done by potential customers happens while they are on their phone.

Fonts that are too small and hard to read won’t appeal to customers on their phones. Bots also won’t like this. They want to deliver the most pertinent and easy to access information available to the searcher. Therefore, if your site isn’t optimized, customers will move past it.

Your Site Should Have an SSL Certificate

If you are asking for customer information and payment data, then you need to make sure your site is secure. Customers won’t want to buy things from you if they think that their identity or payment information is going to get stolen.

In addition, HTTPS is one of the ranking signals that Google uses, so it needs to be included in your SEO website strategy to help you rank.

Your Site Should Be Structured Properly

When you are looking for proven SEO, then you could choose monthly SEO services to get your content to appeal to both humans and bots, you need to make sure it is appropriately structured. Some of this happens on the backend, so customers usually don’t see it.

You’ll need a sitemap, internal links between relevant pages and posts, and robots.txt files. These .txt files are instructions that you give directly to the bots so that they know what to index on your page and what to ignore.

4. Secure High-Quality Backlinks From Other Websites

When it comes to an SEO website with all of the necessary information, building links is part of that process. If you are willing to take the time to create content for your site, then you need to share it to build backlinks. This process has been found to have a strong influence on Google’s ranking algorithm.

Some of the best ways to do this are to share links on your social media sites but also asking other websites and blogs if they are willing to link to your information.

This can be done by using keywords as anchors in the text or by having them add a section at the end of their post, sharing other resources to read. The more creative you can get with this step, the better chances you have of creating backlinks.

You can also ask to be a guest blogger on another person’s site. If you decide to take this route, you must be cautious with what you post. Don’t guest blog just to create backlinks. Make sure you are still offering educational, informative, and exciting information to readers.

5. Track Keyword & Traffic

When determining how to use SEO to your advantage, it’s also a good idea to track your performance.

This will give you the opportunity to see what is working and what needs to be tweaked. Don’t assume that your changes are getting you ranked, find out for sure.

There are many different ways to track your data, including using Google Analytics and other online resources.

This will give you insight into what content or keywords people use to find you, as well as show your rankings. This can be an invaluable tool to help you create and change your SEO strategy so that it works to your advantage.

Being Found Online

The internet is a large place, and it may seem daunting and hard to be found amongst all the information that is available. SEO can help with that endeavor, and this task doesn’t have to challenge.

Even using the basics of the practice should help your business be seen by those who are searching for you. The best way to know for sure is to give it a try.