You want to make it easy for your audience to find and explore your content. But, what about search engines? They’re like the gatekeepers of the internet, helping people discover your website, and that’s where SEO comes in.
In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re talking about the latest guide from Google on Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. This new guide is specifically aimed at small business owners and how you can help your people find you.
Google’s SEO Starter Guide is aimed at helping people find small businesses like you!
SEO, or search engine optimization, is all about making your website more visible to search engines and, in turn, to users who are searching for what you offer. And Google, being the big player in the search engine world, has some guidelines to help you improve your site’s presence in its search results. So let’s break down some key points from Google’s SEO Starter Guide.
How Does Google Search Actually Work?
Google is like a tireless explorer, constantly crawling the web and adding pages to its index. That means if you’ve published your site online, Google should eventually find it. But, there are things you can do to help speed up the process.
Help Google Find Your Content
One way is through links from other websites. The more links you have pointing to your site, the more likely Google is to discover it.
You can also submit a sitemap, which is like a roadmap of your website’s pages, in Google’s Search Console tool. Search Console will also show you which pages are in Google’s Index and if there are any issues indexing your site.
Submit a sitemap — it’s like a roadmap of your website’s pages.
Organizing your site in a logical way is also crucial for SEO. It helps search engines and users understand how your pages relate to each other.
Don’t forget about using descriptive URLs. They not only help users navigate your site but also give search engines more context about your content. Plus, grouping similar pages in directories can help Google understand how often your content changes and how it relates to other pages on your site.
Remove Duplicate Content — You Don’t Want It!
If you have multiple pages with the same content, Google will choose one authoritative URL to show in search results. So, it’s essential to specify your top pages or set up redirects to avoid confusing users and search engines.
Create Compelling Content
Remember, the most critical aspect of SEO is creating compelling and useful content. This means writing easy-to-read, unique, and up-to-date content that provides value to your audience. You also need to think about the words users might search for to find your content and write content that aligns with their search terms.
Keyword stuffing is out of date. Focus on useful content for your audience.
Don’t get caught up in outdated SEO practices like keyword stuffing. Write for human readers and focus on useful content for your audience. This is also what search engines today are looking for.
We hope you found this brief overview of SEO helpful for your small business! Until next time, keep optimizing and keep growing your online presence!
Links in this episode: Outdated SEO Practices