SEO: Back To Basics
These days, some of the best strategies in business are the back-to-basics approaches. SEO is one of the most talked-about topics online, and the plethora of information can be overwhelming and confusing. Understanding the basics of SEO can help businesses figure out what they truly need to focus on and develop effective strategies moving forward.
I view these eleven items as the basis of any great SEO strategy.
1. Research And Planning
Defining keywords, or identifying what your customers are searching for online, can inform the foundation of your strategy. Even if you have no prior SEO knowledge, you can come up with keywords by thinking about what you want to be associated with or searching for competitors online.
We use tools like Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer extensively during the SEO research phase. This helps us identify the best keywords for clients by suggesting related search terms and indicating valuable metrics such as search volume and keyword difficulty. This data tells us how competitive we need to be as we come up with the best SEO strategy. Search volume tells us how popular a particular keyword is, while keyword difficulty indicates how hard it will be to rank for that term based on the current rankings of competitor sites. Some keywords with a high keyword difficulty are not worth trying for, and others will require more competitive optimization strategies, including a higher landing page word count and more aggressive link building.
Google's Keyword Planner, Moz Pro and Ubersuggset (free) are some additional tools we've used for keyword research.
When it comes to keywords, incorporating long-tail keywords can improve the authority of your site and help you target new audiences. Long-tail keywords are highly specific search terms. Some of these will appear as related search terms within your SEO research tool, and others can be found by browsing the related searches at the bottom of any Google results page or exploring Google's autocomplete results.
2. Website Optimization
Optimizing your website is your opportunity to apply the findings from your research. Typically, your homepage should center around the most important keyword for your business, while other landing pages can incorporate more targeted search terms.
Incorporate keywords in several ways on every optimized page on your website. Include the keyword in your meta titles and descriptions, but also make sure they're engaging and compelling because these are what will appear on search engines when someone types in your keyword. Also include the keyword in your URL, and be concise and logical.
Well-written content is of paramount importance to any SEO strategy. Not only should your site structure include H1 and H2 headings optimized with keywords, but aim to make the content itself engaging and informative. Google rewards websites that offer the most value to visitors, and one of the most significant markers for this is content.
3. Off-Site Optimization
Off-site optimization refers to any efforts that don’t directly relate to your website, including guest blogging and establishing backlinks (link building) on other high-authority sites.
Link building is one of the most time-consuming SEO strategies, but also one of the most effective. Even a website that is perfectly optimized will often appear below a competitor that is actively engaging in building links through guest blogging and other efforts.
Guest blogging involves publishing original content on other sites with high authority. I recommend establishing a catalog of websites that you can submit guest blog posts to. This process involves performing extensive research into the specific requirements of the sites you'd like to be published on and the type of traffic they receive. This can start with something as simple as a Google search.
Once you find a handful of websites that fit your brand, spend some time exploring to see whether your content might be a good fit before following the guest blogging directions or reaching out to editors. Connecting with the sites via social media is another way to establish a rapport.
4. Tracking
SEO is a dynamic field, and developing a successful strategy may require some tweaking along the way. You can use Ahrefs, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and other tools to help track rankings and identify the gaps in your strategy.
SEO is typically a slow process, and you shouldn’t expect to soar to the No. 1 spot right away. However, tracking and analyzing your progress offers insight into whether your strategy is on the right track.
The ins and outs of SEO are often complicated, but the basics are simple. I began my business by wondering whether I could help companies grow by using the web, and SEO is one of the most effective methods I’ve found to do just that. Integrating effective SEO with other digital marketing tools and techniques has resulted in growth for my business and my clients’ businesses, and I know it can do the same for you.
5.Use Keywords To Your Advantage
It’s important to include keyword variations and keyword synonyms in your content. The main keyword, its synonyms and variations should be included throughout the main text, headings, and any lists that you use in your post or article.
However, keyword density no longer leads to good search-engine rankings. So, never overdo the use of keyword-related phrases or sentences – always preserve your natural writing style.
However, keyword density no longer leads to good search-engine rankings. So, never overdo the use of keyword-related phrases or sentences – always preserve your natural writing style.
6.Make Sure You Include Keywords In Your URLs
The main keyword for your article or post, should be included in the URL of the webpage, to help search engines understand what’s on the page. URLs are also displayed in the search results of the search engines. If a URL contains the keyword entered by the searcher, it will be shown in bold. This increases the chance that the searcher will click on the search result and land on your website.
With CMSs such as WordPress,, you can define an individual permalink for each new page and article. This URL should be defined before the page goes live; it’s not a good idea to change a URL after a page has been published.
With CMSs such as WordPress,, you can define an individual permalink for each new page and article. This URL should be defined before the page goes live; it’s not a good idea to change a URL after a page has been published.
7.Use Headings
Always use headings to structure your articles and pages – use different heading types such as H1, H2, H3, etc. The first header on each page or post should always be a H1 tag. Always ensure headings are used in a logical order. For example, never use a H3 directly under a H1 heading.
This helps search engines understand page structure. Also, avoid using headings to name or mark areas such as the navigation, sidebar, or the footer on your site. This could impact on your rankings.
This helps search engines understand page structure. Also, avoid using headings to name or mark areas such as the navigation, sidebar, or the footer on your site. This could impact on your rankings.
8. Use Pictures Properly in posts
You should enrich your content with pictures to make your website more attractive and improve the customer visitor experience. All images should be stored in a compressed file format and. Tthe JPEG format (.jpg) is usually the best choice. and tThe image file name and alt text should also contain a relevant keyword. It is key to think about the file size of images you add to your site and to try and keep it as small as possible, without losing quality.
The faster your site loads, the more professional it will appear and, ultimately, the higher it will rank. Professional image-manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop is the industry-standard option, but there are free alternatives such as Gimp or befunky.
The faster your site loads, the more professional it will appear and, ultimately, the higher it will rank. Professional image-manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop is the industry-standard option, but there are free alternatives such as Gimp or befunky.
9.Keep Load Times Down
Search-engine crawlers and visitors both favour websites that loads quickly. The loading time of your website depends mainly on the your web- hosting service, theme, and images sizes. Tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights or Webpagetest will check the loading speed of your website. The use of ‘caching’ – eg, storing and serving data and images in a more efficeient way – helps you to eliminate or at least improve loading times.
For WordPress, there are plug-ins available to implement caching processes, including WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket.
For WordPress, there are plug-ins available to implement caching processes, including WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache or WP Rocket.
10.Always Add Internal Links
When relevant, you should add internal links to related content elsewhere on your website. This helps search engines and visitors understand the structure of your website even faster. A good example of how to implement internal linking can be found throughout Wikipedia.
11.Add Meta Titles And Meta Descriptions
For each page and article, you should define a ‘meta title’ and a ‘meta description’. This ‘meta’ text is then displayed in search results in the search engines: not only will doing this improve your rankings, it will also provide a preview of the page for potential visitors.
In Google, the meta title is displayed at the top of the search result in blue. It’s limited to 50 to 60 characters in length. Longer titles are automatically shortened. Under the title, each search result contains the green-coloured URL, and the meta description is displayed. This is limited to approximately 156 characters and is also automatically shortened by Google.
When writing your meta title and meta description, you want to both encourage the potential visitor to click on your link and also ensure it’s relevant to your page. Otherwise, if the searcher does click through doesn’t find what they were searching for, they’ll exit your website, which can have a negative effect on ranking in the search results.
In WordPress, you can use plug-ins to set the meta information for each individual page. For example, the WP Meta SEO or Yoast SEO plug-ins are very useful, because they show you how your article or page is displayed in Google search results.
In Google, the meta title is displayed at the top of the search result in blue. It’s limited to 50 to 60 characters in length. Longer titles are automatically shortened. Under the title, each search result contains the green-coloured URL, and the meta description is displayed. This is limited to approximately 156 characters and is also automatically shortened by Google.
When writing your meta title and meta description, you want to both encourage the potential visitor to click on your link and also ensure it’s relevant to your page. Otherwise, if the searcher does click through doesn’t find what they were searching for, they’ll exit your website, which can have a negative effect on ranking in the search results.
In WordPress, you can use plug-ins to set the meta information for each individual page. For example, the WP Meta SEO or Yoast SEO plug-ins are very useful, because they show you how your article or page is displayed in Google search results.
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