photo by marnox1 

Search Engine Optimization has become a mystical term, invoking the idea of wizards laboring in their lofty towers to get websites onto the first page of Google.

The reality is that SEO for really competitive online sites is an arcane art and if your business is going up against the big boys then you need to seek out professional help. 

However if you are a typical small business and you are in a well defined, narrow niche or you’re in a contained geographic area then there are a couple of basic SEO principles that will make a world of difference to you and won’t cost an arm and a leg to implement.

The challenge I’ve had is how to explain these basics to business owners that don’t know HTML, don’t want to know HTML and really don’t want to get bogged down in the details.  Here’s my attempt – let me know what you think.

Think of Google as a Giant Library…in fact it’s the largest library in the world!

Instead of physical books, this library is made up of virtual ‘pages’, each of them like a book on the shelf of the library.

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Photo by scottwills

I can’t think of too many other topics that generate the same level of confusion, controversy and frustration as Search Engine Optimization or SEO.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”                         – Arthur C. Clarke

From a business owner’s perspective, you really don’t want to mess with something like SEO.  You’re trying to run a business, get a product (or service) out the door…and oh by the way, it would be great if you made some money and got some time off eventually!

However – you also probably realize how helpful it would be to have your website show up – ideally on the first page, when people searched on the right term.  Having a top spot for the right search term is big!

Unfortunately the combination of being mysterious, complicated and potentially very important to the success of your business has led to a very profitable industry of people claiming to be able to sprinkle some fairy dust and drive lots of traffic to your website, all through the magic of SEO and Google ad-campaigns.

Although there are plenty of legitimate service providers, there are also a lot of schemers, many of them using tactics that either don’t work at all or using questionable tactics that could get you in trouble with the Search Engines.

The good news is that a lot of the complexity with SEO has been overstated or doesn’t really apply to the typical small business owner.

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