To improve the visibility of your website on Google, the only way is to focus on SEO. If you have a good grasp of the basics of SEO, it can make it simpler to increase the reach of your website. However, if you’re new to SEO, don’t worry; this comprehensive guide on SEO Basics will provide you with the necessary knowledge to get started. Just keep reading! A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide to Learning SEO 2023.
Content
- How Search Engine works
- How do you start SEO?
- Setting up for SEO
- Everything you should know about Keyword
- Your content for SEO
- One page SEO
- Backlink building
- Technical SEO
Before we start our journey to learn all these beginners’ guides to SEO learning, we need a bird’s eye view of the fundamentals of SEO. What is an SEO? And what does for our website, and why should we use it? You all know a little bit about all those questions. But let me assume that all of you are beginners, and today I will teach you from scratch.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is where your website organically grows traffic. This whole SEO process involves fundamentals like Keywords, meta details, and other resources you provide to your website. Whenever one searches for anything on Google, the search algorithm matches their search with all the web pages from the search index. And by this process, Google picks the top result to show someone. We will learn details about the Google search index and algorithms on the ‘How engine works’ part.
Why is SEO essential?
If you want to upscale your website among the mass audience, then SEO is the best weapon in your hand. Optimizing your website for search engines, commonly called SEO, can help increase visibility and attract potential customers. You can improve your website’s ranking on search engine results pages by targeting specific keywords and phrases people may use to find businesses like yours.
However, it’s important to note that achieving a high ranking on search engines takes work and effort, as many other companies compete for the same top spots. For that reason, you can easily incorporate SEO into your business, which will help you to grow more than others.
Benefits of SEO?
At this point, we all know the basic of SEO. For that, we can now assume some benefits of using SEO. But let me tell you some other benefits that matter a lot when trying to get more website traffic.
People usually click on the top 10 search results for anything. Getting a good rank on search results helps attract people to your website. Besides spending thousands of dollars on ads, you can get a massive audience by relying on SEO. Unlike other forms to attract an audience, search traffic consistently tends year to year. And the most important part is it is completely “free” to use. It will help you to save a thousand dollars per month.
Now we have learned a few fundamentals to learn SEO. At this point, we jump to our content one by one. Firstly we know about How Search Engine Works. Knowing how a search engine works will make your SEO journey much easier than you think.
How Search Engine Ranks Pages?
Discovering, crawling, and indexing content are the initial steps in search engine optimization. The next step involves ranking the matching results in order of relevance when a user conducts a search, which is the role of search algorithms.
How Search Engine Works?
Every search engine has an aim, and it aims to provide the most relevant result to the user. Search engines build their search index, and their algorithm picks the best result. Search engines develop their indexes by discovering, crawling, and indexing web pages.
This process begins with a known list of URLs, which the search engine finds through backlinks, sitemaps, and URL submissions. The search engine then crawls these URLs using a computer bot called a spider and processes and renders the pages to extract critical information and links for indexing. The resulting indexed information is what users search for when they use the search engine.
Google Ranking Factor
Backlinks: (this is h3)
Google’s ranking factors are not publicly disclosed, but some key ones are known. One of the essential factors is backlinks. Backlinks are links from one website to another and are considered among the most substantial ranking factors. Studies have shown a strong correlation between the number of linking domains and organic traffic.
Relevance:
Relevance measures how beneficial a search result is to the user. Google uses various methods to determine applicability, including keyword matching and analyzing user interaction data to see if the results are helpful.
Page speed:
Page speed is a factor that affects both desktop and mobile search ranking. However, it is more of a negative ranking factor, meaning that slow pages are negatively impacted rather than positively affecting fast pages.
Now, you know the basics of SEO and see how a search engine works. It is time to take action for your SEO. Keep reading and exploring.
How do you start your SEO journey?
SEO involves optimizing a website to improve its ranking in search engine results. Seo can achieve this through several steps,
- Keyword
- SEO Based Content
- Link Building
- One page SEO
- Technical SEO
Setting up your SEO Journey
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is optimizing a website to improve its ranking in search engine results. A well-designed and adequately set up the website are essential for SEO success. Here are a few ways to set up your website for SEO success:
Get a Good Domain
Choose a short and memorable domain name that is easy to remember, and avoid using hyphens or special characters. The top-level domain (TLD), such as .com, is the most recognizable and trusted, but .org or your local equivalent also works. Avoid TLDs like .info and .biz that people tend to associate with spam.
Use a website platform.
Website platforms like WordPress are popular among SEOs as they are customizable, extensible, and have a vast community of developers who know the platform inside out. However, a hosted solution might be better if you value ease of use and support.
Use a good web host
Choose a web host that prioritizes security, has servers in the same country as most of your traffic, and provides 24/7 support. You can optimize server location with a Content Distribution Network (CDN) later if speed becomes an issue.
Create a positive user experience.
Google wants to rank pages that give visitors a positive experience. To do this, use HTTPS to encrypt your site, choose an appealing design, ensure your website is mobile-friendly, use a readable font size, avoid intrusive pop-ups and ads, and ensure your website loads fast.
Sitemaps
As you have a helpful website for your business now, Submitting your website to Google can accelerate the process of being crawled and indexed by helping Google discover your site even if it lacks backlinks. This can aid in SEO success. Sitemaps help you in this regard, and they contain all the essential pages you want Google to index from your website. To check if you have a sitemap for your website, go there.
site.com/sitemap.xml
site.com/sitemap_index.xml
And if you do not find your sitemap there, you do not have to worry. It takes just 10 seconds to create one.
- Log in to your Google Search Console account.
- Select the property (website) you want to create the sitemap for.
- Click on the “Sitemaps” option in the left-hand menu.
- Click the “Add/Test Sitemap” button in the top right corner.
- Enter the sitemap URL (for example, “example.com/sitemap.xml”) and click “Submit.”
- Wait for the sitemap to be processed and indexed by Google. You can check the submission status by returning to the “Sitemaps” page.
- After the sitemap is indexed, you can see the number of pages indexed, any crawl errors, and other information related to your sitemap on the “Sitemaps” page.
Repeat the process for any other sitemaps you want to submit.
Note: Make sure that your website meets the requirements and guidelines of Google Search Console, and your website should be verified on Search Console to submit a sitemap
At this point, we have a decent website that performs well in SEO. And we know all the basics of SEO. Now, If you are new to SEO, it is crucial to understand the importance of keyword research. This chapter will provide an overview of keyword research and why it matters. You can move on to the next chapter if you know the topic. The most important that we have to master is KEYWORD. Keep reading and learn the excellent path of SEO.
What is keyword research?
Keyword research is essential because it helps you identify the keywords and phrases potential customers use to search for products or services related to your business. By targeting these keywords in your website’s content, meta tags, and URLs, you increase the chances of your website appearing in the search engine results pages (SERPs) when these keywords are searched.
This helps increase the visibility and traffic to your website, which can lead to more leads and sales. Additionally, keyword research helps understand the competitors, their strength, and their weakness, which will help create a more effective SEO strategy. With proper keyword research, your website may receive traffic from search engines as you may target keywords or phrases that need to be searched for, as 90.63% of pages on the internet get no traffic from Google.
How to find keyword ideas
Keyword research involves understanding the words and phrases your potential customers might use to search for solutions to their problems and using them to generate a list of relevant keyword ideas. This chapter will give you the knowledge and understanding needed for effective keyword research.
Start with the “seed” keyword.
Seed keywords are the foundation of your keyword research process; they help you identify your niche and competitors. They are the starting point for generating a list of keyword ideas using keyword research tools. If you already have a product or business you want to promote online, using seed keywords is easy; it’s all about what people type into Google to find your offer.
For example, if you have a clothing shop called.
“Reappearing Shop”
That specializes in vintage and retro clothing; some seed keywords that you can use to conduct keyword research might include
“vintage clothing,”
“retro clothing,”
“second-hand clothing,”
“vintage clothing shop,”
“retro clothing store,” etc.
Using keyword research tools like Google Keywords Explorer, you can generate a list of relevant keyword ideas that seed words can use to optimize your website’s content and meta tags.
See your competitor’s Keyword.
One effective way to speed up your keyword research is by identifying your competitors and analyzing the keywords that drive traffic to their websites. To determine your competitors, use your brainstormed list of seed keywords and search for them on Google, then check the websites that appear on the front page of the search results. If the top-ranking websites for your seed keywords do not resemble your site, try searching for slightly more specific keywords.
For example, if you sell coffee-making equipment, searching for “cappuccino maker” instead of “cappuccino” may reveal more actual competitors as e-commerce stores like yours rank for the former while blogs rank for the latter. Once you have identified a competitor website, use a competitive intelligence tool like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to check which pages bring the most traffic to the website and the keywords they are targeting.
Analyze keywords
To effectively sift through millions of keyword ideas, utilizing SEO metrics to identify the most valuable options is important. This can be done using metrics such as search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, and SERP features to narrow down the list and select the most relevant keywords for your strategy.
Search Volume
Search volume indicates the average monthly frequency at which a keyword is searched for. For example, research all the keywords that refer to your brand if you have a cloth business.
Targeting Keywords
To maximize your chance to rank, it is essential to analyze your keywords first. For example, you have a page, and you want to target this page for your business. You need to target a group of keywords that will help you. Let’s learn about this topic in detail now.
Parent Topic
Let’s assume you want to visit a restaurant near you. To be specific, you need whipped coffee. You search “whipped coffee” for yourself. Now Analyze the result.
You can see that google suggests you some results. Like
“Whipped coffee recipe”
“Whipped coffee making”
What did you notice? Google shows “whipped coffee recipe” results when searching for “whipped coffee.” This is just because google assumes this is a subtopic or relevant to your search.
Let’s note down the result and make a conclusion. The fact clarifies that you will rank in two different search queries if you have a page about whipped coffee recipes. So, the parent topic will be switched to coffee for you.
Study the search intent.
Take the name “Arabic coffee.” To determine the search intent behind a keyword like “arabica coffee,” you can look at the top-ranking pages in the search engine results page (SERP) for that Keyword. These pages will likely be the ones that best satisfy the search intent of most users who enter that query. In this case, a combination of informational pages about Arabica coffee and product or category pages selling arabica coffee beans would be the best approach.
How to prioritize keywords
It is crucial to prioritize your keywords because it decides where you should invest your time and money first. There are some things to consider
- Traffic volume of this Keyword
- Ranking difficulty
- Who is your competitor
- How much effort it takes to create a perfect page for this Keyword
- What business value does this Keyword provide us
One Page SEO
Everything you can do on the page to improve its rankings in page SEO. All that helps to focus on assisting Google.
Why is One-Page SEO Matter?
Google looks at your pages and decides that your page is relevant to search queries. Include keywords and other questions that are on your page. For that one page, SEO is a game changer for you.
How Do you start your page SEO?
People often must correct mistakes when they try on-page SEO for the first time, like overreacting to the exact words. But that doesn’t work at all. Here are the paths that help you rank higher than others on Google.
Use H1 Tag
H1 Tags help Google to understand the content. It is excellent practice to use H1 as a tag for your title.
Use H2 – H6 subheadings
To improve your hierarchy, use H2-H6, which makes your content understanding easier for Google.
Compelling Title
Your title tags are the only things that your audiences see first. And they decided if they clicked the link on not. So you must need a compelling title. If you need to learn how to write a compelling title. Then there are the best tips for you,
Short
Keep your title short and attractive, and do not clickbait through vague words.
Specific
Make your title clear about your idea or business. Don’t waste their time
Keyword
Use the Keyword In the Title to give Google a clear idea to index your page more perfectly.
Meta Description
To get more clicks and traffic, meta description helps a lot. Because it helps to describe your page to index it, here are all the tips for writing the best meta description for you.
Precise and Short
Keep them under 160 characters and avoid long-form lines and vague words.
Search Intent
Write down what your searchers search for.
Include Keyword
Including keywords will make your page bold to Google and help to index.
Optimize Images
The image helps you to get more traffic, and there are three ways to optimize them.
Use descriptive filename
Filenames help Google to get clues about the image subject. For example
Orange.jpg is much better than img_8800.jog
Alt Text
Alternative text is an HTML attribute that is used to describe the image. This improves accessibility. <img> tags are best to describe the appearance and help Google index
Use external Links
Linking a website is an excellent practice for indexing your website. To rank better on Google, it is us to connect links between websites.
Use Snippets
To summarize information at a glance, use snippetsStructureded Data to help Google to understand your web page better. And this leads to clicks.
Link Building
Links are an essential factor in determining a webpage’s ranking on Google. Pages with many links are considered authoritative and have higher search engine rankings. On the other hand, pages with links are more visible. This guide will show you how to acquire high-quality links that improve your search engine ranking without risking a penalty from Google. It is designed for beginners and includes practical, easy-to-implement advice.
What is link building?
Link building is acquiring links from other websites to your own. This helps to improve the perceived authority of your pages in the eyes of search engines such as Google, resulting in higher search engine rankings and increased traffic to your site.
Why is link-building important?
Link building is a crucial aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) as it helps to improve the visibility and ranking of your website’s pages on search engines such as Google. According to Google’s Andrey Lipattsev, links are one of Google’s three major ranking factors. Many links pointing to your website can significantly improve your search engine rankings.
Links from other sites act as “votes” for your website, helping search engines to determine which pages are most relevant and authoritative on a given topic. This is why pages with more backlinks tend to rank higher in search results. Therefore, link building is essential for any website to improve search engine rankings and drive more traffic.
How to build links
“Adding” a link refers to manually placing a link on a website you do not own. Some common tactics used to add links include:
- Submitting your business to directories
- Creating social profiles
- Commenting on blogs
- Posting on forums and community sites
- Creating job listings
- While these tactics are relatively easy to implement, they tend to have low value in the eyes of Google and may even be flagged as spam. Additionally, since these tactics are easy to replicate, they do not provide a significant competitive advantage.
However, it’s worth noting that these tactics can still benefit your online business in ways other than SEO. For example, submitting your business to directories can increase visibility and drive more customers to your site. Social profiles help build your brand and engage with your audience. And creating job listings can help to attract top talent to your company.
Asking for Link
“Asking for links” is a link-building tactic where you reach out to the website owner and request a link, providing a compelling reason for them to link to your website. The success of this tactic relies on the strength of your “compelling reason.” Examples of tactics that fall under this category include guest blogging, the skyscraper technique, link inserts, ego bait, testimonials, case studies, link exchanges, resource page link building, broken link building, image link building, unlinked mentions, link moves, HARO and journalist requests, and PR.
However, persuading website owners to link to your website can be challenging, as your “compelling reason” may not be strong enough. In addition, many website owners may not respond to your request or may decline your offer. To increase the chances of success, it’s essential to ensure that your content is outstanding before reaching out to website owners.
Some SEOs have started to offer “extras” such as social media shoutouts, email newsletter blasts, free access to premium products or services, link exchanges, or money in exchange for a link. However, these practices can fall into the grey area of a “link scheme” according to Google’s guidelines and should be avoided.
How to make good links?
The exact method by which Google evaluates the value of each link is private. However, the SEO community has developed general concepts of assessing relations based on their experiences and observations. These include
Authority:
The perceived authority of the linking website is measured by the number and quality of links pointing to it.
Relevance:
The relevance of the linking website and page to the linked page’s content.
Anchor text:
The text in the link can indicate the topic or theme of the linked page.
Nofollow vs follow:
Whether the link is a “nofollow” link, which does not pass any link juice, or a “follow” link, which does give link juice.
Placement:
The link placement on the linking page, such as in the body text, header, or footer.
Destination:
The link’s destination, whether it goes to the homepage or another internal website page.
Authority
Link building refers to the perceived authority of the website or page linking to your website. It’s widely believed that links from high-authority websites or pages carry more weight than links from low-authority websites or pages. Google has consistently denied the existence of a sitewide website authority metric, but many SEOs believe that the concept of website authority is essential.
However, the authority of the specific page linking to you is more important.
A mention in an unnoticed article on a high-authority website carries less weight than a widely-shared and well-regarded article on the same website. In simple terms, the authority of a page is determined by the number and quality of links pointing to it.
A page with many high-quality links will have a more decisive vote in search engine ranking than a page with few or low-quality links. This concept is at the heart of Google’s PageRank algorithm. In the past, Google provided a browser toolbar that displayed the PageRank of any URL visited, but this tool has been deprecated for over a decade. As a result, SEO tool providers have developed their authority metrics to fill this gap.
An example is Ahrefs, which has Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR), which measure the “link popularity” of websites and URLs, respectively. These metrics assess the authority of a website or a specific page.
Relevance
Relevance, in the context of link building, refers to how closely related the linking website or page is to the linked page’s content. In general, links from websites or pages that are relevant to the topic of the linked page carry more weight than links from irrelevant websites or pages.
For example, in the case of a guide on grilling the perfect steak, a link from a renowned chef such as Gordon Ramsay would be more valuable than a link from a podcast host, even if the latter has a larger audience. This is because a renowned chef is more likely to provide accurate and relevant information on grilling the perfect steak.
Google also seems to take relevance into account when ranking pages. In its “How search works” guide, Google states that links from prominent websites on the same subject as the linked page are a good sign that the information is high quality.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is a clickable snippet of text that directs a user to another webpage. It is often used to describe the content of the linked page briefly. Google uses the words in the anchor text to understand the content of the linked page and the keywords it should rank for.
This is made explicit in Google’s original PageRank patent, which states that Google uses techniques such as page rank, anchor text, and proximity information to improve search quality.
When building links, it is essential to avoid trying to control the anchor text of your backlinks. Attempting to shoehorn specific keywords into the anchor text of your backlinks can be viewed as manipulation by Google and may result in a penalty.
Instead, it is best to allow the author of the linking page to decide how they want to reference your page. This will help avoid suspicion of manipulation and maintain the natural flow of links.
Destination
When creating backlinks for your website, there are three primary destinations to direct them towards:
Your website’s main page.
Your valuable content can be linked to.
The specific pages on your website that you want to improve their search engine ranking.
Obtaining backlinks for these targeted pages can be challenging. People usually prefer linking to informative pages that offer value to their audience rather than commercial pages that require a monetary transaction.
One common question in the field of SEO is, “How to acquire backlinks for less attractive pages?”
Although there isn’t a definite answer, a widely accepted strategy is to utilize internal linking to enhance the ranking of these “less attractive pages.” You can transfer link juice and improve their search engine positioning by linking these pages from other high-authority pages within your website.
Link-building strategies
In the previous section, various link-building tactics and strategies were discussed. But which ones are considered the most efficient and effective? We highly recommend the following four methods:
- Identifying and obtaining backlinks from your competitors
- Creating valuable content that can be easily linked to
- Promoting your content to relevant audiences
- Publishing guest posts on relevant websites
These tactics have been proven effective in building high-quality links and increasing search engine ranking.
Identifying and obtaining backlinks from your competitors
The pages with top positions in the search result, being your competitors, possess helpful links. Consequently, investigating the relations of one’s competitors greatly enhances the link-building process. By examining their techniques, one can effortlessly adapt them to their page by looking at their plans. Utilize any reputable SEO tool to analyze the backlink strategies of the top-ranking pages by accessing the “SERP overview” feature. Subsequently, one can acquire links from the select pages and peruse their method of incorporating them into their pages.”
Creating valuable content that can be easily linked to
In SEO, we use ‘linkable asset’ or ‘linkbait’ to refer to strategically crafted content to attract links. These can take various forms: online tools, infographics, industry surveys, how-to guides, etc. Even in the most uninteresting industries, creating engaging content that will attract links is possible. To find inspiration, study your competitors’ websites using Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and view the ‘Best by links’ report to see which pages have the most links. Such assets are
- Coined terms and brief definitions
- Guides tutorials
- Research
- Infographics
To attract links,
the best way is to create exciting and data-driven content. To make this content, you must look at your competitor’s pages and collect inspiration.
To do that, Go to site Explorer, which will help you understand how their pages attract the most links promoting your content to relevant audiences if your website doesn’t explore by an audience, no matter how linkable and dynamic it is. Every linkable page needs some promotion to attract more and more links.
There are some ways to promote content,
- With the help of influencers,
- Advertising content
- Growing audience
With the help of influencers,
The most relevant people in your field can put your content in front of a mass audience. For example, this content is all about SEO. To promote this with influencers, we should contact someone with the same audience base related to our range. This will help us for growing.
So, the central part is you must contact influencers with the same audience base that matches us. If you can connect with them, you will get a great attraction.
Advertising
With the help of advertising, you can bring a lot of visitors. Facebook, Google, and Twitter are some platforms that can help you advertise on a budget; if you want to promote your business and grow it, plan how to advertise and make the budget to help you.
Growing Audience
It’s essential to grow your audience after publishing and promoting content as it allows you to continue reaching those who found value in it. This can be done by encouraging them to subscribe to your email list, follow you on social media, join a private community, or retarget them with ads. As your audience grows, you will have an enormous reach and will not have to promote your content as much manually.
You know all the basics needed to start your SEO journey. To do well on this path, some tools can help you. The last chapter is about tools you can use for your research.
Keywords Research Tools
Keyword research is essential to SEO, and specialized tools are necessary to do it effectively. If you’re on a tight budget, several free options are available, including
- Google Search Console shows the search queries your website is currently ranking for and getting clicks.
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools offers a free plan similar to Google Search Console but includes keyword difficulty (KD) scores.
- Google Keyword Planner is primarily used for running ads on Google, but it can also be helpful for SEO keyword research.
- Keyword Generator is a free tool for generating keyword ideas.
- Keyword Difficulty Checker is a free tool for checking the ranking difficulty of a keyword.
Conclusion
SEO is a crucial aspect of online marketing that helps websites improve their visibility and ranking in search engine results. Using keywords, backlinks, website structure, mobile optimization, and other techniques can increase traffic and drive more business to your website. While there is no guaranteed #1 ranking in search results, following best practices and using proven SEO strategies can significantly improve your website’s performance. SEO constantly evolves, so staying up-to-date with the latest techniques and trends is essential to achieve the best results.
People Also Asked
What is SEO, and how does it work?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, the process of optimizing website content to improve its visibility in search engine results. It involves using keywords, meta tags, backlinks, and other tactics to increase a website’s ranking.
Why is SEO important for businesses?
SEO is essential for businesses because it helps their website appear at the top of search engine results, increasing visibility and driving traffic. It can lead to increased sales and brand awareness.
What are keywords, and how do they relate to SEO?
Keywords are specific terms or phrases used to describe a website’s content. Search engines use them to understand and match the scope with relevant searches. Using keywords strategically in website content can improve ranking in search engine results.
How do backlinks affect SEO?
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. They are essential for SEO because they act as a vote of confidence for search engines, indicating that your website is valuable and trustworthy. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, the higher its ranking in search engine results.
What are some standard SEO techniques?
Standard SEO techniques include keyword research and optimization, content creation and optimization, link building, meta-tag optimization, and website architecture optimization. These techniques can improve a website’s ranking in search engine results and drive more traffic to the site.
How does website structure affect SEO?
The structure of a website, including the way pages, are organized and linked together, can significantly impact its SEO. Search engines use the network to understand the content and categorize it appropriately so that a well-structured website can improve its visibility in search results.
How does mobile optimization affect SEO?
Mobile optimization refers to making a website accessible and usable on mobile devices. With more and more people using portable devices to search the web, having a mobile-optimized website has become a crucial factor in SEO. Search engines may penalize websites not optimized for mobile devices, making it essential to ensure that your website is accessible on all devices.
Can you guarantee a #1 ranking in search results?
It is possible to guarantee a #1 ranking in search results. SEO is constantly evolving, and search engines update their algorithms, making predicting how they will rank websites difficult. However, using proven SEO techniques and following best practices can improve a website’s ranking and visibility in search results.
How long does it take to see results from SEO?
The time it takes to see results from SEO varies depending on factors, the competitiveness of your industry and the quality of your website and content. However, seeing significant results from SEO efforts can generally take several months to a year.
Is SEO the same for all search engines?
No, the algorithms used by different search engines to rank websites can vary, so the techniques used for optimizing a website for one search engine may not be effective. However, many basic principles and best practices apply to SEO for all search engines.
