Basics of SEO: 5 Tips to Help You Get Started

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basics of SEO

There are almost 2 billion websites on the internet. What does this mean for you as a business owner or marketer? You’re up against a lot of competition.

One great thing you can do to stand out is to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. But if you haven’t done this before, it can be intimidating to try and start from scratch.

That’s why we put together this guide for you with 5 basics of SEO to help you get started. Read them below.

1. Pick Your Keywords

The goal of your SEO efforts is to rank higher on Google for specific keywords. When people search for products or services that you provide, you want your company’s website to appear on Google.

To make this happen, you need to target the right keywords. This process starts by performing keyword research.

Start by thinking about words people use when searching for you. These can be general like “Chinese restaurant” or “men’s wallets.”

Then use Google Trends to see what people are searching for relative to your content. Other tools will allow you to see what your competitors rank for so you can outperform them.

2. Update Your Titles, Descriptions, and H1s

This is one of the most important SEO tips out there. And the good news is that it’s not that hard to do.

Here’s how it works. Every page on your website has a title and meta description. This is the content that appears on Google when your page appears in the search results.

And one of the best ways to improve your rankings is to include your keyword in both of these areas. That way, it’s super clear to Google’s bots who you are and what the purpose of your page is.

If you’re a local business, also include your city and state in these places. That will help Google know the exact location you serve.

Also be sure to include your page’s keyword in the H1 tag on the page itself. This is the header that people see when they get to your page and it will also give you a boost in SEO.

3. Produce Valuable and Fresh Content

Next, it’s time to produce content. Whether it’s blog posts, videos, ebooks, whitepapers, or infographics, it’s important to continually produce valuable content.

There are two main reasons it’s important to constantly update your website with fresh content. First, it will keep your visitors satisfied.

Publishing regular content updates will help your existing readers stay interested and will attract new ones. And when people spend longer periods of time on your site, this will benefit your SEO.

Publishing new content is also beneficial in terms of your Google rankings. The freshness of your content is a factor in how you compete with other pages on the results page.

However, this doesn’t mean you need to post every single day just for the sake of posting. Make sure your content is still relevant, interesting, and high quality.

4. Add Load Time to Your List of Basics of SEO

When your site takes forever to load, people aren’t going to stick around. And when Google sees people bouncing from your site, this is a bad sign and it will negatively affect your SEO.

Imagine that you have a page that’s super similar to one of your competitors’. Let’s say you both have a page outlining your tax software. If your site takes a super long time to load and your competitor’s loads at a normal speed, they’ll probably outrank you.

That’s just how it is.

Remember that Google’s goal is to provide the best experience possible to their users. And this means providing the most relevant content on a site that works super well.

So if your site struggles when it comes to loading time, that’s a problem.

A faster site is also beneficial because when sites work well, people are more likely to spend time on them. And when they spend time on your site, it’s more likely that they will convert.

If you’re struggling with site speed, here are some things you can do to improve it:

  • Switch to a better hosting provider
  • Compress or get rid of large images
  • Remove JavaScript files that aren’t necessary
  • Utilize a CDN service

These are just a couple of ideas. There are lots more out there as well.

5. Link Internally

Links are a big part of any SEO strategy. That’s because when Google sees that other sites are linking to you, it gives your domain more authority. This means that you’re a trustworthy site.

The same idea is true inside of your own site as well. Linking internally is a great way to improve your rankings.

When Google sees this, it knows your pages are related to each other and that they’re relevant.

There’s debate about the optimal number of internal links to include on your site. Some people have recommended that it’s okay to have up to 100 links on a single page.

Others say to do less than 10. It simply depends on if your links are actually useful for the user or if you’re just doing it for SEO purposes.

Thinking about that will help guide your process.

Final Thoughts

Now that you’ve read through these 5 basics of SEO, what’s next? It’s simple! It’s time to start to implement these things on your site.

Whether your website is brand new or has been around forever, it’s a good idea to re-evaluate the state of your SEO. There are always improvements that can be made.

So take a look at this list and get started today.