SEO for Beginners
Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of improving websites to gain traffic organically rather than through sponsored methods. It is a lengthy process with three key components: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO, all of which work together to help pages perform well in search engine results pages (SERPs).
SEO is an important component of every company’s marketing strategy since it works to make your website visible to potential clients via search. Unlike sponsored search, or pay-per-click (PPC), SEO is all about how your site naturally crawls to the top of the SERP, rather than paying for ad space on the page. While it isn’t as rapid as PPC — it might take anywhere from 6 to 9 months to see the rewards of your SEO work — it more than pays off in the end since not only will the amount of traffic rise, but so will the quality. In a nutshell, SEO is a long-term plan that, when performed correctly, allows your company to reap the rewards over time.
Not sure where to start? Don’t be concerned; that’s why we’re here. We’ve laid out the five main actions you should take to attain SEO success in this blog. Using these strategies, your website will be ranked first on Google in no time!
STEP 1 – Keyword Research
A plan is required before you can begin optimizing a site. “What is the purpose of this website?” you should ask yourself. Whether you’re selling a product, educating a group, sharing ideas, blogging about personal experiences, or anything else, conducting thorough keyword research should always be the first step in any SEO approach.
Keyword research is the process of acquiring information about which terms and phrases are frequently searched by your target audience, as well as the frequency of such searches. You’ll be able to come up with target keywords that are relevant to your sector after you have a better knowledge of what people are searching for. This is also the time to conduct competition research, which is studying what your competitors are ranking for and how you can leverage that to your advantage.
Without conducting this research, you will have no clue what users are looking for, and you will be unable to adequately optimize your site. Because the entire aim of SEO is to raise your visibility on the SERPs, utilizing popular keywords will increase your chances of getting spotted.
STEP 2 – Content Creation
After conducting keyword research, you should have a better understanding of common terms and phrases on which to base your content. Website content can comprise anything from web pages to photos, videos, blog entries, infographics, and more, so you’ll have lots of opportunities to incorporate your goal keywords and start ranking higher on SERPs.
When creating content, look for natural methods to use such keywords and phrases in a way that makes sense.
The more high-quality material you have on your site, the better – but make sure it matches your audience’s search intent! SERPs reward great content since it provides people with the information they require, but weak, low-quality content is frequently penalized. The primary purpose of search engines like Google and Bing is to direct searchers to the answers they seek; if your material does not do this, it is unlikely to rank well.
Check read our blog “The 5 W’s You Need For Content Creation” to learn more about developing optimal content.
STEP 3 – On-page SEO
On-page SEO, often known as on-site SEO, refers to everything you can do to your own web page to help boost your SERP rating. Pages that are effectively optimized for on-page SEO will incorporate the page’s subject as a target keyword in the title tag, meta description, URL, headings, subheadings, and throughout the text.
All of these features are crucial factors in ranking well since they not only help the search engine understand what your website is about but also help the searcher. We’ve already talked about how you’ll be rewarded for giving the finest content to users, so ensuring sure you’ve optimized the metadata is critical for optimizing the user experience.
Internal linking, or linking to other pages within your own website, is another simple but effective technique to optimize your pages. This helps search engines and searchers find your site since they will be directed through your site on a path that makes sense through these related connections, which improves their experience. But it also benefits you since the more a page is linked to, the better it will be rated because search engines presume the material on the page is useful. Otherwise, why are so many other websites referring to it?
STEP 4 – Technical SEO
Technical SEO includes how your material appears in search results, how search engines crawl your pages, which pages they will crawl, language preferences and coding utilized mobile-friendliness, and much more. You should test the site speed, mobile-friendliness, sitemap, and any other site problems that may prohibit you from doing well on the SERP on a regular basis.
These factors are important since they all contribute to the user experience, and remember, the search engine wants to deliver the best experience possible. For example, you want your site to load quickly since consumers are less likely to stay on a website that takes hours to load. Pingdom and Google PageSpeed Insights are two tools you may use to test the speed of your website. Similarly, they won’t want to continually encounter 404 errors, pages that aren’t optimized for mobile searches, or pages that are simply difficult to traverse. A technical audit every few months is essential for remaining on top of your site’s difficulties since it allows you to discover and remedy problems before they emerge.
STEP 5 – Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to everything that occurs outside of your website that aids in the promotion of your ranking. Having other reliable and reputable websites link back to your website or mention your organization is one of the most powerful SEO boosts possible.
Consider this: if you are launching your own soft drink line, would you rather have Coca-Cola acknowledge you as a real firm and link back to your site, or someone producing soda in their basement that no one has ever heard of? While recognition from any competition is advantageous, you would certainly prefer the support of a household name. If Coca-Cola links to your site, it will direct consumers to you, and you will have built-in credibility as a result of the association with a well-known brand. Search engines use industry leaders to authenticate other businesses in the same field.
Claim your Google My Business listing as another off-page SEO approach. This listing appears on the right side of Google’s SERP and contains information about your company such as its website, address, phone number, customer reviews, and more. This gives users the information they need to find your business more simply and boosts your chances of ranking, especially if you are a local business close to the user.
Continuing to Achieve SEO Success
We hope this blog has established the groundwork for those new to the field of SEO, but if you want to go even deeper, check out our free, printable SEO Guidebook. In this tutorial, we go through SEO best practices for driving quality traffic to your website and assisting you in developing a thorough marketing strategy. As always, if you determine you may benefit from professional SEO assistance, we would be delighted to provide it!
Need help with getting your business found online? Stridec is a top SEO agency in Singapore that can help you achieve your objectives with a structured and effective SEO programme that will get your more customers and sales. Contact us for a discussion now.