For small business owners, there are few marketing tactics that can deliver the return on investment that SEO can.
SEO helps you rank highly on Google and brings new enquiries month after month. In Australia, the vast majority of business websites are still not optimised – meaning the competition is still low for lots of industries. Savvy small business owners can take advantage and improve their ranking on Google.
To help small business owners and managers around Australia, we’ve put together a few videos to help you understand how Google works and how you can start improving your Google ranking straight away.
1. How Google Works by Matt Cutts of Google
Matt Cutts gives a simple insight into how Google works.
This video is an oldie but a goodie. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s web spam team, explains how Google indexes webpages online and how the most relevant pages are displayed for a given search. This is a really great video for giving you an insight into the types of things Google is considering when it scans the pages on your website. It also briefly explains how links work to give credibility to a page.
3 things you’ll learn: the way Google finds new pages, some of the key questions Google asks about your pages and things you can do to help improve your results.
2. Learn SEO by Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz
Rand Fishkin explains how people search, how to target key search terms and important SEO factors.
Rand’s advice is practical for website owners because it explains how people search and describes the differences between short tail and long tail keywords. He explains the relationship between content, keywords, links and social media. He provides some good advice on choosing the most practical keywords and how to use them within your website content. Social media is having a greater impact on search results and Rand gives you some key tips in this area.
3 things you’ll learn: stats on what people search for, what Google looks at to rank your site, what search engine’s can’t do.
3. 5 Common Mistakes in SEO (and 6 Good Ideas) by Google Webmaster Help
Maile Ohye shares the five mistakes she often sees in SEO.
After talking about the concept behind Search Engine Optimisation and how it can work for a startup owner, Maile Ohye of Google identifies the five most common mistakes she finds in SEO. These include working on SEO before the site has a value proposition, a segmented “bento box” approach, time-consuming turnarounds, and getting caught in SEO trends. Ohye offers tips on how business owners can set themselves apart in a sea of similar search results (offering lower prices, free shipping, and better customer service) and concludes with six helpful tips.
3 things you’ll learn: how to create unique title tags and descriptions, how to choose and place relevant words in your copy, and how to attract buzz.
4. SEO for Startups in Under 10 Minutes by Google Webmaster Help
Maile Ohye of Google is your personal SEO consultant for 10 minutes.
This highly informative video is from the team at Google Webmaster. Developer Programs Tech Lead Maile Ohye offers a number of crucial tips for startup owners, particularly those whose websites have main content below 50 pages. She talks about the basics of SEO and the difference between www and non-www, urges website owners to verify ownership in Webmaster Tools and to perform a domain background check, and recommends utilising analytics code (whether from Google or another provider), among other useful tips and tricks.
3 things you’ll learn: the difference between www and non-www, how to verify ownership in Webmaster Tools, and how to do a domain background check.
5. 5 Mini SEO Tips to Help You Get an Edge on the Competition by Pat Flynn
Pat Flynn enumerates 5 small things you can do with SEO to improve search engine rankings.
According to Pat Flynn of the Smart Passive Income blog, you may be concentrating too much on the big SEO strategies and letting your competitor gain an edge because you’ve forgotten about the details. In this video, Pat explains how five simple, often overlooked, SEO tricks can help you maintain or even boost your page ranking.
3 things you’ll learn: why you should include images in your blog posts, how to increase the keyword density of the overall URL, and no-follow affiliate links.
6. SEO for Small Businesses by Charles Crawford
Internet marketing blogger Charles Crawford teaches small business owners how to utilise SEO for increased sales and traffic.
Here, Charles focuses on SEO for small businesses. He walks us through the process of utilising the various tools available for small businesses and startups to rank higher on Google (Maps, Places for Business, Google Keyword Tool) and shows us a number of websites he personally uses, including Open Site Explorer, Drop My Link and Add URL.
3 things you’ll learn: how to use Open Site Explorer, how to use the Google Keyword Tool, and how to improve online visibility by putting your business in Google Maps and Places for Business.
7. Mastering Google SEO 2012 by Josh Bachynski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNzN-fes5Lg
Special SEO Consultant Josh Bachynski talks about the best SEO practices of the past 2 years.
Josh Bachynski works for SEnuke X SEO Software and is the creator of the “Mastering Google” video series. He has over 20 years’ experience in IT and 12 in SEO. In this video, Josh talks about the best practices for 2012 based on SEO trends in 2011. The information here may be too advanced for SEO novices, but it does offer a wealth of useful tips on SEO, including advanced linking, truncated page ranks, and link spikes. Josh explains how Google knows whether or not your website is relevant, and what the Panda update of 2011 means for the future of SEO.
3 things you’ll learn: Google Panda algorithm, linking strategies, and how to avoid bad and spun content.
