8-Step SEO Basics Starter Guide for Beginners -Tips and Tricks

If you own an online business, you’ve heard that you need to implement Search Engine Optimization Strategies. After all, it’s the best way to bring traffic to your website, than even paid ads and social media combined.

You understand the rationale behind the idea of using Search Engine Optimization, but it seems like a lot of work that you don’t have time for.

As someone who is new to SEO, that thought process can be overwhelming. However, the process doesn’t have to be complicated.

This SEO guide will show you how to break the strategy down into small and manageable steps. Yes, you don’t have to execute all the procedures at once. 

SEO Beginners Guide

When you’re starting, it’s best to understand SEO basics first. To successfully apply the practices, you’ll need to learn how search engines work.

Gaining this knowledge is hard because Google continually updates their algorithms hundreds of times every year.

However, once you know the fundamentals, you’re off to a great start. Here are eight tips in no particular order to help you improve your organic traffic.

1. Importance of Keyword Research

If you want your website to rank high in search engines, you must identify the words and phrases people are searching for. The terms used must be relevant to your business.

You can use many online tools to help you determine how well the keywords you’ve chosen perform. When analyzing the results, remember not to focus only on the volume of searches. 

Don’t use descriptive text in your content. A lot of people use them in their queries. As we’ll discuss below, when users find out that your site doesn’t provide the answers they’re looking for, they’ll leave. 

2. Produce User-Focused Content

If you’ve ever seen a website fail or close, then you’ve seen how detrimental it can be to create content using popular but irrelevant keywords to rank on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).  Using irrelevant keywords to rank is referred to as keyword stuffing, and it can actually cause your site not to rank at all.

Your potential customers should be the focus of your articles and information. Your creative copy should use terms that relate to their needs and the solution you offer.

It’s easy to understand why, when people click on the link you provide and don’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll go back to look for another option. This action counts as a bounce back and sends a signal that your page doesn’t offer answers to their users’ queries.

If your website delivers what your visitors are looking for, they’ll spend more time there. You’ll increase your chance of gaining their trust and converting them into customers.

3. User Satisfaction

You already know that you’ll need to rank high on SERP to achieve your SEO goal of increasing website traffic and sales.

You’re doing keyword research, and using the right terms will help you accomplish the ranking objective. You’re also writing content that answers users' queries to reduce the bounce-back rate.

However, providing relevant information and solutions is not sufficient by itself. You need to focus on one more aspect to keep visitors on your site. 

This final aspect is making sure that they’re satisfied with the experience on your website. How fast your pages load matters as people are impatient and want instant results. We won’t go into detail because that’s more design-focused than SEO focused.

Not being able to find information easily is another cause of dissatisfaction among users. You should present your data outright without making your visitor jump through hoops to access it.

One mistake many entrepreneurs make is placing too many ads on their pages. While there’s the possibility of some ad revenue, you’ll be better off building a consumer base that will grow your business.

4. Content Readability 

You’ve noticed that there’s a lot of emphasis on your prospects because you would be wasting time and money on your SEO efforts without them being customers.

Expanding on the importance of content, providing valuable information is only one aspect. You’ve got to present your facts in a format that’s easy on the eyes.

Instead of large chunks of data, break them up into paragraphs, and try not to exceed four sentences per paragraph. In this day and age, readers like to skim content on their phones, and those screens are small.

Use images, graphics, or videos strategically to separate the paragraphs. Seeing a whole page of pure text can turn people off.

5. Prioritize Your Design for Mobile Users

There’s a growing trend of people using their smartphones to search for and access information, and a large percentage of consumers are making online purchasers with their phones.

Here’s another reason to optimize your website for mobile users. While it’s still essential that your site looks good on a computer, Google has been focusing on user experience on mobile phones.

6. Improve Your Meta Description and Headlines 

The first things you’ll see in search results are the headline and meta description of the page. 

The latter describes and summarizes the contents on the site to help users decide whether to click on the link. Be sure to write a good meta description, as you won’t get a second chance to entice the viewer to visit your website.

7. Backlinks

A group analyzed Google’s results and found that links are vital factors determining ranking on its first page.

Backlinks from high-authority websites are important because it tells the largest search engines that your site is trustworthy. Trust is critical to the portal because it’s protective of its users.

8. Measure Outcomes

You’ve got to gauge the performance of your strategies. There’s always room for improvement.

Set a benchmark based on your overall objective and measure your results against it. It’s a learning process, and as you progress, you’ll be successful. 

Review

As search engines’ algorithms keep changing, so must your optimization strategies. What works today may be obsolete tomorrow. Be sure to review your process and the results it’s generating.

Although these essential tips will not change much, tweak them when necessary. You can always find out what’s new every year by Googling, for instance, “SEO guide 2021”.