SEO Basics: Beginner’s Guide to SEO Success

Shai Aharony tested BHS Links the effect that stock images had on Google rankings. So, we changed the blog post into a comparison article PLUS a free interactive backlink checker tool. A few days after I published that post, I decided to check out the search engine results pages (SERPs) for that term. AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be a great place to brainstorm potential titles, offering a good starting point for your creative process.

In fact, podcasts might be the most underrated link building strategy on the planet. For example, a while back I noticed that lots of people were building links from guest posting. Google’s Hummingbird update allows Google to go beyond simple keywords. Well, Google doesn’t want to rank sites that are bloated with thin, low-quality content. But what you may not know is that you can use this same approach with alternate search engines. You probably already know that you should add keywords to pages that you want to rank.

INCLUDED IN ALL PLANS:

When choosing keywords for your site (or a specific page), focus on relevance first. But if you notice any important pages that you want to be eligible for rankings, work to identify and address the issue. Putting effort into the offline promotion of your company or site can also be rewarding. For example, if you have a business site, make sure its URL is listed on your business cards, letterhead, posters, and other materials.

Print instructions on how to leave a Google review via desktop or mobile device for your business with Whitespark’s Review Handout Generator. Use this Backlink Checker to discover all the backlink data about a particular URL. See the backlink profile and domain authority of any URL with Link Explorer. Advanced users can customize their files with Robots.txt Generator as well. Once identified, you can copy all bad links to your clipboard with one click. Discover HTTP header errors, JavaScript rendering hiccups, excess HTML, crawl mistakes, duplicate content, and more with Screaming Frog SEO Spider.

You can use image compression methods to shrink files without sacrificing much quality. This quickens the loading of pages, which is important for SEO. Compression is made simple by several online resources and picture editing programs.

Many people struggle with SEO because they target keywords that are WAY too competitive. Rather than buying links, I’d recommend starting with our guide to link building. With Semrush, you get to analyze data, track rankings, and uncover valuable insights that can help you tailor your content and strategies more effectively. Regular monitoring and updates are essential—at least once a month for routine checks.

After all, the terms in your URL represent a high-level overview of what your page is about. For example, for my guide to email marketing, my URL is /email-marketing-guide. All you need to do is write your keyword somewhere in the first 100 words of your page. In my experience, this is tough to do if your content is already written. In other words, you don’t want to greet people with a giant stock photo that takes up the entire above the fold area of your page. Which is why it’s super important to hook people the SECOND that they land on your website from Google.

• To make a page eligible for rich results, you need to add some simple code called schema markup.
• This is super useful for quickly understanding the structured data setup of a competitor without running it through a dedicated schema tool.
• This is essential for businesses targeting multiple service areas, as you can see precisely how your rankings shift across different regions.
• This is one of those little things that helps Google understand what your page is all about.
• Your newly acquired SEO knowledge will help you understand their strategies much better, and you can ask much more informed questions.

Delegate SEO to a Team Member

Not only can it lead to your brand appearing in the discussions that are ranking in search results. But it can also give AI tools more context about your business. Nowadays, a fast-loading website is pretty much a prerequisite for ranking and providing a good user experience (which can affect metrics like conversions). Targeting top-of-the-funnel keywords has long been a huge part of many SEO strategies. It involves writing content on informational queries with the goal to drive huge amounts of traffic — focusing on volume, and hopefully converting later. This shows you trending keywords across timeframes and categories.

Both on-page and off-page SEO are essential in driving traffic to your site and in ultimately signaling to Google that your site is a significant player on the internet. By letting Google know that your pages are important and that people are interested in learning about what you have to offer, you can help your pages rank higher and gain more traffic. Because of the ever-changing search engine algorithms and fierce competition. Finally, keep an eye on the progress of your link building campaigns in the “Monitor” tab. Look for high-authority domains that regularly link to your competitors and examine the content they find valuable enough to link to.