The Beginner’s Guide to SEO

Watch our latest Theo Talk about managing your online reputation.
Watch our latest Theo Talk about the basics of Search Engine Optimization

In an increasingly digital marketplace, business owners need to take advantage of the tools at their disposal. Everyone is using search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing to find goods and services. These search engines use algorithms that filter through websites to evaluate their relevance to the search terms input. If you want your website to rank favorably on search engines for terms relevant to your products and services, you need to employ search engine optimization (SEO). MLT Group’s Director of Operations, Theo St. Mane discusses the elements of SEO and its importance for your business in his latest Theo Talk video.

SEO is the use of strategies to help the search engines find your site and encourage them to rank it higher in organic and local search results. While SEO can be complex, even a basic understanding can improve your online visibility. Here are a few tips for enhancing your SEO.

Mobile Optimization

More searches are done on Google from mobile devices than from desk top computers, and Google has decreed that your site will not rank well in mobile search results if your site is not mobile optimized. This makes mobile optimization a ‘must have’ for every business website.

Image Descriptions

The search engine algorithm will only look for text, so it is important to include descriptions for the images on your website. Also, including descriptive words in the body text around the image can help boost your SEO.

Regularly Update Content

Bots look for websites that are up to date, so regularly performing site maintenance and updating its content keeps your site relevant. One way to keep your content fresh is to include a blog. Posting SEO’d blogs weekly can dramatically enhance your site’s attractiveness to search engines.

Keywords

Search engines look for keywords in websites that relate to the searched terms. You need to make sure these keywords are strategically placed throughout your website. But how do you anticipate what keywords to use and where to put them? First, think of how someone would search for your services? For example, ‘carpet cleaning’, ‘tree removal’, or ‘teeth whitening’. But it’s a bit of a balancing act as including too many keywords could get your website flagged for spamming and harm your ranking. Keywords should be worked in naturally to appeal to human readers. The most important places to include keywords are in the page title and opening paragraph of each page.

Social Media

Being active on social media can help your SEO. Not surprisingly, having a well filled out Google+ page will help your rankings in Google searches. Sharing content from your website or blog on appropriate social media outlets helps direct traffic back to your website.

There’s no reason not to take advantage of SEO and develop a strategy that works best for your business. By implementing a few basic practices, you can enhance your rankings on search engines and drive more traffic to your website.

To take full advantage of what SEO can do for your business you need time and an intimate knowledge of SEO. Contact one of our professionals at sales@mltgroup.com or 507.281.3490 to see how we can develop and implement an SEO strategy for your business. Also, watch our latest Theo Talk video about SEO basics here.