Learn SEO with this Crash Course

April 10, 2012 Leave a Comment

Title tags, canonicalization, ALT text, long-tail keywords.  Search engine optimization may seem confusing and overly technical for the average marketer. The fact is, it can be quite technical, requiring specific knowledge and training. However, there are also many aspects to SEO that are not difficult to understand, nor difficult to do.

SEO Crash CourseThere are numerous resources available to learn SEO techniques. One of the best ones I’ve seen is this video presentation by Lee Odden with Top Rank Online Marketing. It’s the second lesson in Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University titled SEO Crash Course to Getting Found (GF102). The presentation is a bit lengthy so be sure to give yourself about an hour to go through it. But if you are interested in learning the basics of SEO, this is a great starting point with topics covered like keywords, link building, search friendly site structure and analytics.

Take a look and you’ll be ready to optimize your website for search.

SEO Crash Course to Get Found (GF102)

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Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide will get your SEO cooking

April 11, 2010 Leave a Comment
Cookbooks

Photo by mimundo

Search engine optimization is a lot like the culinary profession.  There are experts in the field, with a growing reputation and a following for their art. There are five-star SEO’s, one-star SEO’s, and everything in between.

Just as famous chefs create spectacular meals, unmatched by the average cook, SEO’s work their magic on websites, rocketing pages to the top of search results.

The fact that you haven’t been a sous-chef in Paris doesn’t stop you from cooking a nice meal. Likewise, you shouldn’t be intimidated to tackle search engine optimization. Aspiring chefs like you turn to cookbooks for recipes, advice, and tips. Luckily, SEO has its very own “Joy of Cooking.” It’s Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. A very concise, non-technical manual that walks you through 13 things you can do to optimize your web pages, including best practices for each:

  • Create unique, accurate page titles
  • Make use of the “description” meta  tag
  • Improve the structure of your URLs
  • Make your site easier to navigate
  • Offer quality content and services
  • Write better anchor text
  • Use heading tags appropriately
  • Optimize your use of images
  • Make effective use of robots.txt
  • Be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links
  • Promote your website in the right ways
  • Make use of free webmaster tools
  • Take advantage of web analytics services

The full Guide is available here on Google’s website. Download it, read it, and get cooking with these SEO techniques on your own web pages. You won’t be an instant search engine optimization expert, but you will enjoy the results.

Bon SEO!

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