A lot of people talk about search engine optimization (SEO) as though there are secret ways to manipulate Google’s algorithms for listing website results. The truth is that Google publishes guides online, and the tactics for good SEO are surprisingly common sense. If you’d like to read more from Google, a few guides to get you started include:

The main take-away when thinking about SEO is whether your website and content serves the client.

High-quality content

Blogs are one example of content that serves the visitor. High quality blog posts make the site interesting and useful, which is one of the features Google values. It also gives visitors a reason to come back, and creates content you can share on social media. Websites that are information rich yet clearly communicated are also rank high. Educate, inform, and entertain your visitors, but don’t be wordy simply for the sake of adding words.Keywords are still important, but it’s more than using the same word over and over again. Google wants keywords that are used naturally and are varied, and the Googlebot that indexes websites will even look at phrases and relationships between words.

‍Other good SEO practices include:

  • Mobile-friendly design
  • Building backlinks, i.e. getting other reputable websites to link to your site
  • An SSL certificate. Your website will be more secure, and you’ll rank higher than a competitor without one.
  • Ease of navigation. Can visitors find the information they’re looking for? Is the content accessible?

Buyer beware

If a company approaches you about SEO, watch out for red flags, such as secrecy about their methods. Likewise, no one can guarantee you a high ranking on Google, though they can improve your results.

When we're tackling an SEO project, we focus on using our content expertise, producing high-quality content, researching keywords and phrases, and organizing website pages for ease of navigation. We also employ best practices for search engine optimization when building websites.