What is search engine optimization? How does it relate to my company’s internet marketing goals? How can I tailor my web design and content for better results in search engine rankings? These are questions we hear frequently.

Sometimes it’s easier to learn by seeing something rather than reading about it. So today, with the help of our resident video/marketing (and whiteboard drawing) expert Alex, let’s take a quick five-minute spin through the basics of SEO.

Click play below to watch our introductory tutorial. You can read the outline below to follow along. If you want to learn more about on-site SEO and how it can help your business, please contact us today! We’d love to hear from you.

FIRST: What is SEO?

Moz defines SEO (or search engine optimization) as the practice of improving and promoting a website to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines. Strong SEO campaigns lead to more visibility and popularity for your company, driving revenue and success.

STEP ONE: Build a Website

Presumably (hopefully!) most companies have completed this step. Your website is where you’ll be driving traffic through your SEO campaign. You’ll want an aesthetically pleasing, functional and user-friendly site where visitors can easily find the information and/or products they’re seeking. Avoid needless clutter, confusing layouts and flashy gimmicks. The main goal is to present a professional and appealing digital front for your business.

STEP TWO: Choosing Keywords

Keywords are the backbone of SEO. Some important factors to consider when setting up your campaign:

• Don’t be too broad or too specific. Find a middle ground, with popular searchable terms that aren’t terribly obvious.
• Make sure your keywords are relevant to your business, and the content you produce.
• Do your research. Google and other companies offer tools for analyzing keywords to see how they’ll perform and how competitive they are.

STEP THREE: Fresh, Relevant Content

This goes hand in hand with selecting keywords. Make sure that your site has at least one prominent section that is updated regularly with useful information relating to your business or industry. This will help your site maintain good search rankings and will also enable you to determine how effectively your chosen keywords are working.

STEP FOUR: Indexing

This is done on the search engine’s end. Using your keywords and other technical information, Google and other engines will index your site so that once a user’s search matches the keywords and content you provide, your site will be displayed in the results for their query. This is what makes SEO such a crucial form of marketing — you’re not just advertising blindly to the masses, but rather ensuring that you’re reaching customers that are actively interested in what you offer.

STEP FIVE: Optimizing

Once you’ve set up your campaign and tweaked your website for maximized SEO performance, it’s time to wait and watch. During this time, it’s best to keep a close eye on your metrics and analytics so that you can learn which keywords are working, then make necessary adjustments to your campaign on the fly.

STEP SIX: Results

By nature, it takes time for SEO changes to fully reflect, but over time with a properly implemented campaign you will begin to see better rankings and more impressions. That means more visitors, and in turn, more paying customers and more revenue. It’s the most important investment you can make in your company’s online presence.