Dip Your Toe Into SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

Heather Stritch

Published on

January 29, 2025

I used to have a little crush on SEO. Nothin’ serious. It was manageable, y’know? However, as the years rolled by, it morphed into a grotesque love affair.

Phrases like “on-page optimisation” have made their way into my day-to-day speech.

“Indexing” rolls off the tongue.

And my dreams have morphed, honestly, to include fervent ambitions for backlinks.

Put simply, I’ve fallen head over heels for SEO.

The world of SEO is so dense with information, that it can be difficult to know where to start. It can also be particularly daunting when confronted with SEO experts, gurus, and soothsayers. It’s easy to think it’s “too technical” to tackle.

I’m no SEO guru. But I am a fond little enthusiast. And I’ve learned it’s an absolute MUST for any business worth their digital salt. I’ve also learned it’s a field that’s more accessible than you might expect…

So how can you get into SEO?

1) Build your foundations

You’ll want to set up tracking software that monitors the impact of your content. You’ll also want to check in on the health of your site. Is it lightning quick? Or do you have a slowpoke on your hands? Note: You’ll want to pay careful attention to UK data protection laws, and ensure your tracking is legally compliant.

Tools:

Google Analytics
Google Tag Manager
Google Search Console
PageSpeed Insights

2) Get a baseline, and check out the competition

You’ll want to scan the horizon and see where your business currently stands in terms of SEO and how your competitors are faring. This will help you record your improvements as time passes, alongside flagging fixes you can sort early doors.

Tools:

3) Create great content

Your business will rely on lots of things to perform well from an SEO standpoint. While it’s easy to get distracted by the SEO rulebook, it’s important ultimately to write for your readers. Content is king, and if it’s exclusively written for Google’s web crawlers, it’ll lack the punch it needs to go further. Nonetheless, researching your readers' appetite, trending content, and competitor activity will go a long way.

Tools:

Google Keyword Planner
Answer the Public
SEOMonitor
Buzz Sumo

4) Don’t forget about the wider world-web

“Off-page” SEO is an important part of a well-rounded content strategy. In simple terms, this essentially refers to actions taken outside of updating and publishing content to your website. A good example would be securing a link from another website to your website.

Tools:

Ahrefs
Moz’s Link Explorer

5) Make content creation fun

I’m biased, but creating content with purpose is bloody rewarding. Not only does it provide an opportunity to flex your creative muscles, but it’s also a much more impactful way of speaking to your customers. The dark ages of cold calling had its place, but modern audiences are web-literate, information-hungry, and spoiled with quality content.

With that in mind — get creative with it! SEO isn’t just a means of communicating with web bots and algorithms. It’s a smart way of meeting your customers where they are and giving them what they want. Google’s search quality guidelines subscribe to the E-E-A-T principle, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Therefore it helps to ask yourself a few questions when creating content:

Does this content provide value?
It is engaging? It is clear? Is it accurate?
And importantly: will anyone care?

It’s a good rule of thumb that if you’re proofreading your content and find yourself drifting off — you can guarantee your reader will too. Not sure how to keep your content fresh? Below are ten commandments for writing that sticks.