SEO Tutorial: Essential Info Every SEO Beginner Should Know

In this SEO Tutorial guide, you will learn the following key points –

• A brief intro about the importance of search engine optimization.
• 15 On-page Optimization tips for beginners.
• Off-page SEO tips to follow.

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SEO has gone through major changes over the years. What was once a basic art is now an intricate science that takes into consideration numerous factors like semantic relevance, user experience, and usability. The goal of SEO is to improve your site by making it easier for users to find it on Google; in turn, your website will earn more traffic (because of increased search engine rankings).

I can’t tell you how many times I hear from small business owners that they are not getting the results they expected from SEO. It seems all too common for people to start out with a great, well-written website, but end up frustrated and defeated when it comes to their search engine rankings.

In this article, I will share 15 tips or tricks for improving your site’s rankings that I think every beginner should know before getting started with an SEO campaign. While these tips won’t guarantee you the number one spot on Google or any of the other search engines, they will certainly help you make your website more visible to potential customers.

What is On-Page optimization?

On-page optimization is one of the most important steps in search engine optimization. On-page refers to how a website is optimized from the outside views, such as outbound links, page titles and meta descriptions. These snippets of text are so important because they direct users to click on a particular domain and direct them to the content that will help you rank better for your chosen keywords.

1. Optimize for Google

One of the most important things you can do to improve your site’s rank on Google is to make sure that it is optimized for its search engine. By that I mean it should be written in HTML 5 and use only natural language (not keyword heavy) in its description and title tags. Your content should also be well-written, informative, and to the point, and have a strong call to action.

As I mentioned in an earlier article entitled “SEO: What Every Small Business Should Know”), Google wants to provide users with the best possible experience when they visit your site. The search engine algorithms are designed to rank the most useful and relevant sites higher than those that are filled with spam or useless information.

So in order to optimize your site’s SEO, you will want to focus on creating a site that is relevant and valuable to users. If you do this, the rest of the SEO process will be much easier. In fact, optimizing your site is one of the most important ways to improve your SEO rankings.

2. Use Keywords in the URL

Another key factor to improving the quality of your ranking on Google is to use search keywords in your web address. The most popular search keywords are “keywords” (e.g., iPhone 6, best iPhone 6 cases) or “key phrases” (e.g., mobile phone accessories), but these tend to be somewhat arbitrary terms that you can only use one or two times within a website’s URL.

A better approach is to use your site’s name as well as the important keywords that you want to rank for. For example, the URL for my site – JoshRise.com – uses both my name (Josh) and my main keyword (“SEO tactics”). I could have just as easily used a name like “MySuperAwesomeSite.com” and not worried about optimizing it, but I am actually quite proud of my SEO skills so I decided to go with JoshRise.com.

3. Create a Unique Domain Name

If you have been doing any web design or SEO for longer than five minutes, you already know that your domain name is one of the most important factors when it comes to ranking well on Google. In order to rank well in search engines, you want to ensure that your domain name is unique and that it is easy to remember (especially if you are using an URL like mobile phone accessories).

I mentioned above the case study I did on a client’s website. The first thing I noticed about their website was that it was using a domain name that was identical to several other websites. This meant that Google had a tough time finding the website’s true home because it often got lost in all of the other duplicate pages.

How do you avoid this? Make sure that your domain name is unique and easy to remember, then use keywords in your title tags and description (as mentioned above).

4. Use the Right Hosting

Another key factor to improving your site’s SEO is to ensure that it is using the right web hosting company. While transferring your website from one host to another can be a major headache, it will be well worth the extra effort if it gives you a better ranking on Google.

The reason I say this is because some hosts place ads all over their websites, while others use heavy flash-based content on their sites (which does not display well on mobile). It is best to use a company like SiteGround that focuses on SEO and SEO-friendly hosting.

Additionally, if your site is using any dynamic content (such as flash), then make sure it has been converted to HTML 5. There are third-party services you can use to do this, such as Akismet or Wordfence. By doing this, you will be avoiding Google’s dynamic spam detection algorithms (known as the Penguin update).

5. Write a Good Title Tag

Ideally, you should have at least 10 to 15 keywords that you want your site to rank for in the search engines. This means that you should focus on using your keywords in the title tags of every page. It is not necessary to include them in every tag, but it is certainly important that they are included on each page.

Also, write good titles for your blog posts so that people can find them quickly when they are searching for certain keyword terms. Keep in mind that all of the keywords you use in your title tags and posts need to provide value to visitors. If they do not provide value, then they will never be picked up by Google’s algorithm.

6. Use the Right Headers

I mentioned in a post before that many people skip over the header tags that are placed on every page of their site. This is a huge mistake because the header tags contain all of the important information about your site. People should not have to scroll down a long and complex page just to read what information is written there.

If you have a lot of important keywords, then you may also want to consider using them as part of your title tag as well. This will ensure that your most important keywords are used in at least two places on each page of your site, which will help boost your SEO rankings.

7. Include Keywords in Your Content

In addition to including the right keywords into your title tag and header tags, you should also include them within the text of each article on your site. The problem with this is that if you keyword stuff too many times, it can be detected by Google.

The best way to avoid this is to make sure that you use targeted keywords that provide value to users. The general rule of thumb is that you should always be targeting at least 50-75% of all words within your content. This means that your article should contain at least 2-3 different and targeted keywords (more on this later when we discuss how to write great articles).

8. Use Sitemaps

A sitemap is a good way to help Google crawl and find the pages on your site easily. The good news is that Google makes it extremely easy for you to create your own sitemap. Just have your webmaster use the sitemap generator tool that Google has available. They will be able to create a custom version of this for you

9. Use the Right Keywords in Your Meta Descriptions

Every page on your site should have a meta description tag, which is designed to be one of the first things that a user sees when they land on your page. The meta description tag should also be included within all of the other search engine optimization metrics that we mentioned above.

The meta description is where you want to include short and concise keywords for each page on your site (as mentioned above). Use the same keywords that you have been targeting as part of your content and title tags.

10. Use Social Media

This is a major element to SEO that you should take advantage of right away. The more times your site shows up on social media, the more likely it is to be ranked well on Google. One of the best ways to do this is to join as many social media websites as possible (such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest).

Social sharing is also a major part of getting your site ranked well on Google. If you ensure that your content is valuable, then it should be easy for you to gain a following on social media websites.

11. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Responsive

Google recently started placing a big emphasis on mobile-friendly websites when it comes to SEO. This means that your site needs to have the ability to display well on both desktop computers and mobile phones. If it does not, then your rankings could take a hit.

12. Use the Right Social Sharing Tools

If your site has social sharing capabilities, then you should use them. Do not think that it is just a good idea to include this feature on your blog page. You need to have social sharing icons placed throughout each page of your website as well. This will give Facebook and Twitter an easy way to pick up any new content that you upload.

13. Use Header Tags for Navigation

This is another area where webmasters tend to make mistakes when it comes to SEO. While it is true that header tags are important for SEO, you should use them for more than just keyword targeting. Use header tags to create easy-to-follow navigation systems so that users can easily find the information they want.

14. Create Canonical tag

The canonical tag is an HTML attribute that allows you to specify which page of your website is to be indexed. This page can be a very long one and link to other pages you wish to point search engines in the right direction for what you’re looking for. This feature goes in tandem with the meta robots tag as it determines whether or not a particular page will be indexed.

15. Create a Site Map

Finally, the last thing to consider when you are trying to boost your SEO ranking is creating a site map. By using this simple tool, Google will be able to see each page on your site and allow users to navigate through it with ease. This will help improve the overall ranking of your site.

What is OFF-Page Optimization?

Off-Page Optimization is the process of gaining exposure for your website’s content to widen your site’s visibility. The quality of off-page optimization techniques can be measured by various metrics, such as blog mentions, social shares, and the number of incoming links. These indicators are often utilized by search engines for ranking pages higher in SERPs (search engine results page).

Backlinks Outreach

This is a phrase that businesses are quickly siding with for their service. It signifies the time period in which companies are building backlinks to your website to make it more visible on search engines. When you have a website that is looking for links from various other sites, many people will choose to go out and build these links themselves. However, Backlink Outreach Services are much less costly and can give better results overall than doing the work yourself.

Guest Post

Posting content on other sites which are related to your business or product is also known as guest posting. By utilizing this method, you will be reaching out to a wide audience and not just viewers who arrive on your website. In addition, if you find an authority site that is willing to post about your product or service, it will result in a higher ranking by search engines and help bring in more visitors to your own site.

Hope you have enjoyed this SEO tutorial guide, as much as I have enjoyed sharing this.

“On-page SEO Vs Off-page SEO: – On-page SEO deals with optimizing your own website and relevant pages for the purpose of ranking higher in Google and other search engines. And Off-page SEO deals with building external links to your site or relevant pages.”

SEO Training and Consulting

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