As a result, SEO has changed from optimizing fixed criteria to working toward optimal user experience. Smart SEOs understand that they have to go beyond backlinks and content. They have to understand the needs of searchers in the context of a keyword. On the other hand, some confirmed ranking factors only have a very small impact on the rankings. This can make your website look spammy to search engines and users.

Step 1: Learn the basics of how search engines work

Once the internet user submits a search query, the search engine digs into the index and pulls out the best results. The list of the results is known as a SERP (Search Engines Results Page). So when we talk about search engines in this guide, we mostly mean Google. Other search engines work on similar principles and as long as your website is optimized for Google, you should be all set up for others too. The goal is to provide both perfect content and UX while showing search engines what the page is about. The search engines are used by internet users when they are searching for something.

(If you do a quick SERP analysis you’ll notice that the search results are almost identical for all of them). So you need to consider all the aspects and find the balance between the effort and the potential benefits. Features such as Google Autocomplete, People Also Ask or Related Searches can be a great source of keyword ideas.

How search engines work

Once you have a focus keyword, you should use it to optimize your page for the given topic. When selecting the topics for your content, remember that there are various types of search intent (see the SEO Anomaly previous chapter) – informational, navigational, transactional and commercial. Whereas the query “best vacuum cleaners” has a lot less search volume (13,000 average monthly search volume).

SEO doesn’t necessarily require coding knowledge, but having a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can be helpful. And learning SEO is an ongoing process that requires keeping up with the latest updates, trends, and developments in the SEO industry. They’re usually divided into easy-to-digest chapters and award you with an SEO certificate upon completion. Each content management system (CMS) has its own settings and plugins that can affect your SEO performance. And it gives you a competitive advantage over competitors that use only free SEO tools (or no tools at all).

• These usually make great keywords for SEO because they come straight from Google.
• The more high-quality references a site has, the more trustworthy it appears, increasing its chances of ranking higher.
• Ensure they come from relevant, quality sources that match your site’s theme.
• Places to share your content include social media, email newsletters, and relevant industry forums.

Links can provide more context on a topic, both for users and search engines, which may help demonstrate your knowledge on a topic. However when you’re linking to pages outside of your control, for example content on other sites, make sure you trust the resource you’re linking to. If you can’t trust the content and you still want to link to them, add a nofollow or similar annotation to the link to avoid search engines associating your site with the site you’re linking to.

Add high-quality images near relevant text

In fact, the term “SEO” gets between 10k and 100k searches every month on Google. Whether you’re running an e-commerce site or a blog, Search engine optimization plays a pivotal role in attracting quality traffic and driving business growth. 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. And if you dig deep, you’ll find LOTS of keywords that you didn’t even know you were ranking for.

And when you write a title tag that stands out, you can get tons of clicks (even more than the sites that rank above you). Step #3 is to publish a piece of content around the keyword you just picked. And to do that, you want to go after keywords that get a decent amount of searches every month.

Here, you can find a comprehensive list of on-page SEO and technical issues impacting your website’s search performance. In the results, the “Top Opportunities” section will show you the keywords you’re missing out on (“Missing”). And those where your competitors have a higher ranking (“Weak”). Since search engine algorithms frequently change, tactics that are effective today might not be as effective tomorrow.