If you are new to Search Engine Optimization and you need to learn the basics, where do you turn? There are SEO experts and gurus who immerse themselves in the topic 24/7 and discuss every breath that Matt Cutts (google) takes, but that is no place to start. SEO is an industry that constantly changes, so how do you learn the basics and feel like you have a qualifed source?
Recently a new website owner asked me where they should start to learn SEO and I realized that building your SEO foundation is a tricky endeavour. Since most of what I learned in the beginning is no longer an acceptable strategy, I had to ask myself if I were starting today with no knowledge of SEO, where would I go and what do I know for sure about SEO?
Google is the king of the hill and the search engine that you want to impress with your site, so start with the obvious and read
Yes Google has written a Starter Guide to SEO in a deceptively simple 32 page pdf. If you trust and follow this guide you are well on your way to an optimized website.
The best piece of advice from the Google SEO guide is
That is the hardest lesson to learn and the most difficult to implement because it is never ending. Creating content is like exercise – something you have to do regularly to get the benefit – it would be much easier if just changing a title tag did the trick, but the reality is you have to continually create content and not just any content, but “compelling” content.
So if you want to learn SEO, here are the two resources that I recommend and after you have read these two then get to work on your site and don’t read about SEO again until you have done everything in these two guides.
I wish I came across this when I first started out in SEO. Great tips and insights for beginners in search engine optimization! Thank you for sharing it with us!