Search Engine Optimization
When you create good products, and you are sure that there are people who will pay money for your solution, the question that arises is, how do you let those people know about your business? The answer is – SEO.
It is easy to find these people online with the help of some relevant keywords they use to search for your products on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other search engine.
Now, when they search for something, or your products, for example, there will be many results available, and the key to getting on top of these thousands of results is through SEO or search engine optimization.
We will learn the ways to implement SEO elements to bring your target audience organically.
What is SEO in marketing?
When you create good products, and you are sure that there are people who will pay money for your solution, the question that arises is, how do you let those people know about your business?
It is easy to find these people online with the help of some relevant keywords they use to search for your products on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other search engine.
Now, when they search for something, or your products, for example, there will be many results available, and the key to getting on top of these thousands of results is through SEO or search engine optimization.
We will learn the ways to implement SEO elements to bring your target audience organically. SEO is the process that helps to improve your website’s ranking and visibility in the search engines.
Relevant keywords in your SEO will help your website rank higher to be visible to more of your target audiences. It works for any business, blog, or service with prospects that look for them online. For example, if you have a hair care brand, SEO can help you rank for a term like “best hair care brands.”
Is SEO easy to learn?
Does SEO still work in 2021?
Yes, SEO works and works better in 2021 as long as people use search engines like Google.
Technical Foundation
Just like a strong foundation for your house, your SEO needs a strong technical base to build on. Minor issues can result in audience bounce back, and other bigger issues can eliminate your website’s chances of ranking higher.
Here are some of the technical aspects you should check:
Indexability
If Google is unable to index your pages, your website will not show up in the results. So, check and make sure that all your pages are indexable using Google Search Console. Use URL inspection to check which particular pages are indexed and check overall index errors through coverage reports.
Mobile-friendly
Google uses mobile-first indexing so, even if your desktop version is well-optimized, your rank will not improve until your mobile version is fully optimized. You can use Google Search Console to check your website’s mobile usability. It will show you the errors but you will have to manually go through your website’s mobile version to check if it is user-friendly.
Site Speed
Another important feature for a good technical base is the speed of your website. It not only helps you in improving your SEO ranking but also saves your website’s conversion rates. Website conversion rates can drop by about 4.42% with that extra second that your website will take to load.
You can check your website’s speed on the Core Web Vitals tab in Google Search Console.
Logical site architecture
Site navigation should be easy for the users. Ideally, it should take less than three seconds for the user to navigate from the homepage to another page on the site. It should have a logical structure for users to easily find what they need. It helps search engines to understand the topic of the page and improves user experience.
Title tags and meta descriptions
When you search for something on Google, the first thing you see is a list of title tags and meta descriptions that provide a small summary of every website. They have an impact on click-through rate, therefore, they are important for SEO. If you get many clicks because of your enticing title, Google will move you up in the rankings. Avoid using clickbait headlines because it will result in increasing bounce rates from your website. Include a keyword at the beginning of your title and one in the meta description.
Optimize images
To optimize the image, firstly, add alt text. It describes what the image is about. You may use keywords but use only a few words to describe the image. Secondly, reduce the file size of the images. It will upload faster and according to Google ranking factors, it will improve your SEO.
Keyword Research
These are the main topics or words that describe the page’s content and generally align with the terms people search for on Google. Start with specific keywords, also known as long-tail keywords, like “Motivational books for young adults. It will bring you a targeted audience, while with broad keywords like Motivational books, you will also get the irrelevant audience.
You can do your keyword research using uber suggest or Ahrefs and start your search with core keywords even if it has a low search volume. Type your keyword in keyword explorer, and it will present some variations you could use. The next step will be to research your competitors to find out the core keywords. If you have to choose between multiple core keywords, choose the one that has lower keyword difficulty.
You could generate more traffic through low search volume keywords than you could probably generate with high volume search terms because you will rank higher. Add your core keywords to your homepage and in the first 100 words of your website. Do not overuse keywords because they will be recognized as unnatural keyword stuffing by Google, and it could harm your SEO.
Content Marketing
Google ranks strong brands higher than others. The website that has better user engagement and traffic will be ranked higher than the one with similar keywords. So, how to increase your user engagement?
Through content marketing.
Content marketing means creating content to address your audience’s questions. For example, if you have a hair care brand, you can write a blog about hair care tips. When Google sees good traffic and user engagement on your website, it will consider your website as an authoritative website for hair care, and give you a better ranking.
Writing your content
What makes a blog post better than others?
- Depth in terms of topics, examples, and other details.
- Better reader or user experience by using pictures, impactful headlines, graphics, etc.
- Simple language.
You can also update your existing content to improve its SEO to rank better.
Link Building
The last important element of SEO is building links. Backlinks and high-quality content help your website rank better. A backlink is a hyperlink that directs a user from one website to another for more information. Having backlinks indicates to Google that the website to which the link is directed is a reliable source of information, which is good for SEO. Although, if you get backlinks from low-authority websites, it will harm your SEO.
For backlinks to be useful, they should be from a website relevant to your industry and a high-quality website. Getting these backlinks is not easy. You can do it in two ways:
- Manually build them
- Organically earn them
If your website is not known yet, you might have to build some links manually by asking for websites directly. For outreach link building, you may have to provide some value. Here are some ways to do that:
- Broken link building – if their website has a broken link, ask them to replace it with your link.
- Link replacement – you can ask them to swap a link from a mediocre site with yours to provide better content.
- Unlinked mention outreach – If a website uses images from you or mentions you, ask them to add a link to the source.
- Guest posting – write on publications relevant to your industry.
Get started with SEO basics.
Now, you have the basics of SEO. Follow all the steps mentioned in this guide, and you can get the SEO success you need. It is not difficult to implement these strategies but, you must be consistent in your efforts.
For best results, most websites make consistent efforts with SEO practices. So, get started on it today!