Your Starter Guide for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your web pages, blog posts, or videos readable by search engines. Search Engines then rank them based on how relevant and valuable they think it is for users. By ranking high up in Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), you will be exposing your website to a lot more potential & targeted audience without having to pay for the search engines to appear on their first search pages.

Many factors influence search results and rankings. Some of these include:

- Website content

- Site speed & loading time

- Social media activity (likes, tweets, shares)

- Page size or length of pages

- Site structure (hierarchy)

- Broken links, images, or videos that don't load properly, etc.

Though many factors are involved in SEO Ranking and Search Engine Optimization, the most important is having great content for your web pages. Content should be unique & plagiarism-free, with a clear message to convey through every post. that means boosting your website's credibility & authority in the eyes of search engines and users alike, resulting in better rankings.

How do search engines work?

To answer this question, we will break the search engine result pages (SERPs) into two main categories;

1- Organic search results.

2- Paid search results.

What is organic search?

Organic Search results are ranked based on a web page's value to the target audience. The rank of each result then depends upon several factors such as; relevancy, reputation, and popularity on the Internet (social media shares).

Therefore, when you hear SEO, the first thing that should come to mind is "Organic Search." Search engine optimization (SEO) affects the visibility of a web page in search engines, mainly through on-page & off-page optimization. A search engine's goal is to provide search results that are relevant and appropriate for search queries issued by users, which means more keywords on a page matching search words and how the search words are used on the page. Which is the process of optimizing your web pages, blog posts, or videos so that search engines can understand what they are looking at. Search Engines then rank them based on how relevant and valuable they think it is for users. So by ranking high up in Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), you will be exposing your website to a lot more potential & targeted audience without having to pay for the search engines to appear on their first search pages.

What is paid search result?

These are the ads you see at the top of your search page, right next to organic search listings (SERP), paid for by advertisers who want people to click on them instead of other listings. Search Engines sell search ads for top rankings to the highest bidder. Depending on how much an advertiser is willing to bid, search engines will place their ad higher or lower. Paid search result advertisements can be highly effective if done right; however, not all business owners know whether it's worth investing into paid search results or not. Therefore, it should always be considered as part of your overall internet marketing strategy and not used only when you cannot rank organically for specific keywords. After all, Paid Ads are just one way through which businesses advertise themselves online.

We will focus on the organic search results "SEO" and exploit its potential for ranking higher on search engines without paying for search engines, but first, I have to clear a couple of things so you can follow along.

Search Intent;

If your website isn't a good match for users, they will not see it. This is because Google uses 'user Signals' to determine rankings. When users are looking for information on the web, they're trying to solve a problem. So your website must show the best solution quickly and clearly to get higher ranks and recognition from Google, which is what is search intent is all about.

Search engines rank keywords based on how relevant and valuable the page is to the user when you incorporate keywords in your content. Therefore, by ranking high in search result pages (SERP), you will expose your website to a lot more potential & targeted audience without having to pay for appearing on the search engine's first page.

Content is King;

Search engines want to provide users with the most accurate and complete results, so they base their search algorithm on web design and content. For example, search engines put more weight on words that appear in bold, italicized text, headings (H1s, H2s), bulleted lists, and tables because these help them understand what a page is about. So make sure to use these features when you write your content.

Making your website easy to navigate is also essential for ranking in search engines and keeping your website updated with the latest news and blog posts. Regularly publishing high-quality content on your website will not only help you rank higher in search engine results pages but will also keep your website visitors coming back for more; we will back into this part later in the article.

How do I start an SEO strategy?

The first step in starting an SEO strategy is to research the keywords you are planning to use in your content and website pages, find how much search volume they are getting monthly, and find trendy keywords to include in your content. Don't expect a quick return of investment as you do from advertisements or promoted links, as your content might take time to get recognized by both the search engines and the audience. However, SEO consistently achieves a longer-term higher return.

Plan a content marketing approach that includes blogging, articles and press releases, video/audio streaming, infographics, news articles, and more. The majority of these platforms are free or have a very minimal cost associated with them.

Blog posts & articles;

They have the highest search volume compared to other forms of content on the Internet. Your blog posts should be at least 500-700 words in length, but that depends on the topic you are writing about, as more complex blogs can reach up to 10,000 words in length! This will help you rank higher on search engine results pages. In addition to including your target keywords, make sure to use them in the following places:

-Title

-Headings (H1, H2)

-Introductory sentence

-Concluding paragraph

-Anchor text (text you hyperlink to other related pages on your website)

-Title tags & meta descriptions

Make sure also to use synonyms, variations, and long-tail keywords throughout your blog post so you can rank for multiple keywords.

Press Releases;

A well-written and newsworthy press release can help you get valuable exposure for your website. Make sure you have at least 300 words in your press release with three to five key points about the product/service you are offering.

Press releases should include the following elements:?

-Your brand name

-The title of the press release

-Date

-City & state

-The lead paragraph, which should include the who, what, where, when, and why of the press release

-A brief overview of the rest of the press release

-Contact information for further inquiries

-Boilerplate (a short paragraph about your company)

The three main ranking factors for a successful SEO campaign;

Search Engine Optimization is divided into three core parts. And without any of these parts, your SEO campaign would be affected heavily in a wrong way, even if you did your research well and wrote top-notch content on a specific topic.

1- On-Page SEO;

On-Page SEO is all about improving your web pages or blog posts in a way that search engines understand what they are about. Keywords play an important role in ranking. Therefore, you should always consider when writing content, whether for a blog post, home page, or even the about us page or any page on your website. On-page Optimization includes using the right keywords throughout your text and Meta Tags, Alt texts & meta descriptions (keywords & descriptions) to make it easier for search engines to find them when someone searches on Google or Bing. Of course, a high-quality website with high-quality content is helpful when it comes to improving your rankings. Still, if you are not getting the right keywords in place for your posts or pages just yet, then there's no need to worry. The good news is that there are plenty of tools out there to check your rankings, keywords & competition.

Google Analytics; one of the most used ones by digital marketers alike that will help you find high volume traffic keywords for high-quality content on website pages or blog posts.

A good On-Page SEO strategy would be making sure you use your target keywords as much as possible without sounding spammy; this means not stuffing too many words into one paragraph just because you want to rank higher up in SERPs. You also need to pay attention to including relevant images with descriptive image names, titles, descriptions, and alt-text. On-Page SEO is undoubtedly an essential part of any SEO strategy because it can dramatically help your web pages appear more relevant to search engines which will, in turn, rank them higher up on SERPs.

Keyword research and keyword targeting;

Trying to determine relative competition for a keyword can be a complex task. That's why tools like?SEMrush?or?SurferSEO?can come in handy to see what terms your competitor is ranking for. These tools check thousands of results and show you each search keyword they see on a recent competitor's results.

When looking for keywords to include while writing content, make sure you consider;

- Keyword Density (a percentage figure that tells how many times a keyword appears)

-Competitors Keywords (keywords used by other websites competing with yours)

-Search Volume (how often users search for this word or phrase online). If there isn't enough volume, it probably won't benefit your website if you go for this term/phrase instead of another one with more significant volumes.

-Relevancy (how much a keyword relates to your business, website, or the topic you are writing about)

-Search Trends (Google Adwords Keyword Planner): It's the best way for you to understand how search engines classify keywords, their popularity over time and give you some clues about high-performing phrases. This is also helpful in guiding users towards high-volume terms that will have a more significant potential of ranking on top SERPs once they start seeing results from Google Analytics.

"Tip" make sure you avoid competitive keywords, as they are hard to rank for on the major search engines like google search.

"Tip" Make sure you have done your keyword research as this is the very first step in any SEO strategy.

2- Technical SEO;

Making your website more visible to search engines is the goal of technical SEO. Internal linking, website URL structure, page speed, and mobile usability are technical optimization examples. For search engines to crawl and read through your site correctly, you must use structured data (JSON-LD), create a sitemap, and make sure you have a solid internal linking structure.

-Schema markup:?This is a type of markup language that webmasters use to create a more semantic view on search engine result pages. Schema helps both users and Google by creating rich snippets that provide greater context for what your site is about – it's the way content gets described in SERPs.

-Structured data:?Another name for schema, as they are one of the same, but structured data is more of a Google-specific term.

-JSON-LD:?is very similar to schema markup in that it provides a way for you to structure your content more effectively. It aids search engine robots in better comprehending what they are reading and indexing them correctly. Structured data makes it possible for search engines to understand your site's content more precisely by providing them with structured information about the page.

-Sitemaps:?formats make it easier for users and search engine spiders to find pages on your website.

-Internal links:?internal links are a powerful way to help users navigate your website and find what they're looking for, but it's also an essential factor when search engines decide where to rank each page in their index.

-Mobile usability:?search engine bots can now read web pages through your mobile device. It will also help people find you if they search on their smartphones or tablets.

-Website URL structure & subfolders:?are good for SEO because search engines know what to expect when crawling each page of your website, so it makes sense to have a solid strategy in place regarding how you want users and crawlers alike; to access the content on your site."Websites with deep hierarchies tend to perform better than those without."

- Page speed:?is also vital for search engines because they want to index quickly and provide users with an outstanding search experience. Therefore, if your website takes too long to load, it could affect how well you rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).

"Tip" Make sure you have descriptive URLs that are user and search engine-friendly that will help both the user and search engine to click and crawl your page.

"Tip" Use descriptive keywords in the titles of each blog post or page that reflect its' content precisely.

"Tip" Make sure you appropriately fill up all meta tags (description & title) under the SEO settings panel inside the dashboard. The report should be particular and precise about topics covered in that specific article.

3- Off-page SEO;

Off-page SEO is the external stuff you can do to improve your search engine rankings. It includes factors like social media, citations, and external links that point back to your website/blog page. These things are external because they don't appear on your site or blog pages but still affect how Google ranks them.

- Social media: each social profile you own has a direct effect on your SEO.

-Citations or backlinks from other websites can also help increase your authority and bring more traffic to it. Still, there is no point in having just any site linking back to you. Ensure those sites have an excellent online presence and high domain ratings. That will indirectly affect how Google ranks your pages." You can easily add citations or backlinks from various online directories, high authority websites, and other resources. There are so many ways to get links pointing back to your website/blog, which is why you need to do a proper link-building strategy. You need to ensure that you get high DA links relevant to what you offer. That will indirectly help drive more visitors to your site too. So make sure you know whom they're linking out to before doing any off-page SEO activities. Linking with irrelevant sites might hurt your domain ratings rather than helping them.

"Tip" always asks for links with "do-follow." Off-page SEO is about building external factors that influence your website's search engine rankings.

"Tip" make sure you have an excellent social media presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.… to increase your web page's authority.

"Tip" if possible, try to get quality testimonials & reviews about your business/product, which you could put on your website. Hence, they come up every time someone searches relevant keywords related to what you do.

Basics of Link Building:

Link building has been considered the backbone of Google's algorithm ever since day one; they're still SUPER important. Not all links are created the same. Suppose your link has developed through a high domain authority (DA) website. In that case, it gets a much higher page ranking than an unethical technique. Google can hit hard if they notice anything unusual and penalize your website. The skyscraper technique takes some time from the planning stage to produce content links are a big part of their writing style. Guest Posting is highly controversial when it goes from legitimate to get traffic and exposure to a black hat approach.

Conclusion;

SEO is the practice of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results. There are many different aspects of SEO, from on-page Optimization to link building. And it's essential to understand all these factors if you want your website to rank higher in Google and other search engines.

The final tip is never to stop learning. SEO is an ever-evolving industry, and the techniques that work today might not work tomorrow. So make sure you stay up to date with the latest trends and changes in the SEO landscape.

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