SEO basics

New to SEO? Start with plain-English definitions, real examples, and one small next step.

• Start here: how SEO fits together — A beginner’s guide to SEO, what the terms mean, and what to do first. No marketing experience needed.
• What is an SEO audit? — An SEO audit is a checkup of your website. It looks for things that are broken or missing, such as missing page titles, missing descriptions, broken links, or slow-loading pages.
• What are keywords? — Keywords are the words and phrases people type into Google when they look for something you offer.
• What is keyword research? — Keyword research means finding out which phrases people search for, roughly how often they search, and how competitive those phrases are.
• What are backlinks? — Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to yours. They can work a little like word-of-mouth referrals on the web.
• What is backlink monitoring? — Backlink monitoring means keeping track of websites that link to you, including new links and links that may have disappeared.
• What is competitor analysis? — Competitor analysis means looking at businesses appearing ahead of you in search results and investigating what they do well.