{"id":20448,"date":"2016-12-05T09:26:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freelogoservices.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T16:08:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T16:08:55","slug":"beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freelogoservices.com\/blog\/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner\u2019s Guide to Search Engine Optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the art of improving your website\u2019s ranking on search engines. Ranking high in the results on search engines like Google is hugely important for your business.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/blog\/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around a third of all clicks on Google\u2019s organic (i.e., not sponsored) results go to the top result<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Around two thirds go to the top five results. The further outside the top five you get, the less likely it is that anyone will ever see your website. Only around four percent of searchers will visit the second page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some simple ways to boost your small business\u2019 website rankings. You might not be able to compete with the big companies, but there are some easy ways to get an edge over your local competition.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Use Responsive Web Design<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cResponsive web design\u201d means that your website works equally well on desktops and on mobile. Google\u2019s search algorithm is as a closely guarded secret, but they are absolutely clear on this issue:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.googleblog.com\/2015\/02\/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">starting in 2015, they began using mobile-friendliness of websites as a key element of search engine ranking<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A responsive website looks more professional:<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2015\/10\/08\/mobile-searches-surpass-desktop-searches-at-google-for-the-first-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more people now use search engines on mobile than on their desktops<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so failing to mobile-optimize your website is leaving a huge amount of traffic on the table.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Responsive design isn\u2019t difficult to achieve if you use a good <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.freelogoservices.com\/website-builder\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">web designer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but so many small businesses don\u2019t. If you take the mobile-friendliness of your website seriously, you can achieve an instant edge over the competition.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Optimize For Local Search<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you search for \u201ccoffee shop\u201d on Google, it will show you a Google Maps result of coffee shops near your location, even without adding the city to your search. This is a great way for small local businesses to get noticed, as it\u2019s one of the few places that they really can compete with big chains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To succeed in local searches, ensure that your business information (name, address, phone number) appear on each page of your website. Get your business listed on local listings websites, including Facebook, Google, and review sites like Yelp. If you have a blog, use it to discuss local news and events that are relevant to your business. Build relationships with local media and bloggers: local backlinks help you in the search rankings, and links in articles drive traffic to your website.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Start A Blog<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having a regularly updated blog does a few useful things for your search engine ranking. First, Google\u2019s algorithm likes fresh content. Regularly updated websites get pushed further up the page, especially if their updates cover trending topics. If you can commit to publishing a couple of times a week, you\u2019ll see real results in your search engine ranking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, it increases the amount of time that people spend on your website. Google, and other search engines, track something called \u201cbounce rate\u201d: the percentage of visitors that leave your site quickly. The higher your bounce rate, the more your search engine ranking falls. Giving your visitors something interesting to read encourages them to stick around. If possible, use multimedia content: pretty pictures and interesting videos improve time-on-page like nothing else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Third, good content encourages people to link to your website. Once upon a time you could just buy backlinks, but nowadays that\u2019s a quick way to get your site blacklisted. Sharing content that people want to link to builds up your site\u2019s authority, improving your search engine ranking. Try linking out to other high-authority sites, as well: this helps Google\u2019s algorithm to determine the topic of your page, and therefore show it on relevant searches. Don\u2019t forget to signal boost your content through your social media channels.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Summing Up<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search engine optimization can be a highly technical subject. In fact, there are agencies specifically dedicated to SEO. However, a few simple changes to your website can give you a real edge over your competition since many small businesses do not focus on it at all. By adopting even just one of the strategies listed in this article, you can improve your search ranking and enjoy more traffic to your website and more conversions.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the art of improving your website\u2019s ranking on search engines. Ranking high in the results on search engines like Google is hugely important for your business. Around a third of all clicks on Google\u2019s organic (i.e., not sponsored) results go to the top result. Around two thirds go to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-marketing"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beginner\u2019s Guide to Search Engine Optimization | FreeLogoServices<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SEO will help your website appear more often in online searches related to your industry. If you are new to SEO, here are a few tips to help you get started.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.freelogoservices.com\/blog\/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beginner\u2019s Guide to Search Engine Optimization | FreeLogoServices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SEO will help your website appear more often in online searches related to your industry. 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