Today’s business landscape is incredibly digitally driven. Due to this, search engine optimisation (SEO) is the key to being able to conduct business online, gain visibility with your target market, and drive sales. Essentially, understanding and navigating the algorithms operating within search engines can make a real difference to your business’s ability to thrive. If you’re new to SEO, it may seem extremely complicated and you may wonder if it’s too hard to learn SEO. However, with the right resources, you can learn the basics of SEO and even progress further into the nuances and complexities of search engine optimisation.

Here at Brand Nova, we know only too well how transformative good SEO can be. Having honed our experience during many years of working with clients in various sectors, we also know the power of client empowerment, especially when it comes to how SEO works. With this in mind, to take some of the complexity out of the services we offer and give you an idea of where to start with SEO, we’ve pulled together some of the best resources you can use to begin your SEO education.

The benefits of learning SEO

Even if you intend on working with an SEO expert on your own site, it’s vital to have a working knowledge of how search engines find and rank content. At its core, SEO is all about making your website more visible in the search engine results pages (SERPs). To do so, you will need to appear authoritative, experienced, trustworthy, and engaged with your target audience. The idea behind this is that you will receive a higher amount of organic traffic the more visible your site is. This can lead to better brand awareness and customer engagement. Ultimately, it can also lead to better sales.

SEO is a very cost-effective marketing strategy. While paid advertising can be useful in the short term, it stops once the campaign ends. However, with SEO, the impact of simple tweaks made to your website and content can assist in improving your visibility for far longer and can also build trust with your audience. 

Where to start with SEO for Beginners

While there are many resources on the Internet that claim to give you a quick education in SEO, it can be difficult to know which resource to choose. Here, we’ve curated a list of reputable resources to help you learn different facets of different levels of expertise.

If you are completely new to SEO, take a look at the following to build your knowledge of the fundamentals.

• Hobo Web –Hobo Web’s comprehensive tutorial deals with the basics of SEO clearly and concisely. It’s an ideal starting point if you’re totally new to the subject matter.
• Udemy courses- There are structured courses on platforms like Udemy. For example, the complete SEO course is an extremely popular choice. 
• YouTube – there are a plethora of SEO tutorials on YouTube. Channels that have a large following positive feedback are your best bet, such as SEMRush, Ahrefs or Google Search Central. But do look around as some people take different approaches and what resonates with one person may not with another.
• Advanced industry blogs – If you intend to make learning SEO a long-term thing, which it should be, it will be necessary to continue to learn and stay updated on the latest SEO updates and trends. Leading industry blogs such as Search Engine Land Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Journal can be vital resources.

What SEO topics do I need to master?

Simply put, there’s so much to learn about SEO that it would be easier to list the facets you don’t need to know about. However, there’s no need to rush your education, and it’s better to teach yourself SEO basics before moving on to more complex issues. 

A basic education in SEO will include the following:

• Crawling and technical SEO – Before you can optimise your website, you need to understand how a search engine crawls and indexes your website. There are tools online such as Sitebulb or Screaming Frog that can help you identify and resolve technical issues. This can enhance your visibility.
• On-site optimisation – Optimising your individual web pages for specific keywords on-site can help improve their ranking potential. You will need to know about optimising content, headers, meta descriptions, and titles amongst other things.
• Building links – A fundamental aspect of SEO, obtaining high-quality backlinks from reputable websites is extremely useful in helping your website rank higher. It gives a signal to a search engine that your website is authoritative and can be trusted.

Get some hands-on experience

While you can learn everything you need to know about the basics of SEO via online channels such as blogs, videos and courses, it means nothing unless you’ve practised on real websites. It’s a wise idea therefore to optimise your own websites, or perhaps offer your assistance to friends or family for free. If not, why not volunteer your skills for a nonprofit organisation? They may help you gain valuable experience and you’ll also be contributing to a great cause. Plus, it’ll give you something to use for your own portfolio if you’re looking to find work in SEO later on.

What’s next?

Understanding the unique challenges and opportunities in an ever-evolving digital landscape can be difficult. While it’s essentially possible to learn SEO independently, you must also know your limits. For example, while you might have basic knowledge of how to optimise a business page, it’s unlikely you’ll have deep knowledge of subjects such as the importance of SEO in Ireland’s digital landscape. This is the type of niche knowledge that can really help benefit a site that meets specific circumstances. Dedicated professionals who have a wealth of knowledge and experience in specific niche markets and deep knowledge of effective SEO techniques can be valuable in helping take your SEO that one step further. Using their wider experience and knowledge of the nuances of SEO in different areas and industries can mean they can tailor their strategies to specific areas of SEO that will bring you optimal results. 

Here at Brand Nova, we pride ourselves on our deep knowledge of SEO practices old, evolving and new. We consistently stay up-to-date with the latest algorithm updates, new innovations and industry trends. This ensures that our strategies are ahead of the curve and more importantly, ahead of your online competition. 

If you would like to learn more about how we can help you navigate the complex world of SEO, why not get in touch? We’d be happy to use our knowledge and experience to improve the visibility of your site, so contact us today to find out more.