Search engine optimization is more complex than you may think. People learn it for years to become fluent and work with clients. But this education brings great results as blogs grow and become a part of TOP-10 lists for their niche.
For beginners, though, knowing SEO basics offers you an opportunity to drive more organic traffic, get credible backlinks, and bring your blog to a new level. As your web source grows, you will need help from a professional agency. However, if you’re at the start of your journey to high rankings, the following 5 basics of optimization will help greatly!
#1: Not all Niche-Related Keywords Are Suitable
Keywords that are too general or too long won’t work, even if they have a ton of industry-specific words there. The general ones are almost impossible to rank for and stay at the top for a long time.
The long ones only work if they are reasonable. A phrase of 15 words is difficult to include in a text and there’s no way many people will look for that particular query. However, long-tail KWs work great for blog post titles.
#2: Analysis Is Essential
If you want more organic traffic for your blog or a shop you connect it to (more on that in this post by MageCloud.agency), you need to know where you have gaps. Digital tools will help you find out where the website is at the moment and what you might have missed optimizing it the last time.
Use Moz tools, Google Search Console, etc. to do frequent audits of your website’s authority, credibility, ranking, and overall success of the optimization and marketing strategies.
This is the first thing to do when you start planning your techniques. It’s also a regular habit of all successful webmasters and bloggers.
#3: Quality Backlinks Make a Difference
Backlinks are important not only for business sites but for blogs as well. You can learn more on this particular statement on bizmanualz.com/. The key is their credibility. You should find websites with high authority and active audiences.
Here are some benefits of great link building:
- Placing links on sources with high authority will show search engines that your blog is credible.
- Proper links will showcase your project to the people who might be interested in the topic.
- More high-quality references give you a benefit of a higher ranking for industry-specific keywords.
Pay close attention to the links you get. Remove all the poor-quality ones and focus on the medium to highly-ranked domains.
#4: Algorithm Fluctuations Are OK
Sometimes, after implementing a new SEO strategy, you may see a decrease in your metrics. This will definitely happen if you’re checking status too often. Google algorithms tend to fluctuate, and it’s alright.
This doesn’t mean the strategy isn’t working and you’re just wasting your time. The situation may change tomorrow, showing the growth of most metrics thanks to the new methods you’re utilizing. Try to see the bigger picture.
#5: Only a Complex Gives Results
You should perform all the related tasks in order to get results. It’s not enough to find a bunch of great keywords and use them wherever in the text. Here are some things you have to consider:
- The quality of your content matters just as much as the optimization. Give value to visitors with your articles, and they will stay. Even if you have the best strategy, it won’t work without quality.
- Make them credible and relevant, and you’ll get more audience to appreciate the previous point. The ranking will increase as well, giving you an even better advantage.
- Keyword choice and placement.
Research keywords and choose those you can rank for. Thus, you’ll find your niche and Google will place you there. Placement will also help you hide this optimizing trick and make the phrases organic parts of the text. - Additional materials and tags.
Infographics, images, videos, how you name them, what tags you’re using. All of this matters when it comes to SEO. The visuals themselves will help you make the blog more visitor-friendly, engaging, and interesting. The names and tags can contain keywords that will help you rank higher.
There are many more things to learn, utilize, and get results from. But for the foundation, these ones are enough.
Remember these basics and layer all the other knowledge on top of them. Also, keep track of the newest updates on SEO and link building. The niche is always changing to make sure search engines show the most accurate results to people’s queries.
Google doesn’t have a goal of lowering beginners or smaller blogs. The only purpose is to provide correct information to those who need it. Optimize your source to become the holder of that information!