By Marisa Hochberg : https://www.zimbio.com/Marisa+Hochberg/connections
Did you know that search is responsible for roughly 64% of all organic traffic? Social media accounts for only about 10% of the total. To build a successful digital marketing strategy, you’ll need to master search engines. This SEO for beginner guide will show you how to optimize your website for more traffic and introduce you to the concept of SEO.
What is SEO, exactly?
To grasp SEO, you must first comprehend how search engines like Google, Bing, and others work. What are all factors they take into account when determining search rankings? Similar topics are likely to be covered by several websites. Think of a search engine like Bing or Google as a digital version of those old yellow phone books that index web pages.
After you create a website, search engine bots crawl it to understand the content and index it appropriately so that it appears in related search results. Search engine bots can now understand contextualized information (text, structure, and non-text content) on your website. Search engine bots can now understand the index based on factors like relevance and authority.
It is where SEO (search engine optimization) comes into play. Search Engine Optimization is the movement of optimizing your website for search engines. It all comes down to optimizing sites so that search engines recognize their worth and rank them appropriately. Let’s be clear about one thing about SEO consulting. It means that you should work on SEO on a page-by-page basis.
What is SEO? Why is it important?
The preceding section has already demonstrated the importance of SEO engagement. To gain a better understanding, consider your search habits. You’re looking for information on a specific topic, such as “best email marketing tools.” You could search for “email marketing tools” or something similar. Immediately, a list of results appears.
How to make an SEO friendly website.
Let’s look at ten essential SEO tips for beginners that you can implement right away to improve your website.
1. Conduct keyword research and use relevant terms.
Keywords are crucial in SEO. A keyword is a phrase that describes the main topic of your article and allows people to find it when doing an online search for something related. When people are looking for something, they will type a keyword into a search engine. Make sure your keyword matches the search intent of your target audience. It could be a single word like “digital marketing” or a phrase like “how to create an effective digital camp for advertising.”
Smaller keywords usually have a higher search volume. As a result, the ranking may be more difficult for them. Long-tail keywords have a lower search volume than broad keywords, but they are more specific. The advantage is that you can target only those interested in it. It’s best to mix long-tail and short-tail keywords.
One should also consider the keyword’s search volume and rank difficulty. The search volume shows how often this keyword is looked up, and this topic is more prevalent if the search volume is higher. On the other hand, the rank difficulty indicates how difficult it will be to rank in search engine results. Regarding website optimization, keywords are essential, but they are not the only factor to consider. You must focus on other critical elements to increase traffic.
2. One should liberally sprinkle keywords throughout your page.
Each page or blog post contains a different set of relevant keywords. This article’s keyword is ‘SEO for Beginners.’ That was most likely the keyword that led you here!
Your keywords should ideally fall into the following categories:
- The title of the article.
- The URL.
- In an organic way throughout the text.
- The available image tags.
- If they don’t disrupt the flow of the article, include them. Just be wary of ‘Keyword Stuffing,’ which we’ll cover later in this article.
3. Make your permalinks SEO-friendly.
While you visit a website, you will see a permalink. Permalinks reveal a lot about the overall structure of your website; they shouldn’t be too long and should clearly describe the page for both the reader and the bot crawling your site.
Search engine bots crawl every page on your site to fully comprehend the topic and properly index it. If you run an online bookstore, make your URL meaningful and straightforward. Because permalinks are permanent, picking the right ones for your pages is critical. It is not advisable to use specific dates or information that may change.
In theory, you should keep your page updated over time. SEO benefits from a page that has been online for a long time. You don’t want to waste time creating pages you’ll never use. Older pages do not rank because they have been published for a more extended period. They’re organized because they’ve established authority over time by generating traffic, building links, and other means. The ability to update your pages with new and relevant information is critical, necessitating the creation of a timeless URL structure.
4. Produce excellent content. Keyword stuffing is not allowed!
Of course, you should create content that will pique the interest of your readers. Ensure you cover all aspects of your topic and that nothing is overlooked. You must give your audience an overview of the case and responses specific to their needs.
More words do not always imply higher quality, but they indicate that the subject has been thoroughly discussed. There is a link between word count and ranking and article depth and ranking, according to backlinko.
Writing in a clear, elegant, and conversational style can help you stand out in addition to covering your topic in depth. Don’t cram your keyword into every sentence to achieve a high keyword density. Attempting to beat the system by stuffing as many keywords as possible into every available space will not work, and many people will be penalized. Search engines easily detect keyword stuffing.
5. Improve the quality of your images.
In terms of readability, images are crucial. They assist readers in visualizing your content and comprehending it. They are, however, required for SEO services because they help with website crawling. Although an image cannot be crawled or indexed, the Image ALT-text, or image description, can be. If you use your keyword as the ALT-Text for a photo, Google will index it for that keyword.
Have you ever noticed the images that appear above your search results? They’re also a great way to drive traffic to your site while indicating that your site and pictures are relevant to the search topic. It is also necessary to compress your images. The size and format of ideas can impact the website speed, which is essential for SEO marketing. As a result, double-check that your photos are correctly optimized. It is made simple by using image compression software.
6. Page load speed
Your website’s page speed is essential for ranking, and Google has been using it as a ranking factor since 2018. People only look at your homepage for a few seconds before deciding whether or not to explore it further.
A fast-loading website provides an excellent user experience. Due to the limited time, people are willing to wait now if your page takes too long to load, resulting in a higher bounce rate. Although bounce rate is not a ranking factor in and of itself, it is linked to page speed.
Remember to promote your content and articles.
SEO is a never-ending process, but you’ll progress from an SEO for beginner’s guide to a more advanced position with practice and time. Regularly publishing relevant posts on your blog is one of the most effective ways to improve your search engine ranking (fresh content). Promote your content once you’ve created it to reach a larger audience.
You can do it naturally by posting them on social media and sending out a newsletter. You could also invest in paid advertising (PPC). Both are necessary for your marketing strategy to be successful. You can establish a long-term communication flow with your customers with an organic approach. Paid advertising allows you to target the right audience with your content and drive more traffic to your website, improving your SEO.