Are you interested in delving deeper into the world of SEO? With 52% of website visits attributed to organic searches, it’s no wonder that SEO’s popularity continues to grow. To this day, many people still feel intimidated by this subject mostly due the perception that you need to be some kind of engineer from NASA to understand and apply SEO.
We understand you might feel somewhat fearful or worried about getting into SEO, yet we also believe you should have the opportunity and become capable of standing your grown when it comes to SEO.
This is why, we are here to provide an easy-to-follow breakdown of the fundamentals of SEO! Don’t let others’ warnings about how complex or difficult it supposedly is to deter you from exploring its depths. Our blog will show you that getting started with SEO doesn’t have to be as scary as some may lead you to believe!
Let’s Get Started with the Basics of SEO
Let’s briefly discuss two key components of SEO: its concept and why understanding search engines is so important.
The Big Concept That You Should Not Fear
SEO or Search Engine Optimization involves optimizing your website pages to gain organic visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) without paying for ads.
Each Search Engine Is Its Own World
Understanding the distinct algorithms of each search engine is essential to efficient Search Engine Optimization. Google, DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Bing are just a few examples of search engines that feature their own ranking criteria for SERPs. By effectively adapting to this range of rules, you can maximize your website’s visibility on any platform.
Now that you’ve had a taste of SEO, let’s dive deeper into the other essential elements of this captivating topic.
Keyword Research
The most fundamental element of SEO is keyword research. It involves understanding which terms your target audience is searching for, how much traffic these queries can potentially send to your site, and how tough it would be to rank for those keywords.
By studying the different types of phrases people use when searching an engine; you can optimize your content better to make it more visible in SERPs.
Simply put, you research which keywords people are using to find the content you want to offer, and you start using these keywords on your behalf.
Types of Optimizations
On-Page Optimization
On-Page optimization is when you make changes to your website so search engines can understand what your site is about to show it to people who are looking at what you offer. You will need to make sure the words in the titles, headings, and tags on the website include keywords that match what people are searching for.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-page optimization is the act of optimizing your content from sources outside of your website. This involves looking at websites that link to you and analyzing how they refer to it for search engines to recognize you as an important figure in your industry. Having others write about you on their sites, so people can visits your site when reading others’ content.
Local SEO
Pay attention: geographically target your SEO! Local SEO enables you to optimize for searches localized in specific areas. It is a strategic element of any digital marketing strategy, as it allows you to focus on a particular demographic within the proximity of your business.
Measuring Main Metrics
To truly get SEO explained, you need to understand that metrics are key. Pay close attention to:
- Impressions: when a person is shown your site on a results page
- Clicks: when a person clicks on a link that leads to your site
- Click-through rate (CTR): the average between how many times a person is shown a page from your site and how many times a person clicks on these links.
Google Search Console is your go-to platform for monitoring these vital numbers so you can accurately assess how successful your SEO efforts are proving.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
Now that you understand the fundamentals of SEO, and what to do, it’s only natural for you to learn what not to do and be aware of certain mistakes some people commit so you can avoid them:
- Neglecting meta titles and descriptions
- Failing to run website audits
- Adding low-quality content instead of fresh and high-quality ones
- Being unaware of changing SEO trends
These are just a few of the most common SEO mistakes many people commit that end up harming their SEO performance. Don’t worry; we will review each of these in more depth in another blog.
