SEO Step-by-Step Tutorial: 8 Easy Basics for Beginners to Master

If you are just getting started with search engine optimization (SEO), we recommend a step-by-step SEO tutorial. At this point, you’ve probably heard some basic terms, such as keyword research and on-page optimization. But how do you apply all the knowledge you’ve gathered so far?

We will explain it step by step. No matter how new you are to SEO, anyone can start with the following SEO tips and get your website ranked in no time. Well, one time. Maybe a year or more. SEO, you should know, is a long game.

At the end of this tutorial, you will be able to come up with a list of actionable steps to get your SEO strategy up and running.

1. Search for keywords.

Keyword research is as simple as choosing a list of words and phrases that are relevant to your business. Think about which words are most likely to get people to do what you want them to do (visit your website and submit a form) and focus on those words.

You can use a dedicated keyword search tool, but as a beginner, it’s a good idea to choose your keywords intuitively at first. For example, if you sell roasted coffee, you can opt for “roasted coffee,” “Colombian coffee,” and “local coffee roaster.”

List these keywords in a spreadsheet or document for tracking. Then, choose a word or phrase to use it a page of your site. In other words, you don’t want to target different keywords on a page. You want to target a keyword, as well as any keywords that are semantically related.

For example, you can write a page for “local coffee roaster”. On this page, you can target semantically related terms such as “local coffee”, “coffee roaster near me”, “coffee roaster”. [city name]”and” locally roasted coffee “.

Here is an example of what it is like:

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You can see some keyword variants: “CRM software”, “CRM solution” and “free CRM”.

2. Put keywords in the title of the page.

Once you’ve chosen a keyword, it’s time to put it into action. First, you want to put the title of your website.

Page title is one of the most important things that Google and other search engines evaluate to determine what’s on a web page. This is what appears at the top of the result of your web page in the search engine results pages (SERP). Notice how the following brand put their keyword, “Atlanta Coffee Toaster” in the title of their page:

Don’t forget to make it short. We recommend 65 characters or less to make sure search engines don’t cut your title, as in this search result:

Please note that your brand name is part of the character count of your website title.

3. Put keywords in the URL of the page.

Google and other search engines also use the text of the page URL to determine the content of the web page. You should use your keyword or phrase specifically in the slug.

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Don’t overdo it, though. If you sell coffee, for example, do not create a slug as follows:

mycoffeecompany.com/coffee-atlanta-near-me-fulton-county-greater-atlanta-area-coffee

Make it short, descriptive, and simple. An effective example would be:

mycoffeecompany.com/atlanta-coffee-roaster

If you use WordPress, here’s how to change the slugs of your web pages in the backend.

4. Put keywords in your meta description.

The meta description of your page can tell even more to the search engines and users what your page is about.

While metadata isn’t as important as it used to be, it still counts. Take advantage of it by putting your keyword or phrase in it. The description should be readable by a person and make sense, and the keyword metadata should focus on your keyword or phrase. Don’t make it long: less often is more.

5. Put keywords in your H1 text.

H1 text is usually the title of an article or some larger bold text at the top of the page. Google and other search engines can see this and give extra importance to the words in the H1 text. Make sure your keyword or phrase is there.

Here’s an example of a local coffee roaster company:

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6. Use keywords in the content of the page.

Using your target keywords in your content is an essential part of your on-page SEO strategy.

Because? Because doing so tells search engines that the page is really about the keyword and should appear in the search results. I’ve heard from “experts” that you should use your keyword from 4-6 times to 10-12 times. My advice is to write naturally, but carefully avoid black hat practices such as keyword stuffing.

In other words, don’t write anything like this:

“We are Atlanta Coffee Roastersthe best cofee roasting company in atlanta, gawhere you can find Locally roasted coffee from Atlanta roasted by hand in ours cafeteria serving the greater Atlanta area. ”

This is simply unreadable. Compare this to the content of your local coffee roaster company:

“At Peach Coffee Roasters, we are passionate about uniquely sourced coffees and carefully brewed blends. We have three licensed Coffee Q-Graders that select the best coffees from around the world and roast them to perfection. This obsession with quality it extends to every step of the process, from obtaining green coffee to roasting in small batches and using only the best brewing methods at a time. ”

7. Create links to your website.

Once you’ve pointed out the relevance to search engines through your keywords, it’s time to start the hard work: creating inbound links to your website from authorized sites in your industry or niche.

This is definitely one of the most important SEO steps you need to take. The number and quality of links pointing to your website are very important for Google and other search engines to evaluate your ranking in different terms. If people link to you, it means that your site provides authorized and reliable information on a particular topic.

For example, take a look at the backlink received from HubSpot in this Digital Trends article (anchor text: “Inbound Link Accumulation”):

You should also link externally to websites related to your industry, which further demonstrates your relevance to this keyword.

8. Monitor your rank.

Last but not least, it’s time to check the results of your efforts. Give search engines time to get things done (from a couple of weeks to a few months), then keep checking your rankings to see what has happened and track your progress.

If you are just starting out with SEO, you can check this ranking manually by searching for your target keyword on Google. We also recommend that you use the Google Search Console to see your ranking for free. Since GSC can be limited in some ways, you can upgrade to an official SEO tracking tool to track the most relevant keywords and constantly work out strategies to improve your performance.

In the same vein, you should control your Google PageRank. Google uses your Page Rank as a measure of how “important” your website is to the web. Having a higher page ranking means you are more likely to be one of the best results for search terms.

Use a free tool like Check Page Rank to get an estimate.

During the tracking process, you should also rate your website. Use a free tool such as Website Grader to evaluate the SEO effectiveness of your site.

This step-by-step SEO tutorial is just the beginning

Don’t let your learning stop here. With the above steps, you can start creating an effective search engine optimization strategy, but keep in mind that SEO has countless moving parts that deserve care, attention and tenacity. This is why some companies have entire teams dedicated to their SEO efforts.

The good news is that you don’t have to guess your next steps. Use our starter pack to increase your SEO plans and increase your chances of ranking your website on the first page of the SERPs.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in May 2007 and has been updated to be comprehensive.

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