Want To Learn SEO? You’re at the right place!
There are a variety of free instructional resources available on blogs and YouTube channels, which have assisted millions of individuals in increasing organic traffic to their websites.
However, the problem with these materials is that they are disorganised. There is no obvious beginning point or path to understanding SEO.
That is why we have put together this guide. This website is your entrance to become an SEO expert, whether you’re just getting started with SEO or already know the basics.
Search Engine Guide:
What are Search Engines?
Spider bots crawl the web, which is how search engines function. These web crawlers effectively track links from one website to the next to identify fresh information to include in the search index. Search engines are software applications that locate and rank web material that matches a user’s search query.
Each search engine has two essential components:
Search Index and Search algorithms
The search index is a virtual collection of web page information and Search algorithms are computer programs that rank matched search index results
Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo are examples of popular search engines.
Every search engine strives to give users the most accurate and relevant results. Comprehending how search engines identify, index, and rank content will help you rank your website for relevant and popular keywords in organic search results. You’ll gain more clicks and organic traffic to your content if you can rank high for these keywords.
How do search engines form their index?
The search indexes of the most popular search engines, such as Google and Bing, include billions of pages. So, before we go into ranking algorithms, let’s take a closer look at how a web index is created and maintained.
Let’s have a look at each stage separately:
1. URLs – Everything starts with a list of well-known URLs. These are discovered by Google using a variety of methods, the three most frequent of which are:
a) From backlinks
Google already has a massive database of billions of online pages. They can locate it if someone adds a link to one of your pages from one of those web pages.
Site Explorer with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools allows you to see your website’s backlinks for free.
b) Using sitemaps
Sitemaps are a list of all of your website’s key pages. If you upload your sitemap to Google, they may be able to find your website more quickly.
URLs Submissions
Individual URLs can also be submitted using Google Search Console.
2. Crawling-
Crawling is the process of visiting and downloading websites discovered by a computer bot known as a spider (e.g., Googlebot). It’s worth noting that Google doesn’t always crawl pages in the manner, in which they’re discovered. URLs are queued for crawling by Google based on several characteristics, including:
a) the URL’s PageRank (http://www.google.com/search/)
b) How frequently does the URL change?
c) if it’s new or not
This is significant since it implies that some of your pages may get crawled and indexed before others. If you have a huge website, search engines may take some time to thoroughly scan it.
3. Processing & rendering-
Google uses processing to decipher and extract essential information from crawled sites. Nobody outside of Google understands every detail of this process, but we do know that extracting links and storing content for indexing are crucial components. To completely process pages, Google must render them, which involves running the page’s code to determine how it appears to users. However, some processing occurs before and after rendering.
4. Indexing-
Indexing is the process of adding processed information from crawled websites to a large database known as the search index. Google’s search results are derived from a digital library containing billions of websites.
That is a crucial aspect. You are not immediately scanning the internet for matched results when you input a query into a search engine. You’re looking through a search engine’s database of online sites. Users will not be able to find a web page if it is not included in the search index. That’s why it’s critical to get your website indexed by major search engines like Google and Bing.
How sites are ranked by search engines-
Discovering, crawling, and indexing data is only the first step. When a user searches, search engines require a mechanism to rate matched results. Algorithms in search engines are responsible for this.
For ranking web pages, each search engine has its algorithm. But, because Google is by far the most popular search engine (at least in the Western world), we’ll concentrate on it for the rest of this tutorial.
Google is known for having over 200 ranking criteria. Nobody knows what all of these ranking variables are, but we know what the most important ones are. Let’s take a look at some of them.
1. Backlinks.
These are the top two ranking criteria. It is content. It’s also your site’s links. Since 1997, when Google developed PageRank, a method for assessing the worth of a web page based on the amount and quality of backlinks linking to it, links have been an essential ranking element. The number of websites connecting to a page and the quantity of organic traffic it receives from Google has a direct correlation. However, the number isn’t everything, since not all backlinks are made equal. A page with a few high-quality backlinks has a good chance of outranking a page with a lot of low-quality backlinks.
What creates a good backlink?
- Authority
- Relevance
- Destination
- Anchor text
- Placement
- Follow Vs No Follow links
The biggest influence on rankings comes from backlinks from authoritative pages and websites.
The most useful links come from relevant websites and web pages.
On their website on how search works, Google discusses relevance in the context of ranking helpful pages.
The most useful links come from relevant websites and web pages.
Google considers relevance in the context of ranking helpful pages, on their website on how search works
2. Relevance– Google uses a variety of methods to determine the relevancy of a page. It looks for pages that have the same keywords as the search query at the most basic level. Relevance, on the other hand, extends far beyond keyword matching. Google also evaluates whether search results are relevant to searchers based on interaction data. To put it another way, do searchers find the page useful? However, interaction data isn’t the only method Google achieves this.
Google has invested in a variety of technologies to aid in the understanding of connections between people, locations, and things. One of these technologies is the Knowledge Graph, which is essentially a massive knowledge base of things and their interconnections. In the Knowledge Graph, both apple (fruit) and apple (technology firm) are entities. To better determine page relevance, Google looks at the relationships between things. The fruit is mentioned in a matched result for “apple” which mentions oranges and bananas. One that mentions iPhone, iPad, and iOS, on the other hand, is plainly about the technological firm.
3. Freshness-
Freshness is a query-dependent ranking factor, which means that it is more important for certain results than for others. Freshness is crucial for a query like “what’s new on Amazon Prime,” since searchers want to know about recently-added movies and TV series. This is most likely why Google prioritises recently published or updated search results. Freshness is important in searches like “best headphones,” but not as much in others. Because headphone technology advances so quickly, a result from 2015 will be of little value, while a post from 2–3 months ago will still be helpful. Google is aware of this and only displays results that have been updated or published in the last few months.
There are some inquiries, such as “how to tie a tie,” where the freshness of the results is mostly unimportant. This technique hasn’t changed in decades, therefore it doesn’t matter whether the search results are from yesterday or 1998. Google is well aware of this and has no problems with ranking articles from years ago.
4. Topical authority- Google prefers content from websites that have authority on the subject. This implies that Google may consider a website to be a good source of results for one type of query but not for another. Although this is only one of Google’s numerous patents, we can find evidence that “topical authority” matters in the search results for a variety of searches. Although there are probably other variables at play, it appears that one of the reasons these sites rank where they do is because of their “topical authority.”
5. Page speed– Nobody appreciates waiting for sites to load, and Google is well aware of this. That’s why, in 2010, they introduced page speed as a ranking criterion for desktop searches, and in 2018, they added it as a ranking element for mobile searches. PageSpeed Insights is a tool that allows you to test the performance of any web page and provides recommendations for how to make it quicker.
6. Mobile-friendliness – Mobile devices account for 65% of Google searches. That’s why, since 2015, mobile-friendliness has been a consideration. Because of Google transitions to mobile-first indexing in 2019, mobile-friendliness is now a ranking consideration for desktop searches as well. This means that across all platforms, Google “predominantly utilises the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.” In other words, a lack of mobile-friendliness can have an impact on rankings in a variety of ways. You may use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool or the Mobile Usability report in Google Search Console to determine whether a web page is mobile-friendly.
How do search engines make search results more personalised?
Different results appeal to different people, and search engines are aware of this. As a consequence, they personalise their results for each user. You’ve probably noticed the impacts of personalisation if you’ve ever searched for the same thing on various devices or browsers. Depending on a variety of circumstances, results frequently appear in different places ie. Location, language, search history
Why SEO is important?
The most widely claimed advantage of SEO is improved rankings, yet rankings are only a means to an aim. Many of the true SEO advantages are traffic-related.
1A Consistent SEO results in more traffic.
2.SEO generates a steady stream of visitors.
3.It generates ‘free’ traffic.
What is the best way to have your website listed on Google?
You can rank higher using SEO, but you won’t be able to rank higher if Google doesn’t even know your website exists.
Although Google will ultimately locate your website on its own, there are a few significant advantages to actively submitting it:
1.Discovering information more quickly. Because most new websites lack backlinks from other websites, Google may take some time to discover them.
2.Make improvements to your website. Google Search Console provides suggestions about how to improve and optimise your site.
Planning for SEO success
SEO is a continuous process that, if done correctly, will improve your chances of winning over time.
When your website is correctly set up for SEO success, it is much easier to conduct SEO well.
We can keep few points in our mind:-
1.Choose an excellent domain name.
2.Invest in a website platform.
3. Use a reputable web server.
4.Make sure the user has a good time.
5.Make a web structure that makes sense.
6. Sensibly organise your URLs
7.Install a decent SEO plugin on your website.
How to do SEO
You should have a good foundation for SEO success by this point. But this is only the start. SEO is a continuous process that may be classified into four categories:
1.Keyword research
2.On-page SEO
3.Link building
4.Technical SEO
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process of determining what your consumers are looking for, how much traffic those keywords may generate, and how tough it will be to rank for those keywords. Let’s look at the fundamentals of each of those phases.
Keyword research can also assist you in answering queries such as:
- How difficult will it be to rank for this phrase?
- What kind of traffic can I expect if I rank for this keyword?
- To rank for this term, what type of content should I create?
- Is it probable that individuals who search for this term will become my customers?
Finding the correct answers to these questions will assist you in properly choosing your fights.
These can then be used as “seed” keywords to generate new ideas. Simply enter them into a keyword research tool, and go through one of the keyword suggestions reports.
The cornerstone of the keyword research process is seed keywords. They assist you in defining your speciality and identifying your rivals. Every keyword research tool will ask for a seed term, which it will then utilise to produce a massive list of keyword suggestions.
Examine the traffic potential
Almost every keyword research tool will offer projected monthly search volumes for the keywords it discovers.
Search volume is typically a good indicator of a keyword’s relative traffic potential. Pages that target high-volume keywords will often bring more traffic to your website than pages that target low-volume keywords.
However, keyword search volume isn’t always accurate. Ranking #1 for a keyword with 1,000 monthly searches might sometimes result in more traffic than ranking #1 for a keyword with 2,000 monthly searches.
To gain a better idea of a keyword’s traffic potential, it’s always worth checking at predicted organic traffic to the top-ranking page. This may be done using Keywords Explorer.
Examine the ranking difficulty.
Even if a term appears to be related to your brand and has a lot of traffic potential, ranking for it isn’t always straightforward.
The amount of relevant, significant websites connecting to the top-ranked pages is perhaps the most important element in determining the ranking difficulty of a keyword.
Some Keyword Research Tools –
1) Google Keyword Planner (Free)
For unique keyword suggestions and up-to-date CPC figures
2) Google Trends (Free)
For trend comparisons and trend studies in different parts of the world.
3) Google Search Console (Free)
For determining the top 1,000 keywords for which you already rank and the amount of traffic those phrases generate.
4) Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (Free)
To see all of the keywords for which you now rank, as well as their estimate search volumes, Keyword Difficulty ratings, traffic potential, and other SEO data.
5) Keyword Generator (Free)
From a single seed term, hundreds of free keyword suggestions can be generated with this tool
6) Keyword Difficulty Checker (Free)
To see how tough a term is to rank, according to Ahrefs’ Keyword Difficulty (KD) score.
7) Keyword Rank Checker (Free)
For checking where you rank for any keyword in any country and to see where you rank in any country for any keyword.
8) Keywords Explorer
When you’re serious about obtaining the ideal keywords for your website, this is the tool to use. In seconds, you may get tens of thousands of keyword ideas, filter the keyword ideas reports for phrases that matter to you, and quickly analyse their traffic potential and ranking difficulties.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is producing the type of material that search engines want and then ‘optimising’ it to assist search engines to comprehend what it’s about. The majority of people believe it’s all about keyword placement. Although it is significant, it is not the most essential component.
Let’s look at the fundamentals of how to rank a page in a search engine.
User’s Search Intent
If you don’t write the type of article that searchers want, your chances of ranking are low to none. This is referred to as matching your content with search intent in the industry.
The easiest method to assess search intent is to check for commonalities across the current top-ranking websites for your target term because Google understands what searchers are searching for better than anybody else.
Select a descriptive URL slug.
We discussed adopting a logical and descriptive URL structure earlier on setting up a website for SEO success. You must also create a descriptive slug—the section at the end of the URL—for each page or post you publish.
For Example- yourwebsite.com/blog-post/
above the blog post at the end of the URL is a slug
Make a catchy title tag.
The blue clickable links that appear in the search results are known as title tags.
It’s one of the few tools you have to persuade searchers to click on your page, so make it as appealing as possible.
Aligning it with search intent is the simplest way to achieve this.
Images should be optimised.
Images may help your website rank in Google Images and drive thousands of traffic to it.
Follow these three steps to get started:
1.Make a good name for them. The filename cat.png is better than IMG 948493.png because it helps Google comprehend the image.
2.Use descriptive alt text. The coding that represents a picture in words is known as alt text. Unless the visitor utilises a screen reader or the picture fails to load, it is not displayed on the website. When you upload an image to a website, most platforms offer an input area for alt text.
3.Compress them. Install a plugin like Shortpixel to automatically compress your photos and enhance page performance.
On-Page SEO Tools
let’s have a look at a few free tools that can assist with everything mentioned above.
1. Yoast
Posts and pages should have titles, meta descriptions, OG tags, and structured data.
SIDENOTE. The SEO Framework, Rank Math, and All in One SEO Pack all perform essentially the same thing.
2. Webmaster Tools by Ahrefs (Free)
Find any missing title tags, meta descriptions, alt text, or OG tags on your website.
3. SEO Toolbar by Ahrefs (Free)
Examine the layout of other high-ranking pages.
4. MetaTags.io (Free)
In the search results, see how title tags, URLs, and meta descriptions will appear.
5. ShortPixel (Free)
Images will be compressed and optimised.
6. Merkle’s Schema Markup Generator (Free)
Create a variety of structured data types using Google’s JSON-LD standard.
7. Rich results(Free)
Check your page’s structured data to determine if it qualifies for rich snippets in the SERPs.
Offpage SEO
Link Building
Links from other websites work as ‘votes,’ indicating to Google that others are endorsing your stuff.
They’re undoubtedly the most significant ranking element, but obtaining excellent ones isn’t always straightforward.
The majority of link-building strategies include producing link-worthy material and then approaching site owners and editors with a convincing argument to include your link on one of their pages. However, there are alternative options for obtaining links.
Let’s take a look at a couple of different link-building strategies.
Guest Blogging
Writing a blog article for another website is known as guest blogging.
Guest authors may usually add their links to most websites.
Content Explorer, which offers a searchable database of over seven billion pages, is one of the quickest methods to locate prospective guest blogging possibilities.
Skyscraper technique
The Skyscraper Technique is a link-building strategy in which you create content that is even better than what people are currently connecting to.
The fundamental procedure is as follows:
- Find a piece of content that is relevant and has a lot of backlinks.
- Make something more effective.
- Request that anybody who links to the original material instead connect to yours.
Content Explorer is a tool that can help you with this technique
Pursuing competitors’ links
The best approach to develop a link-building plan is to learn how your rivals get backlinks. If you can spot patterns in their link profile, you’ll be able to figure out which link-building strategies are most likely to work for your site.
Some link building Tools
- Backlink Research tools;
- Content Research tools;
- Web Monitoring tools;
- Email Outreach tools.
Technical SEO
The practice of assisting search engines such as Google in finding, understanding, and indexing your content is known as technical SEO. Which we have already covered earlier here we will go some further details:-
Quick results in technical SEO
Prioritisation is one of the most difficult tasks for SEOs. Although there are many recommended practises, some will have a greater influence on your rankings and traffic than others.
Here are some:
Check to index – Make sure Google can index the sites you want visitors to find. Some tools like search console, site audit will help you with this
Reclaim lost links – Over time, URLs for websites tend to change. These outdated URLs frequently contain connections to other websites. If the links aren’t forwarded to the current pages, they’ll be lost and won’t count against your pages. It’s not too late to make these redirects, and you may recoup any lost value fast. Site Explorer can help you with this.
Add internal links – Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page of your website to another. They aid in the discovery of your pages as well as the improvement of their rankings.
Add schema markup – Schema markup is a type of coding that aids search engines in better understanding your content and supports several features that may make your website stand out in search results. Google provides a search gallery that displays the different search features as well as the schema that your site must have to be eligible.
A few additional points that would help in the prioritisation of projects :
Page experience signals – These are a minor ranking factor, but they are nonetheless worth considering for the interest of your users. They are concerned with features of the website that influence the user’s experience.
Core Web Vitals – The speed measurements that are part of Google’s Page Experience signals used to assess user experience are known as Core Web Vitals.
HTTPS – HTTPS prevents your browser’s and server’s communication from being intercepted and tampered with by hackers. The great majority of today’s WWW traffic benefits from this level of secrecy, integrity, and authentication.
Mobile-friendliness – Simply simply, this determines whether web pages appear correctly and are easy to use on mobile devices.
How can you determine if your site is mobile-friendly? In Google Search Console, look at the “Mobile Usability” report. It shows you if any of your pages are not mobile-friendly.
Safe browsing – These are tests to ensure that pages aren’t misleading, don’t include malware, and don’t include any potentially dangerous downloads.
Interstitials – Interstitials prevent users from seeing the content. These are pop-ups that cover the most important material that visitors may need to engage with before they close.
For various languages, use Hreflang – Hreflang is an HTML property that specifies a webpage’s language and geographic targeting. You may use the Hreflang to inform search engines like Google that you have several versions of the same page in various languages. This enables them to provide their users with the right version.
General Maintenance
These activities are unlikely to have a significant influence on your rankings, but they are important to address for user experience.
Broken links-Broken links on your site refer to non-existent resources, which might be internal (i.e., to other pages on your domain) or external (i.e. to other websites) (i.e. to pages on other domains.)
Redirect chains-Between the originating URL and the destination URL, there is a sequence of redirects called redirect chains.
Some Technical SEO Tools:
- Google Search Console
- Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
- Chrome DevTools
- Ahrefs Toolbar
- Pagespeed insight
The ultimate goal of any search engine optimisation campaign is to increase visibility and traffic to your company or website’s content. Look for ways that search engine traffic may benefit your company and website. hope this article will help you with this perspective. We will continue to come with more educational blogs!
