If you’re looking for a way to improve your website’s search engine rankings then you’ve probably heard of “SEO.” If you’re not sure what SEO is or what it means, this article will teach you the basics. It will also give you a chance to practice what you’ve learned. So, let’s get started.
What is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of affecting the rankings of your website so that it shows up when your potential customers are searching for relevant keywords or phrases on search engines like Google.
SEO can be tricky to learn, but once you do it’s incredibly easy to replicate. You simply need to have a clear understanding of how search engines work, what makes for a high-quality website, and how to measure your progress.
Why should you care about SEO?
The reason you should care about SEO is simple. The higher your rankings in search results, the more opportunities you’ll have to attract potential customers to your website. When someone clicks on a highly ranked result they usually expect to find what they’re looking for. A high ranking also means that your website will appear when a potential customer searches for your product or service and finds relevant pages containing those keywords or phrases.
So, if you’re looking to increase your website traffic and grow your business, you should definitely care about SEO.
What is SEO copywriting?
In addition to SEO, you should also learn about “SEO copywriting” or “on-page SEO.” On-page SEO is the practice of optimzing your content (web pages, blog posts, product descriptions, etc.) for keyword phrases and words that trigger searches. It’s a vital part of the SEO process because without it your SEO efforts will likely end in failure.
On-page SEO is all about making your content as relevant and interesting as possible for your target audience. To do this, you need to use tools like Google Analytics to track the behavior of real people as they interact with your content. You’ll learn more about on-page SEO in the next section. For now, it’s important to understand that there’s a difference between on-page and off-page SEO.
Off-page SEO vs. On-page SEO
Off-page SEO is the practice of affecting the rankings of your website without actually publishing any content on your own website. If you want to learn more, the SEO Guide is a great place to start. It is filled with all the essential information you need to know about SEO (including how to optimize your website for individual keywords and phrases).
Off-page SEO is all about building authority and trust in your niche. One of the best ways to do this is through backlinks, or inbound links. These are links from other websites to your content which give you credibility and authority in your industry. If someone is curious about your products or services, they will typically first look at your competitors and then at your website. In other words, a backlink can help bring a potential customer to your website from a completely different website!
On the other hand, on-page SEO is all about publishing high-quality content for your potential customers to discover. You can also incorporate on-page SEO into your off-page strategy, but you should strive to have at least 80% of your content’s links point to external websites.
Broad Overview Of SEO
If you want to do SEO the right way you need to have a general idea of what you’re doing. Below, you’ll find a short overview of SEO.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of affecting the rankings of your website so that it shows up when your potential customers are searching for relevant keywords or phrases on search engines like Google.
The first step in SEO is gathering relevant data about your niche. You can start by looking at the competition in your industry and what keywords or phrases they are using in their content. Then, you can use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner that can help you find the right words and phrases to use in your content.
After you’ve found these keywords you can use them in your content in a variety of ways, depending on your preferred method. You can either look for a short-term gain with quick wins like landing page optimization or you can take the long-view approach and try to increase your website’s search traffic over time.
How Do Search Engines Work?
So, you’ve decided you want to learn more about SEO. Good decision! SEO is one of the most crucial parts of getting a good return on investment from your online marketing efforts. Below, you’ll learn about how search engines work and why on-page SEO is so important.
Search engines like Google index the web and, as a result, make it easy for people to find whatever they want. To do this, they use special software that reads the text on a website and then stores the text in an index that can be accessed by anyone with the right keywords. As you can imagine, getting indexed by search engines like Google is incredibly important because it means you’ll be found when someone is searching for information related to your niche. This may be a helpful tool for potential customers who are looking for an answer quickly and don’t have the time to go through numerous websites and blogs to find what they need.
Why is On-Page SEO so important?
On-Page SEO is important because it’s a quick and easy way to gain some good rankings without doing too much. You don’t need a ton of backlinks or money to invest in SEO. Instead, you can literally start anywhere and achieve good results. This makes it a perfect fit for anyone who is looking for a short-term or long-term gain in their niche.
On-page SEO is also important because it’s a chance to optimize the text on your website for the best result in terms of SEO. Sometimes, the name of a product or service is enough for people to know what it is. But, if you want to appear in more searches, you can use keywords in your content to increase your chances of being found by potential customers.
When someone enters a keyword into the Google Keyword Planner, they will see a list of suggested keywords and phrases. However, you cannot simply choose any word/phrase and expect to see good results. Instead, you need to pick words or phrases that are relevant to what you are selling. If you sell cameras, for example, you might want to try out some of the following keywords or phrases:
- digital camera reviews
- digital photography tips
- photography guides
- buy a digital camera
- what is a DSLR camera?
Keep in mind that the suggested keywords above are just the beginning. You can find hundreds of similar phrases you can use to optimize your content for the best possible results in terms of SEO.
What is the Relationship Between SEO and PPC?
SEO and “Pay Per Click” or “PPC” are often confused, which is unfortunate because they’re two completely different strategies. Typically, people think that if they’re not doing any PPC then they don’t need to worry about SEO, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. (In fact, you should probably be doing some PPC if you’re not already because it turns out that people forget about ads even when they’re shown them all the time.)
PPC is all about getting paid when someone clicks on your ad, whether it’s through a pay-per-click affiliate program or a direct click from a search engine listing. Doing PPC is a lot simpler than it seems because you simply need to find the money you’re going to spend on ads (per click) and then find a relevant keyword or phrase to target along with it. Then, you need to set a spending limit and that’s pretty much it. It’s a lot less complicated than it seems because there are literally tons of tools out there that can make the process super easy. (Hint: Look for tools that can aggregate keywords, ad copy, and landing pages for you so you can track the results of your efforts.)
Although PPC and SEO are two different strategies, they are definitely related. If you want to learn more, the SEO Guide is a great place to start, as it covers both the basics and the advanced aspects of SEO.