Basic SEO terms you should know

Many people feel intimidated or confused when they first hear about search engine optimization. With all the technical jargon involved it sounds like something only a computer expert or a genius would understand. Despite there being some big words involved, almost anyone can understand it and begin to use it to their advantage. If you’re feeling stuck or confused on the subject of SEO and can’t tell your keywords from your meta-tags, here is a basic guide to get you started.

SEO and SEM

Of course, we couldn’t start talking about SEO and SEM without an actual definition of the words themselves. Search Engine Marketing refers to the overall practice of promoting your product or service through search engines. It could be paying for advertising, asking for links, anything. Search Engine Optimization is helping your website to organically rank higher in search engines. It’s all about increasing the visibility of your product through great content, keywords, links etc. If someone searches for a service you offer, you want to be one of the first results they see because barely anyone clicks on page twenty.

Keywords

In SEO, keywords are the common phrases which people type into search engines when they are looking for something. Search engines use keywords to pick which website is the most relevant to a search and will display the company with that keyword or key-phrase higher than others. For instance if you are a hotel based in Vancouver, the term “Vancouver Hotel” would be something which you will try incorporate into your website because more people looking for your service will find you that way.

Meta Tags

A meta tag is placed in the header section of your HTML code and provides search engines more information about the content of your pages. This of course makes your website rank higher on a search engine depending on how relevant the content in your meta tag is to what someone is looking for.

Back-link

These are simply links which point to your website and are another great way of gaining traffic. It’s important to have a good portfolio of websites linking to your personal company because if they are well respected, relevant and popular they will be referring more people to you. Check our blog for more information on link-building.

XML Sitemap

This file informs search engine bots about the content of a website. It enables search engines to read and crawl all of your pages. This means they have a better idea of what content you have online therefore making it easier to share and display in search results.

Still confused about SEO?

If you’re still overwhelmed by search engine optimization and want to see how it can help your website reach the large possible audience, Guaranteed SEO are experts in this area. We have over 15 years of experience and offer a range of services, so if you need more help feel free to contact us.