Five places to get started with SEO

27 October 2018

by Emma Al-Mousawi

Digital Content Manager at Media Trust .

Article

3 minute read

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving your website’s “organic” search engine rankings. But what does that actually mean? And where do you start?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have gotten half-way through a jargon filled how-to guide and lost all hope of ever grasping it.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are resources out there that will help you make sense of SEO. We’ve rounded up our favourite five below:

1. Code.org

Start with Code.org’s refreshingly simple video The Internet: How Search Works. You’ll join Google’s Chief of Search and AI, John, and Bing Search Team Manager, Akshaya, as they take you on a kid-friendly journey through the inner workings of search engines and how they actually deliver search results to users.

2. MOZ

As well as selling SEO software, Moz has an amazing blog that is brimming with up to date tips and insights. Their original Beginners Guide to SEO has been read over three million times and is a good place to dip your toe in the water.

3. Google Digital Garage

Check out their Get started with search tutorial. It contains six short lessons with a quiz at the end and it will only take you a total of 40 minutes to complete, by which point you will have a solid grounding in the basics of SEO. What? You don’t have 40 minutes to spare? Of course you don’t, you work in the charity sector. That’s the beauty of Google’s online learning hub: you can access free online tutorials, at a time that suits you. I spread this tutorial out over a week.

4. Platypus Digital

Prefer an expert to talk you through the basics of SEO? Meet Matt Collins of Platypus Digital. In their free pre-recorded webinar especially for charities, Matt explains the fundamentals of SEO in a really straight forward way. It’s 37 minutes and 45 seconds of your time well spent.

5. Search Engine Journal

SEJ’s SEO Glossary lists all the lingo you need. After reading it you’ll definitely be able to talk the talk and be comfortable using words and phrases like “dwell time” and “Googlebot” to wow your colleagues in meetings. Prepare to feel like a tech-whizz.

Work your way through a couple of the above and you’ll be well on your way to knowing your stuff.