SEO. How many times have you heard this oft-used acronym and thought to yourself, “Ugh, SEO. Remind me never to fly out of there again”?

First of all, congratulations for knowing SEO is the world airport code for Séguéla Airport; you really should try out for ‘Jeopardy!’ immediately. Secondly, if all this time you thought people were talking about an airport in Ivory Coast, or you honestly had no idea what people were talking about, do not fret: you are not alone.

What is SEO?

SEOpic

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is a marketing strategy in which certain words, or keywords, are used in the content of a web site in order to make that site more visible to search engine users. Let’s say you’re using the search engine Google, and want to find out more information about dogs. Small dogs. Dogs that don’t leave hair everywhere, because you like companionship but hate vacuuming. You would type, “small dogs that don’t shed” into Google. What pops up is an organic – meaning, unpaid – list of sites in which your keywords appear. The idea is that the more certain keywords match the content of a particular site, the higher that site will rank in the listings when users type those keywords into the search engine.

“I see,” you’re thinking to yourself. “So, if I want to see my site devoted to selling limited edition Backstreet Boys lunch boxes at the top of the search listings, I should just type the words “limited edition Backstreet Boys lunch boxes” one thousand times, post it to my site, and I’m guaranteed to get the highest ranking when users search those keywords.”

First of all, you’re not the first person to have that thought. In fact, there’s even a term for it: black hat SEO (versus white hat; it’s an old cowboy movie thing where the heroes wear white hats and the villains wear – wait for it – black hats). It’s natural that you’d want to do whatever you can to make your web site visible to potential customers, but black hat SEO is not the way to go, friend. Why? Search engines have gotten smart enough to detect these kinds of shenanigans, and can even punish you by removing your site altogether if you’re caught. Also, why would you do that to your customers? They are coming to your site to learn something about you and your company, and if what they’re learning is that you’re kind of a jerk online, well … you can guess where this is going, right?

How do I get some?

SEO can be a useful tool, if used responsibly. The simplest way to achieve this is:

  1. Pick your keyword or phrase. Make sure it’s concise, to the point, and relevant to the topic at hand, meaning something you think your customers will use in order to find you.

  2. Write well-thought-out, helpful content that your customers will want to read. You don’t want to trick people into finding you and then annoy them once they’re there. You want to provide a service to them, and make them glad they found you.

  3. Make sure your keyword is in your title, and that it appears once in the narrative.

And there you go. Your first basic lesson on SEO. Want more? Check out Google’s tips for search engine optimization here.

Now, go impress your friends with your new-found knowledge while I do some limited edition lunch box shopping.