Google has posted in the Search for Beginners section of the Google Webmaster YouTube channel an SEO Explained video. This video goes through the basics of SEO including on page SEO, multimedia SEO, black hat SEO and how to use Search Console and more.
Here is the short 3 minute video summing up what SEO is:
Here is the transcription:
Your website should attract new potential customers. One way to do so is by showing up in search results. Methods of making your website appear when people search for the things you sell like children's clothes, are called search engine optimization, or SEO for short.
Think of it this way, SEO is like a shop window display-- you want to make the shop window display interesting and attractive. SEO is about using the right words and serving relevant information to your potential customers on your websites. This can be done in a few different ways.
Make sure your website contains useful information like inventory, selection, pricing, location, and hours. Other best practices include: create short, meaningful page titles; use page headings that convey the subject of the page; include a detailed "About Us" section that includes contact information, a description of your business, countries where you operate if relevant, and, if it applies, store locations and opening hours.
If your website contains images and videos, make sure you describe them with alt text tags and other attributes to ensure that Google understands what they're about and that users with disabilities can also access the content. You should also make sure to use images to illustrate what you are selling and describe the items using keywords such as brands, colors, and descriptions of the items. Additionally, you'll want to pay close attention to image accuracy, descriptive wording, and relevancy of page titles.
You should also use the techniques and checklists we've mentioned in the previous episode to ensure your website appears in search results when people are looking for your products.
We've talked about positive methods to increase the visibility of your site, but there are also not so positive methods. These include things like adding invisible text to a website to trick people into viewing content. This, as well as other devious techniques designed to deceive indexing algorithms, are often described as black hat SEO and should be avoided. Google has many ways to detect techniques that intend to manipulate search rankings. These safeguards help ensure that search results remain relevant and accurate for users. As such, most of these black hat techniques don't work and in the long run will amount to a waste of your time and money.
Google provides tools to help you manage your SEO. Sign up for Search Console to see how your website is performing. Search Console is a free tool provided by Google to help you run your website and monitor its performance. It even sends you emails in case there's a problem so you can focus on your business. If you don't want to do this alone, you can hire a professional. In the next episode, we'll talk about how to find and hire a great SEO expert.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
