Powerful SEO Basics for Beginners to Get Google Love!

Does your blog need more traffic?

You could use these SEO basics for beginners!

I love Google – they send me a ton of traffic (currently about 35,000 pageviews each weekday).

But I didn’t always! I had to learn how to please the Google gods. I’m not an SEO expert, but these easy SEO tips have really exploded my traffic.

Here are some simple SEO basics you can implement for your own blog.
What we’ll cover:

• SEO Basics for Beginners
• 5 Essential SEO Tips to Ensure Your Success
• Ultimate SEO Guide: 75+ Tactics To Optimize Your Website
• Are These Common SEO Mistakes Killing Your Website?
• How Small Businesses Can Improve Local SEO
• How Social Media Impacts SEO

Lots to learn, plus 4 terrific infographics!

SEO Basics for Beginners

Try these basics to get you started with SEO: Search Engine Optimization. So your website can rise to the top when people are searching for topics like yours!

WordPress is SEO Friendly

Make it easy from the start – start your blog on a WordPress website.

It’s easy for search engines to crawl, and easy for you to update, providing the fresh content Google loves to see.

Go WordPress!

Choose Keywords Carefully

When you write for your website, you want to be sure the keywords you’re using are the same search terms your potential visitors are using.

They’re not looking for “athletic footwear” but perhaps “Nike running shoes.” Use the Google AdWord tool to see what people are really searching for. Or ask your audience!

Note: when people say “keyword,” they really mean keyword phrase.

I could try to rank for “SEO,” but that could take me a lifetime. The longer phrases will be easier to rank for, especially as you’re getting started.

With 9,990 searches a month, “SEO basics” is comfortable for my established blog. If you’re just starting, you might try for phrases well under 1,000 searches a month.

Use Main Keyword in Title and URL

The most powerful SEO comes from using your keyword phrase in the title and URL of your post – it’s a must! And having it near the beginning provides the most impact.

You might use some descriptors in the title and/or heading that you can edit out of the URL – check this post’s URL, for example.

Note that by default, WordPress will give you numbers for your post’s URL. Be sure to change this under Settings –> Permalinks.

I use the custom structure “/%post_id%/%postname%”. Whatever you use, you’ll want to be sure it will use your keyword phrase instead of meaningless numbers.

Use Keywords in Headings, Text, & Meta Description

Sometimes bloggers have a great title, then write a chatty sort of article that doesn’t use the keyword once. Now Google might not be really sure what your article’s about!

I like to use the keyword phrase near the beginning, as well as in the conclusion of the article.

I’ll use it in a heading too, if it makes sense. Headings are a great place to call out related keywords that apply to that section of your article.

It’s very important to have a readable article. If you use the keyword TOO much, Google will penalize you for keyword stuffing. Think quality of article over quantity of keywords.

And don’t forget to use your keywords in the meta description, which you can add via a plugin like All In One SEO or Yoast SEO.

Use Keywords in Names & Alt Tags on Images

I gotta say, I think this one has helped me a lot. Some of my posts have a lot of images, and I name them with keywords separated by hyphens (example: basic-seo-beginners).

Also make use of the Alt tag, which is read by the search engines, even though they can’t “see” the image.

Do remember that alt tags are primarily for the visually impaired. While it’s great to get a keyword in there, be sure you’re also describing what’s in the image.

For me this is often something like “alt text screenshot” or “seo basics header image.”

You can easily add this in WordPress when you upload your image, under Alternate Text.

Learn more about how to name images for SEO.

Interlink Your Pages

When you have relevant information in another page or post on your site, link to it, using keywords appropriate to the linked article as the anchor text of the link.

A quick and easy way to do this is with the WordPress plug-in, Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. However, contextual links in the body text are most effective, so try to use them when you mention something you’ve written about elsewhere.

Example: Check right above this section where I linked “how to name images for SEO.”

5 Essential SEO Tips to Ensure Your Success

Ready to go a bit more in depth? Great!

You’ll love these tips for optimizing your blog content for SEO.

When creating and writing content for your site, the best way to ensure that it reaches the masses is by optimizing your content.

This means optimizing your content so it’s easily found, recognized, and displayed by search engines. This is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If you’re looking for ways to increase your sales and site traffic, here are five SEO related tips to help you get going in the right direction.

SEO = Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most important aspects in SEO. When you’re writing your content, whether it’s a blog post, homepage content, or product descriptions for your store, it cannot be stressed enough that you should research what keywords you’re using.

By using tools, such as Google Adwords, you can search words related to your products or business and see what terms people are searching for.

For example, if your business is selling chairs, type ‘buy chairs’ into Adwords, and you’ll receive information on what people are searching for related to buying chairs.

You can see how many people have searched what term and what the most popular keywords are.  Use these keywords in your site to start increasing traffic almost immediately.

SEO = Optimizing Your Website

After you’ve begun optimizing your existing content, it’s time to start optimizing your website and store.

There are a variety of tools online that can scan your website, returning information on functionality. This will include any broken links, any errors and any duplicate pages you may have.

By fixing links, your site’s usability, as well as your overall SEO ranking, will improve tenfold.

It’s also a great idea to look into your website speed.

Users don’t like to wait for things to load. If your website homepage is taking more than 7-10 seconds to load, it’s time to start crunching or reducing images and rearranging your layouts.

SEO = Creating Blog Content

This means creating engaging and informative content that your readers will enjoy or feel better off for reading.  You can try writing these blog posts yourself, OR tap into the large network of professional writers that can save you the trouble.  Many of these will have fast turnaround times and will also have a basic knowledge of SEO writing. You can find and hire these professional writers on sites such as:

Upwork

One of the biggest freelancing sites in the world, Upwork is the result of a merge between eLance and oDesk. Here, you’ll be able to discover countless writers of various skill sets that will be able to produce high quality articles and blog posts for your business.

Freelancer

Similar to Upwork, simply sign up and search for whatever you want, whether you need blog posts writing, research completed or in need of a website design service.  Cost will vary depending on what freelancer you use but all are verified and you can choose you like using the coveted review system.

Scripted

Whether you’re looking for blog posts, emails, newsletters, social media posts or website copies, Scripted is home to a ton of professional writers ready to write anything you need. This service can be slightly more pricey that the other two, but you are always guaranteed great service and even better content.

SEO = Optimizing Your Content

Now that you’ve either written the content for your site yourself, hired a professional, or a mixture of both, it’s time to start optimizing that content so it’s ready for your site.

If you hired a professional, this part of the process should have already been completed, but it’s so important that you get your blog posts and articles perfect. This means all your spelling and grammar is correct, sentences are well-structured and the overall readability level is up to scratch.

To make this process a lot easier, there are a number of websites and online tools you can use to make sure everything is perfect before launch.

Paper Fellows

If you’re looking for a long term solution to improve your writing skills then Paper Fellows has got a service for you.

By signing up for a free account, you gain access to hundreds of writing teachers and students around the world. This helps you learn more about writing and perfect your blog writing skills.

Writing services

When you’re making sure your content is site ready, assignment writing service provides a service which allows you to upload your articles to have them proofread and edited to perfection by a professional. With low costs and fast turnaround times, this is a quick solution when you simply do not have time to edit yourself.

Easy Word Count

When writing articles for your site, it’s easy to get carried away with what you’re writing and end up with thousands of words on a page.

By using Easy Word Count, you are able to track exactly how many words and characters you have used, ensuring you stick to readable lengths for your readers.

SEO = Using Natural Keywords

Keywords have been a recurring point in this article and for a good reason. These are the most important aspect when it comes to writing SEO content.

Alongside choosing keywords that appear at the top of the keywords list, ensure you are using natural sounding keywords in your article.

If you’re placing long complicated keywords into your article or forcing them in so your sentences do not flow properly, you’ll end up turning your readers away and your efforts will be counter-productive.

Let’s Review these SEO Tips for Business Success

In this section, we covered these 5 steps to attract traffic and customers:

• Keyword research
• Optimizing your website
• Creating blog content
• Optimizing your content
• Using natural-sounding keywords

As an online business owner, it can sometimes seem so daunting, trying to master all these new skills at once, constantly training and trying new approaches.

Luckily, with these top five tips, you’ll be able to:

• Get off to a great start.
• Save time.
• Focus on the most important parts of your business.
• Maximize your sales.
• And increase your website’s traffic and potential customer base.

Would your friends or followers enjoy these SEO tips? Please pin, tweet, or share on FB!

Article continues with 70 more SEO tips below the infographic.

Ultimate SEO Guide: 75+ Tactics To Optimize Your Website

5 tips isn’t enough? Of course not!

This infographic offers 75+ tactics you can begin implementing today.

Because search engine optimization can be hard for beginners.

From title tags to meta description, to keyword research and backlink analysis, there are numerous things you need to look at when implementing an SEO strategy.

Besides enhancing the on-page SEO factors, you also need to take care of the off-page SEO factors!

In short, it can be quite overwhelming if you’re unaware of the best practices.

However, we have the solution for your SEO worries.

Known as the Ultimate SEO Guide, this checklist explains in detail all the important SEO factors that are needed for an optimized site. Created and designed by Capsicum Mediaworks, it includes the top 75+ SEO tactics that will help make your site user-friendly and increase your website’s ranking.

What’s more, you can Pin this infographic and use it as a reference when you are about to launch a new website!

So take a look to learn all the key elements for successful implementation of an SEO campaign.

TOP 10 ON-PAGE SEO TIPS

1. Have a Unique Domain Name to establish a brand identity.

2. Use a Country TLD Extension to rank higher in a specific country.

3. Stick to either www or non-www domain, and 301 redirect the other one.

4. Use Semantic Markup to improve ranking.

5. Submit an XML Sitemap to speed up indexing.

6. Also create an HTML Sitemap to make navigation of your site easier.

7. Use optimized robots.txt to prevent search engine robots from crawling and indexing specific areas of your website.

8. Make your website responsive to avoid Google’s Non-Responsive Website Penalty.

9. Use Heading Tags (H Tags) to help search engines index your content.

10. Use Alt Tags intelligently so search engines can “read” your images.

Plus 66 more on the infographic! Check it out below.

And don’t forget to Pin this handy Ultimate SEO Guide infographic for future reference.

Article continues below the infographic with SEO mistakes you need to avoid.

Are These Common SEO Mistakes Killing Your Website?

Are you making common SEO mistakes?

You’re not alone – many business websites are!

You’re wasting time and money maintaining your online presence if you’re committing these errors.

Keeping your SEO strategies up-to-date is a must, if you want to retain your site’s top position on SERPs (search engine results pages).

As a digital marketing technique, SEO by nature is an evolving platform. Though it can be daunting, you need to keep tabs on the current SEO scenario to remain ahead of your competitors.

For the long-term health of your business, optimizing your website with the best SEO practices is essential.

To help you with this, here’s a list of some of the most common SEO mistakes that you might be making.

• Lack of proper keyword research.
• Ineffective content promotion.
• Lack of sitemap.
• Poor website speed.
• Not optimizing images for social platforms.
• Broken links.
• Not having a business profile on social media.
• Boring images and stock photos.
• Failure to update older content.
• Poorly designed landing pages.
• Not optimizing for local search (more on this in the next section!).
• No interlinking.
• Low-quality content.
• No alt tags on images.
• Inefficient outreach strategy.

These are just few mistakes that you need to avoid! If you want to know the complete list of SEO mistakes, then take a look at the infographic below.

And Pin it for future reference!

Learn about local SEO below the infographic.

How Small Businesses Can Improve Local SEO

Wondering about local SEO?

If you want to promote your local small business to local customers, you’re in the right place!

Plenty of advice exists for major corporations looking to dominate the search results across the nation. Here’s the primer for small businesses that simply want to be known in their surrounding areas!

In this section, we’ll cover:

• Creating a small budget
• Working with influencers
• Updating your Google listing
• Getting customer reviews
• Optimizing social media

SEO is no longer a tool for landing on the first page of Google across the nation, but rather an important way to connect with audiences regardless of size and reach.

While small businesses have looked for local SEO strategies, Google has emphasized neighborhood importance and developing best practices for smaller companies. Find out how the two can work together to make the internet better and benefit your company.

Create a Test Budget for SEM

While you might not think about the two at first, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) can work together to reduce your overall marketing costs and drive traffic to your pages.

For example, SEM managers can lower bids on pages that already receive much organic SEO traffic and focus their budgets on campaigns that aren’t performing as well or getting as much exposure. Meanwhile, SEO teams can research keyword performance and find opportunities for optimization and improvement.

On the local level, SEM isn’t as expensive as it may seem.

Brands don’t have to bid nationally for terms such as “running shoes,” where they could easily run out of budget within a few minutes. Instead, they can narrow their radius so that they’re bidding only in areas that their business serves.

For example, if they deliver pizzas to customers 15 miles from where they are, they could limit the bidding to that distance.

Further, companies can also bid on lower-cost terms by making them local. The term “running shoes Tulsa” isn’t going to cost as much as the generic term, while limiting the search traffic to people in your area.

To implement your SEM campaign, set aside a small daily or monthly test budget — you can place these caps in Google Adwords — and test a few campaigns to see what you can learn.

Find Influencers to Work With in Your Area

Bloggers, news anchors, and journalists tend to have a great level of pull within their communities. They’re often considered celebrities who are the first to know about upcoming events and town trends.

Partnering with these influencers not only generates buzz and good media attention around your brand, but it also drives links that will boost your local SEO.

Start by identifying the top 20 influencers in your community. This list might include church pastors, the mayor, and nonprofit groups in the area.

Then, evaluate their online presence and look for opportunities to build links back to your site.

For example, invite community bloggers to spend a day in your business. Their readers will enjoy the inside look while you will enjoy the backlinks.

This process also helps you get involved in your neighborhood, which means more people will start reaching out to you for opportunities as you become an influencer yourself.

Update Your Listings Within Google

If you haven’t already, make sure you claim your company on Google My Business and set up multiple pages for each of your business locations.

Google My Business allows you to control your digital footprint — at least in Google search results — by uploading descriptions, hours, photos, and contact information for your company.

This effort gives Google all the information the search engine needs to highlight your brand in local search listings — including the Google’s Local 3-Pack of search results — and provides the right information to your customers about your business.

Keeping all of this information updated on Google serves multiple purposes.

First, more customers can access your website when Google highlights it in local listings. Increased traffic and customer experiences prove to search engines that your website is useful and should be highlighted more often.

Meanwhile, the hours and directions help people to find your business and get in touch with your employees if they have questions.

Use Customer Reviews for Content and SEO

Strict Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines exist about businesses soliciting fake reviews and paying customers in exchange for good reviews, but the premise is actually quite simple: Ask customers to leave reviews, but don’t try to sway them one way or another. Your quality product and customer service should be all you need to win them over.

Customer review sites on Yelp and other third-party sites can increase your exposure and drive traffic to your pages. Further, an extra one-star bump in Yelp can increase your sales by almost 10 percent.

However, you don’t have to limit reviews to external websites. Many companies reach out to customers and ask their permission to publish review quotes or testimonials on their websites. Some businesses specifically send out surveys to customers to harness this feedback and use these quotes.

If you’re looking to improve your website content, one of the easiest ways is to tap into the word-of-mouth marketing of client reviews.

Optimize Social Media Channels for New Customers

Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are becoming increasingly important tools for businesses looking for new customers. All of these channels suggest brands or accounts to customers, while Facebook encourages people to leave reviews and answer questions about the company when they check in.

Instead of acquiring customers and asking them to follow you on social media, businesses today are acquiring fans on social media and hoping to convert them into customers.

To achieve this result, make sure all of your social profiles clearly explain what your business does and link to your website. This effort reduces any ambiguity when people see your brand and helps drive traffic to your website pages.

Learn how social media influences SEO in the next section.

Local SEO Conclusion

Local SEO doesn’t have to be a hard or complex venture for businesses. They simply have to use the tools at their disposal and figure out what strategies work best for their companies.

In many cases, your efforts will involve trial and error, but as long as business owners keep learning, their companies should continue to see increased traffic and links — which leads to customers — going to their websites.

That’s the beauty of Local SEO!

How Social Media Impacts SEO

Confused about how social media impacts SEO?

It’s not entirely clear, as no search service will reveal information to help people scam the system.

Check out this graphic to understand how social media supports your SEO efforts. It’s a bit less direct, but should clear things up.

How Social Media Supports Your SEO Efforts

Social Media:

• Helps your content get discovered.
• Builds links to your content when reshared.
• Helps you build a community of fans and supporters.
• Increases your visibility and authority.
• Grows your site traffic.

This leads to your site being seen by search engines as an authority site. Now they’re much more likely to send searchers your way!

Remember, it all starts with great content. You need quality content people are likely to share and link to. The better your content, the better everything else will work.

Stats on Social Media and Website SEO

I couldn’t find an original source for the infographic below. But I did find some recent stats on social media and website search engine optimization via Octagon Marketing Group:

• 94% increase in click thru rate when search and social media used together (eMarketer)
• 50% of consumers combine search and social media to make purchase decisions (Inc)
• 46% start with social media, then turn to search to help make their decision
• 40% start with search, then turn to social media
• 45% use search throughout the buying cycle
• 31% use social media during the purchase process to get others’ opinions (GroupM)
• 30% say they use social media to eliminate brands from contention
• 28% say social media sites like YouTube and Facebook help them learn more about brands and products
• At a ratio of 2-to-1, consumers cite quality and depth of information as reason they use search and social media together
• 30% of consumers rely on user reviews to aid in their purchase decision (eMarketer)
• 74% of consumers use a Facebook brand page as the desired format for following a brand for future engagement (Search Engine Land)
• Consumers exposed to branded social media are 2.4 times more likely to click on an organic listing (comScore)
• Consumers exposed to a brand’s social media are 2.8 times more likely to search for that brand’s products
• Consumers who use social media are 50% more likely to use search (srcibd)
• 50% CTR increase in paid search when consumers were exposed to both influenced social media and paid search
• Websites with a Google+ business page yield a 15% rise in search rank (Open Forum)
• 70 Facebook shares plus 50 “likes,” give rise to 7% rise in search ranking for websites
• 45% of consumers have no specific brand or business in mind when they begin their search on their desktop or smartphone (GroupM)

Check out and pin the graphic to remind you how social media impacts SEO!

Conclusion: SEO Your Site!

We covered so much:

• SEO Basics for Beginners
• 5 Essential SEO Tips to Ensure Your Success
• Ultimate SEO Guide: 75+ Tactics To Optimize Your Website
• Are These Common SEO Mistakes Killing Your Website?
• How Small Businesses Can Improve Local SEO
• How Social Media Impacts SEO

Be sure to Pin one or more of the infographics to Pinterest so you can return and read more later.

And let me know in the comments if you have more ideas on SEO basics for beginners.