CrazyLeaf Editorial There are nearly 2 BILLION websites on the internet. (1.94 billion to be exact).
So what makes you think you can get your website to page one of google when there’s a literal ocean of websites?
While it’s challenging, it’s not impossible with a good SEO plan. This is a general SEO guideline for the absolute beginner. These tips are only starting points.
But they’ll help your site reach SEO success and high Google rankings.
Don’t Ignore the Technical Parts
There are a lot of technical parts about running a website. Stuff like adding ALT attributes to images. Making sure Google can find your website and put it in its index. Making sure your site is mobile friendly.
It’s important to make sure Google will put your pages in their index, and your site is mobile-first. When Google indexes a page, it puts it in its library so other internet users can find that page. If it’s not in the index, it’s not in Google’s library.
A mobile-friendly site means your website renders well on a phone or tablet. Mobile-friendly sites also tend to be faster, since speed is important. When people are on their phones, they’re less likely to wait for a site to load and more likely to find someone faster.
You can find someone to help with all that though if you’re not tech-savvy. You can hire an in-house tech team or website team to help you with the technical side. Or you can shop for SEO services.
Have a Keyword Plan
What articles are you writing about? What’s more important is the phrases your audience uses. Do they say things like dog grooming or puppy grooming? Is there a difference?
When you’re writing an article that you want to rank well on Google, you need to have a keyword plan. You need to know the phrases your audience is searching for. You need to be able to target those phrases accordingly.
It can help to focus on long-tail keywords instead of the base keyword. That’s comparing “dog grooming” with “dog grooming for poodles.” Now we know your audience is curious about grooming for poodles. You can target that niche more directly.
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Backlinks
When the internet was young, Google used links as a vote of confidence that you had a good site. The idea was if other people are linking to you, you must be on to something of quality right?
Well, that worked for a while, then people learned how to hack the system. People started selling backlinks. It’s no longer a reliable system.
So there’s a lot more that goes into the algorithm’s ranking now, but backlinks are still important. So just like you need to set up a plan to for your keywords, you should make a plan to generate and earn backlinks too.
Get the Right Tools
It’s no good going into your website SEO planning blind. You can get more insight if you have the right tools. There are a lot of tools on the market, but here are a few that are generally highly recommended.
Yoast SEO is a plugin for WordPress sites. It helps you target the most basic level of keyword usage. It also helps you customize your URLs and some other metadata.
Ahrefs is the keywords and backlinks king (for now.) Moz is another great tool. Both of these will help you analyze different keywords and look at the links going to and around your site.
Google Analytics provides a wealth of vital knowledge nonetheless. It will tell you how many people visit your site, how they find you, where they go, and where they leave from. It’s an absolute must for your site.
Know Your Audience and Market
All this is useless unless you know your audience and market.
Why are people here? Who are they? What do they need? What are their pain points? How can you help, and why do they believe you can help?
Where do they hang out? What do they like? What do they want to know more about? What words and phrases do they use?
Your site won’t go anywhere if it doesn’t resonate with its target audience. And it won’t resonate with that audience if you don’t even know who they are.
Pay Attention to Your E-A-T
A major algorithm update happened in August of 2018. It introduced a new factor in Google’s ranking. They called it E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust.
In short, Google wants to make sure it’s providing reliable resources to its users. This is a good thing for internet users everywhere. It means when you’re worried about your health, you end up on WebMD and not Joe’s Snake Oil.
But it can make it a lot harder to establish yourself as a reputable site.
Thus, you need to let your readers know they can trust you by establishing your expertise. Be transparent about your knowledge and your capabilities and practices. This is a long and never-ending process, but it’s vital to your SEO success.
Write Quality Content
What’s the number one way to lose a reader? Write fluff. We all have so little time and so much demanding our attention, so you need to hook your readers right away.
Use small paragraphs, short sentences, and avoid filling the page with fluff. Every word you say should be useful to your reader.
Get Some Help
There’s a lot that goes into managing, maintaining, and executing your SEO strategy. If you want to take your SEO seriously, don’t be afraid to get help.
A Good SEO Plan Can Get You Far
Let’s face it. SEO isn’t easy. It has a history as long as internet search, and there isn’t a simple answer.
But when you incorporate these factors into your SEO plan, you’re well on your way to success.
Want to learn more about creating and running a successful website? Check out seo training or our online courses. We teach you everything you need to know about online marketing, blogging, and more.
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