You may know that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, but what does that even mean?
The simplest way to understand SEO is that it’s applying different strategies to make search engines, like Google and Bing, to notice your website and rank it (get on the first page first position).
However, if you are thinking about looking into improving your website, then its a good idea to continue reading, otherwise you may not know what the heck SEO specialists are talking about when they try to explain how to make your website better.
Think of your site like a store
SEO is an important part of having a successful website, and for that reason it’s a good idea to understand a the basic structure of a website, to see how SEO fits into the big picture.
Don’t worry, we’re going to touch on a couple of technical terms but the basic idea of each is so simple there is no reason to shy away from it. So lets start from the bottom.
Hosting
Your website exists on a server. It’s not magic.
Just like a brick and mortar store, your website needs a ‘plot of land’ to build on. Web hosting provides that location and the foundation of your website (a server language).
HTML
HTML is the main website coding language. What you need to know is that HTML provides the basic content and structure of a website. It’s like the framework of a store, its floor, roof, walls, etc.
CSS
This is another coding language like HTML, but this one does the design and display of your website. Think of CSS as being for the interior design of your store. If you come across a website that looks freakin awesome, then its most probably the CSS code that you are impressed with.
URL/web address
Just like you need a street address for someone to find your store, you will need a URL or web address. These are the .com, .org, .ca and hundreds of other domain suffixes. Usually you can get them through your hosting company.
SEO
Now you have a shiny new website and it’s time to get people to visit. This is where SEO comes in. Think of it like marketing your store, you need to get the word out about what you offer. However, since most websites are found through search engines this will be the focus point for attracting visitors.
To give one example: Site speed. Search engines and visitors like sites to be fast and high performance sites tend to do better in search results than slow ones. To improve your speed changes might be made to the hosting, the HTML, the CSS or all three. Knowing how to do this is a part of SEO.
Now that you know the basics, let’s look into the three main types of SEO