An SEO Primer: Your Introduction to Search Engine Optimization

What do you think of when you read the words "meta description, alt text, indexing, and crawl?" If you didn't say "SEO," this post is for you.

Your business is getting off the ground, hitting all the industry shows, sending press releases, and schmoozing with the VCs. But what are you doing about your website? As in, is it up yet? And if so, did you optimize it for SEO to ensure Google and the other search engines can find you easily and know how to categorize your content for searchers?

Many of these things can be fixed quickly with some knowledge of SEO basics. Yes, SEO is a vast topic, and no, we don't aim to cover everything you need to know in this one blog post. This piece aims to familiarize you with some basic terms and concepts surrounding SEO and why you should get to know them better. 

Why Does it Matter?

• 92% of online experiences begin with a search engine. If you want your business to be found online, you must ensure your website is optimized for search engines.

• 75% of people never scroll past the first page of search results. If your website doesn't appear on the first page of search results, you're missing out on a lot of potential traffic.

• SEO can generate up to 300% more leads than traditional marketing. SEO is a great option to generate more leads for your business.

• The average cost of a click on a paid search ad is $2.32. If you're using paid search ads, you're paying a premium for each click. SEO traffic, on the other hand, is free (after putting in the initial work).

• SEO can take six months or longer to see results. Be patient and consistent with your SEO efforts. However, once you start seeing results, they can be very rewarding.
  
  

So, What Exactly is SEO Anyway?

Search Engine Optimization, commonly called SEO, is any activity undertaken to improve a website's ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs).

A slightly longer answer says that SEO combines on- and off-page actions to optimize your website to make it easier for internet searchers to locate. If you do SEO right, you attract visits from people who want or need to read your blog or have a question you can answer.

These optimization actions can be handled by an outside SEO professional or agency or by someone inside your organization with a background in digital marketing or even a general background in IT.

SEO is very much something that all businesses need to be aware of and consider when setting up a new website while continuing to publish new content. Metrics should be established early and monitored regularly.

Is SEO Something We Need?

Are you going to have a website? Then you need at least rudimentary SEO to be found online. Even if you're not an eCommerce business or your services don't relate to the online world. People will look online for information on your industry/product/service. If you want these people to learn about you, SEO is how you do it.

Where Should I Start?

In an ideal world, we caught you in the early days. You don't even set up your website and aren't posting to social media as your startup yet. Start using an SEO-focused content management system (CMS), like Hubspot, for your site. Or use a CMS like WordPress with a robust third-party plugin marketplace with many SEO options.

Some things to check off immediately when building your site include ensuring load speed is optimized, that your site is mobile-friendly (or even mobile-first, depending on your goals), and that your content pages can be optimized individually for better targeting.

The next thing to do is to lay out your SEO strategy. Remember, SEO is a long game. You're doing this legwork early to ensure a solid foundation in the future, so having a well-documented strategy is crucial for long-term success. At a bare minimum, your SEO strategy should include the following:

• An editorial calendar that encompasses blog posts and social media content

• Brand guidelines (to ensure consistency of brand voice across channels)

• A chart of stakeholders and their responsibilities

• Target audience/buyer personas
  
  

What's the Difference Between On- and Off-page SEO?

As the names suggest, one is a set of activities you do on your website, and the other is actions taken elsewhere—the shared goal is to boost your site's visibility to the general public when they use Google or other search engines.

On-page SEO includes things like optimizing your content pages. This is accomplished by properly using keywords, meta tags, meta descriptions, and image alt text. It also includes activities like maintaining a regular and frequent posting schedule for new content pages.

Off-page SEO consists of writing guest posts on industry blogs, brand mentions in relevant industry publications, and maintaining an active and engaging social media presence on multiple platforms. Inbound links, or backlinks, are the primary goal of off-page SEO. This is any time a link to your website appears on another website. Author bios associated with guest posts, brand mentions that include links, and your social media profile pages are all included here.

The Importance of Inbound Links for SEO

In the world of SEO and organic traffic generation, what Google says goes. Two of their stated top 3 factors used in determining domain authority and ranking are quality content and inbound links.

Our question is whether you know how to use inbound links to impact your SEO results significantly.

We want to summarize why inbound links (backlinks) are important to search engine results. First, inbound links drive traffic to your site from social media posts, press releases, guest blog posts, and more. Any time you or anyone else post a link to your content, that's a backlink. Second, they increase your SEO pull organically by teaching the search bots how valuable the content being linked to is.

Definition Time: Just What is an Inbound Link?

Not to sound flip, but Inbound Links are exactly what they sound like—links that point people inbound to a page within your domain.

To take it deeper and bring in the SEO, consider inbound links as votes of confidence. They're the internet's way of saying, "This is good stuff; you should trust it." That goes for both your readers AND the search engine bots.

• When you leave a comment on an industry blog with a link to a relevant pillar page, that's an inbound link.

• Any time you write a guest post with an author bio containing a link to your about me page, that's an inbound link.

• And when you're featured in an article on an industry news site, any links they include that take readers to the content on your site, well, that's an inbound link too.

All of these scenarios increase your domain authority and SEO pull. However, there will be some differences in the domain quality where those links appear. For instance, the blog of a recognized industry thought leader would give a link more pull than a directory site. We'll have more to say on authority in a moment.

Inbound links vs. backlinks

First, let's take a moment to clear this up. Inbound links and backlinks are the same things. Backlinks is a slightly older term referring to how the links point "back" to your domain, while inbound links, as a phrase, are newer and tied to the rise of inbound marketing as a whole.

With SEO, You Know There's Going to be an Acronym: EAT

Google refers to their suggested factors to remember when working on your SEO strategy as EAT SEO. EAT is an acronym for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Much can be written about nurturing your EAT rating, but there is too much to include here. So, we'll say that the #1 best practice is to continue creating quality content that your readers find valuable, relevant, and helpful in solving their pain points.

Creating a site that scores high on these three factors when the search bots come crawling should be your guiding principle as you grow your blogging presence and work to develop a sound SEO strategy. After all, Google itself is working to deliver value to the customer via these principles, so following suit should be a no-brainer.

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Link Profiles and Other Factors to Remember

Do you know your link profile? Similar to your profile on LinkedIn or Facebook, your domain has a profile that search bots look at when determining your rankings for various searches. Your link profile is the total number of links that point to your domain, the diversity of those links, the authority (or potentially, the spamminess) of the domains linking to yours, and much more.

Inbound link checker tools such as Moz's Link Explorer let you check your link profile to get an idea of how you're doing and highlight areas where you could be doing better. We highly recommend doing this regularly, maybe as part of your content audits.

Besides the number of links, etc., Google considers many other ranking factors when examining backlinks. The authority of the linking site is a big one. Remember, industry-leading sites are always a better target than directories or smaller niche blogs. The number of links from a given site is another: too many make them look spammy, while just one looks lackluster.

Content concentration is an often-overlooked factor. This refers to the narrowness or breadth of content topics on both your site and the linking site. If your company has a specific niche product or service, a link from a site with a similar niche will be weighed heavier than one from outside that niche. 

The Do's and Don'ts of Inbound Link Building for SEO

DO:

• Establish strong partnerships with sites that you want to link from.

• Start a company blog. Links to blog and pillar pages with similar topics and content to the linking site rank highly as this content similarity shows authority in that subject.

• Create a resources page. They're invaluable because once people find them and find the information presented useful, they're far more likely to link to them without you having to ask.
  
  

DO NOT:

• Buy links. Ever.

• Use low-quality or spammy link directory sites. There can be an adverse effect on your domain authority just for being associated with these sites.

• Participate in link exchanges. At least, not too often. Again, there can be negative impacts on your link profile if you do too many exchanges.

Inbound link building should be a part of any well-rounded strategy of content marketing and SEO. As with any piece of such a strategy, there are things to keep in mind as you develop yours:

• Link building, like content marketing in general, is a long game. You won't necessarily see results in the first few months or more. But once you do, they can be impressive.

• Spending the time and energy in the beginning to build and cultivate a strong relationship with linking sites will pay dividends in the strength of the links you'll get, and the pull these backlinks will give your domain.

• Quality inbound links are the goal, so take your time and be sure you're getting strong links from authoritative domains that meet the same EAT standards as yours and you won't be disappointed.

As we've mentioned above, along with links, keywords are another aspect of your SEO strategy that you must consider.

Do Keywords Still Matter for SEO?

Short answer—Yes.

Keywords are still a primary way for search engines to know what your website, and your startup, is all about. When optimizing your site via on-page SEO, it’s crucial to include short-tail keywords (1-3 word phrases) and long-tail or semantic search keyphrases. The latter is complete sentences structured naturally as though someone was using voice search on their smartphone.

The key aspect of establishing your keyword strategy is research. Use tools like Google Ad Words, Ubersuggest, or Buzzsumo to discover what words are trending in your industry. Then build your target keyword file to know the most appropriate words and phrases.

What Does it Mean to be "Crawled?"

Another FAQ surrounding SEO is the idea of being "crawled." So, what does it mean to be crawled? It means Google found you.

Crawling is used when a search engine scours the internet for new web pages they don't know about. They do this constantly, as tens of thousands, if not millions, of new pages are coming online daily. 

Initially, your home page and any other online static page will be indexed. That's how Google finds out about you and knows to return looking for updates. Then, as you add content pages (landing pages, pillar pages, blog posts, etc.), each will be indexed.

The more consistently you add new content, the better. And the more tailored that content to your target personas through keywords, the better.

Quick side note: Indexing is essentially when a search engine bookmarks your domain, making a note in their internet "index" so they can point searchers to these pages moving forward.

Conclusion

In conclusion, SEO is a long game. When settling in for the long haul and your company is established, you want to be sure you have a well-optimized site and a set of metrics to watch. Consider your SEO strategy, what you're doing to generate positive backlinks, and how your keywords are integrated into your content marketing efforts, and you'll be well on your way.