SEO Basics: A beginner’s guide to SEO

If you’ve just set up a website, you want people to visit it. Well, that is not going to happen unless you spread the word about it.

Google is the most popular and powerful search engine on the Internet, so you want your website to be optimized for that and other search engines. Only then will your website become popular and trusted.

No Online Business Can Bypass SEO

high-ranking and reliable websites register thousands of “organic” visits every day, thus bringing their owners revenues.

Only genuine traffic brings real cash to online businesses, as bots are not interested in online shopping. Search engines are well-aware of this, so they rank websites that generate genuine traffic higher.

SEO brings free traffic to your site

You can optimize your site for SEO in a few simple steps. People who want to find something online check out the first four or five sites on Google.

So, you should adjust your site’s settings and content so that it appears among those sites. You’ll thus increase the traffic to your online business without paying for banner exchanges and online ads.

Experts have estimated that one paid website visit costs just over $1. In other words, one million paid monthly visits may cost you just under $1,000,000.

A look into backlinking

What is a backlink? As its name suggests, a backlink is a hyperlink that leads back to your website, usually to a previous article or post from a keyword in your latest publication. Backlinking is part of a critical SEO strategy called link link-building.

The five pillars of SEO

Here are the five pillars of SEO you should consider:

• Keyword research
• Content creation
• Link-building
• Webpage SEO optimization
• SEO-optimized domain and hosting

Having elicited backlinking, let’s look at the other four in greater detail.

1. Keyword research

If you sell cosmetics online, you’d like to know the hottest keywords in your niche that trigger klicks and site visits.

The problem is the hottest search terms change every month or so. Use Google Ads to check what search terms generate the most traffic.

2. Content

Content writers are constantly trying to achieve the perfect balance between artistic creativity and SEO optimization.

In a perfect world, all of the articles on your website should be highly informative, have the right number of keywords, and be light to read. If your site’s WordPress-based, your content automatically gets optimized for SEO.

3. Link building

Revisiting the subject, SEO experts admit that link-building can be challenging. You should pick up a handful of websites in your niche and reach out to their owners with link exchange offers. The better your site’s content, the bigger your chances of hearing from them.

4. Webpage SEO

Webpage SEO optimization boils down to publishing fresh and easy-to-read content regularly. Use metadata to provide info about your page’s contents. Each web page’s metadata falls into three major categories:

• Title
• Description
• Keywords

Of these, title metadata is the most important, as it appears in a Google search. Description metadata appears right after the search title and describes your site or business.

Keyword metadata does not appear in a standard web search. You can install a WordPress plugin to monitor your pages’ SEO status.

5. Domain & hosting

You’ll have to pick up and register a domain name and sign up for a web hosting plan before you start worrying about SEO. Yet, SEO plays a huge role in crafting an attractive domain name.

Pick up something catchy, specific, and easy to remember. Go for a .com domain name if available. Avoid fishy-looking domains than .info and .biz, even if they are the cheapest.

How does your hosting provider affect your site’s SEO?

A good hosting provider will provide your site with 100% uptime, state-of-the-art security, and top-notch encryption. All of these factors boost your site’s Google ranking.

Is SEO optimization a DIY job?

It could be, but you’ll have to spend at least a year studying its various aspects before the first results come.

Many colleges have launched master’s programs in SEO; others have included it in their MA curricula as a mandatory course. If you want results here and now, hire an SEO guru to do the heavy lifting for you!