Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the reason why people find what they’re looking for when they look online for it. It’s the process of creating content that ranks well online, as well as taking more than a few other steps. As a business owner, this could be enough to sound complicated.
While it can be tricky, it’s something you can master with some time and effort. With a guide to SEO, you should know everything you need to create an SEO strategy that helps you rank well and sell your products.
It shouldn’t have to be an overwhelming process, even if it takes time. All you’ll need are the right steps, and you should start seeing the results more and more in time. Add in a few other things you need to know, and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
It’s time to dive in.
How Google Ranks Content
Over 3.5 billion searches are done on Google every year, and it’s the most popular search engine to use. When you’re implementing an SEO strategy, it’s worth keeping Google in mind. Focusing on it gives you the best possible results, as you’ll get in front of many more people.
To properly rank well on Google, you don’t just need to implement an effective SEO strategy. You’ll have to know how Google ranks content, so you can craft content that actually ranks.
Content creation is one of the most important parts of an SEO strategy, and it needs to be well-optimised. The more you know about how it’ll be analysed and ranked, the better it’ll be for your results in time.
Google, among other search engines, keep four main factors in mind when ranking content. While there are countless other factors, these can be some of the more important, making them worth focusing on. They are:
The intent of a search and your content’s relevancy
The usability of a website and whether it’s user-friendly
How high-quality the content you create is
The context, like whether someone’s looking for a local business
When you’re creating content for your website, keep these in mind. It makes more of a difference in how well you rank than you’d expect. That’s the case no matter what kind of content you’re making, from blog posts to landing pages.
After that, it’s a matter of knowing the right steps to take when creating your SEO strategy. Seven of these can be some of the more important, and they help you lay the foundation for your SEO success.
Guide To SEO: 7 Steps You Need To Take
1. Do Your Keyword Research
The first step you’ll need to take is to figure out which keywords you’ll target with your SEO strategy. Some of these might pop into your mind straight away, but there can be countless others that might be appropriate. It’s worth finding out what these are so you can target them.
That’s where keyword research comes into play. It lets you find the most appropriate keywords to target based on real-time data. You can make informed decisions about your keywords and start crafting an SEO strategy that’ll target them. It’s always worth making this the first step you take.
2. Know What’s Already Ranking
One of the first steps you’ll have to take after figuring out which keywords you’re targeting is to find out what’s already ranking for them. It gives you a better idea of what kind of content you should create, and it helps you figure out what you can do to rank for that specific keyword. This doesn’t have to be difficult.
All you could need to do is a quick Google search, and you can analyse the first page of results. There are also quite a few tools you can use to do this for dozens of keywords at a time. With a bit of time and effort, you’ll have a better idea of what you need to do.
3. Create A Topical Map
Once you have your keywords in hand, you’ll have to figure out what to actually do with them. It’s worth sorting keywords into topical maps to give you a much better idea of what kind of content you should create. You can divide these into clusters to get an even better idea.
Once you do, you can start creating content based around these clusters. It makes the content creation process much easier, while also making sure you’re optimising them for search engines. You’ll see noticeable results in time because of this.
4. Don’t Overlook Content Design
Your content is one of your most powerful assets for your SEO strategy, and it deserves a lot of time and attention. That goes beyond just making sure it’s well written, optimised for search engines, and addresses customer problems. It’ll also have to be well-designed and visually appealing to readers.
Large, clunky paragraphs and blocks of text aren’t going to look great, and website visitors find them unappealing. Break it up into smaller pieces, and keep paragraphs short. It could even be worth adding images and other visual elements to help your content look better. It’ll end up helping your SEO efforts more than you’d think.
5. Focus On Search Intent
When someone looks online for something, they’ll have specific results they’re looking for. They want certain information or products, for example. This is called the search intent, and you’ll need to be aware of this. You’ll also need to focus on it with your SEO strategy, as it plays a major role in its success.
The better you can match search intent with your content, the better your SEO strategy will be. People will be much more likely to actually click on it and get value out of it. Since search engines pay particular attention to this, you’ve no reason not to put the time and effort into it.
6. Add Appropriate Hooks
A hook is what makes people want to click on your website. There’s no point in getting your website in front of them without getting them to do that. That’s why it’s worth putting some time and effort into making sure they’re click-worthy. While this takes time and effort to perfect, it’s worth it.
You’ll end up getting more website visitors, which is the main goal of your SEO strategy in the first place. See what kind of hooks your competitors are using and figure out how you can do better. You can even extend this to the article itself and focus on statistics or facts potential readers will be interested in.
7. Build Links To Your Content
Backlinks are a vital part of increasing your search engine rankings. Google and other search engines see them as a sign of trust from one website to another. By building quality backlinks, you’ll gain more and more trust in Google’s eyes. It’ll be more likely to rank you well because of that.
That doesn’t mean getting backlinks for the sake of getting them. Avoid getting anything spammy, and make sure your anchor text is actually optimised. If all of your anchor texts are for the same words, for example, you could be penalised by search engines. Make it natural and get backlinks from high-quality and trustworthy websites.
How To Track Your SEO Results
Once you’ve implemented your SEO strategy, it’s natural to think you’re done with it and that you can just let it work away. That isn’t the case. You’ll have to monitor and track your SEO results to see how they’re holding up against your expectations.
It’s an essential part of making sure your SEO strategy is actually working, so it’s worth putting some time and effort into. Start by making sure you’re tracking everything possible related to your website.
After that, it’s a matter of setting a few specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and tracking them. There are multiple KPIs to choose from, including:
Traffic growth
Backlinks obtained
Conversions from organic traffic
Number of keywords you’re ranking for
Increase in overall rankings
Focus on the most relevant KPIs to your needs, and see how your SEO strategy is measuring against your expectations. If it’s too low, make adjustments to your strategy to optimise it even further.
With time and effort, you shouldn’t have a problem making your results better and better.
Guide To SEO: Wrapping Up
Without a guide to SEO, you could find ranking well online complicated. It could even be impossible for you. Since it can be a vital part of your marketing, it’s something you’ll have to put time and effort into. Thankfully, it shouldn’t have to be nearly as overwhelming as you could think.
Like many other strategies, it just takes a bit of time to master. Once you do, you’ll see better and better results. By knowing how content is ranked, and how you can track your results, you shouldn’t have a problem adapting in time.
You’ll be better able to adjust your SEO strategy while making sure it gives you the best results possible.