Understand Your Business

Every business is different, and that’s why it is important to understand your own goals and budget. Knowing your business will allow you to determine which aspects of SEO you should focus on improving the most. By setting goals, you can better track different metrics such as leads, conversions, etc.

KPIs or key performance indicators are useful when measuring the results of your SEO strategies. Some examples of KPIs include sales, downloads, calls, and more. Spend some time developing indicators that make sense for your business and use the best software to track your success.

If you have a business with a physical location, you are able to create a Google My Business listing. Ensure the information you include is accurate. If you change your hours of operation or you move your website address, be sure to update the listing. Avoid misrepresenting your street address, customer reviews, and other details related to your business.

Understand Your Audience

It’s one thing to know your business; it’s another thing to know your audience. By knowing your customers and their performance, you can better focus your SEO efforts to target them.

Put your users first and understand what people are searching for. Oftentimes, people are looking for information about a product or service, searching for a specific product or service, or wanting to buy a product or service.

Understand Your Competitors

You can research your competitors to see what they are doing. Evaluate the content on their website and figure out how you can provide even more value. By going above and beyond, you can stand out even in a competitive industry.

Understand Search Engines

SEO is about optimizing your site for search engines. This guide has a chapter on search engines to give you a better idea of how they work. You don’t have to know everything there is to know about Google and its ever-changing algorithms. As long as you have a general understanding, you’re good to go. 

Now that you have a basic foundation of search engine optimization, let’s look at search engines and what they do.