Beginner’s Guide to SEO

What is search engine optimization (SEO)? It’s one of the most essential pieces to making your website whole by helping people find you organically. If you’re just getting started in designing your website then you need to use SEO best practices. Except, you don’t know how. If you fall into that crowd or simply want to brush up, check out the beginner’s guide to SEO below.

Beginner’s Guide to SEO

Using this beginner’s guide to SEO, your website will gain the ability to rank higher in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Non-paid, organic traffic determines whether you’re on page one of the results or page ten. If you haven’t already figured it out—it matters for both SEO for local businesses and e-commerce alike.

Creating Content

• Keywords – A major component of SEO best practices is to use the right keywords. In order for your SEO to be successful, it’s vital to stick to keywords related to the topic and nice of your website. Also, remember that long tail keywords are always going to be more effective than short tail keywords.
• Titles – Use your keyword phrase in the title and in a sub-heading to establish credibility with search engines. Don’t make your titles too long.
• Links – Include high-quality outbound links to improve trust and authority to your website. Don’t forget to use internal linking from one article to another on your website.
• Quality – Ensure that you are publishing valuable content to your readers. Don’t just write for the search engines because, in the end, you’re trying to reach your audience.
• Frequency – Unless you’re publishing green content, then be certain to frequently publish fresh content to your website.
• Headings – Always use headings (H1, H2, H3, etc…) and make certain these are in order. Don’t forget the keywords.

Optimizing On-Page SEO

• Meta tags – Even though these are no longer a factor for ranking, it’s best to describe your page with a short meta-title and meta-description. Don’t stuff them with keywords. These should be unique, precise, and contain your keywords.
• SEO-friendly URLs – To state the obvious: include your keyword phrase in the title tag, short is better, and ensure accuracy.
• Images – Compress each image to improve the speed of the page. Include image titles, alt attributes, and captioning.
• Videos – Be mindful of the length, autoplay feature, and use transcription.
• Sitemaps – Much like a roadmap, a sitemap directs the search engines to different areas on your website and helps you be found. Use XML for the search engines. Include HTML sitemaps for your visitors as well.
• Social Media – While this does not directly impact your SEO, social media sharing buttons give your users the ability to share your content with others.
• Website design – Finally, don’t forget to be careful with your website design. Ensure your developer does not make any website design mistakes that destroy your SEO. It needs to be responsive, load quickly, and secure.

SEO Beginner’s Guide Summary

Remember, the goal of infusing your website with the best SEO practices is to improve its SERP rank and help more people find you organically, otherwise you’re left with a useless shell of a website. For more information on how you can rank higher with search engine optimization, contact the professionals at 4 Step Studio, today!

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About 4 Step Studio

4 Step Studio is an online marketing agency that specializes in website design and redesign, SEO, social media and more. Our team of experts focuses on helping small business get found online, while educating them on what will make them successful in the digital world. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.4StepStudio.com