This blog post is supposed to be an easy SEO guide for beginner bloggers to get them started with SEO because as I started blogging and learning about “ blogging secrets”: how to drive traffic, how to make money, and how to rank in google and the hardest thing I had to learn about: Was SEO.
It's a pretty simple concept and yet many new bloggers completely ignore SEO because they get lost in the amount of information they find out there, and many new bloggers are intimidated by SEO. But it's only intimidating because you don't understand it.
In this blog post I'm going to use the knowledge I acquired over the years lay out the basics of SEO for every beginner looking to know about SEO and by the time we're done, you'll have the knowledge you need to rank your blog posts on Google.
SEO Basics
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your blog post to rank well on Google search. When a user searches for something on Google, google spiders (algorithm) tries to match the users' search with the best result possible and that’s why you need to optimize your blog posts to rank in google search.
Why do bloggers need to focus on SEO?
Most new bloggers use Pinterest and social media to get traffic. But that doesn't mean you should ignore Google SEO.
For a blogger, traffic is the fuel for the blog That is exactly why you need organic Google traffic (organic means it comes from the search results, not from paid ads). As I like to call it green traffic because it’s just like a plant, once it starts growing it never ends . in addition to that later when you start to monetize your blog, reader that come from search engines are most likely to buy or click on your ads
Can a new blog get traffic from Google?
SEO when starting you will not get any result from SEO. This is the sad truth. It is a well-known fact that Google will not send traffic to new blogs.
But ignoring SEO isn't the right approach either. You need to put time thinking your SEO strategy and tweaking your blog posts because Once your blog ages a bit and begins appearing in search results, you'll be glad you paid attention to your SEO right from the start. Let me tell you from experience, once you start ranking in google search for some of the keywords your blog traffic will be tripled if not more.
One of my newest blogs(8 months) started getting traffic from google just recently
Does Google favor blogs over other websites?
The answer is that it depends on what the user search.
When someone looks for "Christmas decoration» Google will show e-commerce sites in the search results.
But when someone looks for "best Christmas decoration» or “Christmas decoration ideas”, that's when Google will show educational content (blog posts).
Google is where people go when they are seeking answers and advice.
So you should ask yourself if your blog posts each solve a specific problem in your niche. If so, you're in luck because sooner or later google is going to notice your blog.
If you are creating content that people are searching for and your content is solving problems, then Google is going to love your blog and drive traffic your way!
How does Google rank websites?
Google's algorithm is a mystery and no one knows the real formula for ranking websites and every new google update you will see changes happening to your rank but what everyone agrees on is that 3 main points google take into consideration: content, authority, and the user experience.
And those are the 3 main things I'm going to cover in this guide on SEO for beginners:
- Content
- Authority
- User experience
Content
Google gives great importance to content and always trays to present the best answer ( content ) to the users but Google is nothing but a machine after all and if you don’t tell it what your content is about he will not figure it out himself
You make sure you tell it exactly what keyword you need him to show your content for.
how to Choose a keyword?
Find out what questions people are asking and answer those questions.
It's such a simple concept but many people struggle because they write whatever content they want to write. Then they'd wonder why they weren’t getting any traffic. The answer was simple: nobody was searching for the content they are writing.
Before you even lift a finger and start writing your blog post, you have to conduct keyword research. If you skip this step, you will write content for no one but yourself.
When searching for keywords, you should be looking for 3 types of keywords:
- Your main keyword
- A long-tail keyword
- Related keywords
For this article
-the main keyword is “SEO for beginner”
-the long-tail keyword is “easy SEO for beginner bloggers”
-the Related keywords are “learn SEO, SEO guide, a guide to SEO, learn search engine optimization, SEO for bloggers”
How to do keyword research?
There are a few places you can do keyword research, and the best keyword research tools for beginners are:
Kwfinder: this is my favorite of all, this tool is introduced by mangonels, one of the leading SEO company out there
SEMrush: I just started using this service but I can tell you that it is by far better than any other platform on the market from SEO, PPC, Social Media, Content Marketing, or even market research it gives you a full package of everything you need
Search engines: is a basic keyword research method, Type in a question in your niche and see what autocompletes, this technique works better with longer-tail keywords
keyword tool: this is a good free option if you are just getting starting but it’s not as effective as the tools presented before
After finding the keyword you need to rank now we need to get them actually ranked
Where to use keywords?
If you don’t add your keywords throughout your article, Google is going to have a harder time figuring out what your article is about and it will not even show your blogpost in a search result. Yet if you add it too many times you are “keyword stuffing” which means you are putting your keywords way too much time to the content and will have negative consequences.
In the past, this method worked perfectly but now Google is getting smarter by the day and those tactics don’t work anymore
If you ask me the question is not how much you should use your keyword? but where?
- Page title: Your main keyword needs to be in your title, preferably at the beginning
- URL: It should be a part of your URL: www.domain.com/main-keyword/
Tip// Use A Short URL, keep your URL short and to the point, because a URL That looks spammy to the visitor looks spammy to Google as well.
- In the content: Especially in the first couple of sentences of the blog post to let google know what you are talking about.
- H2, H3: It helps if you have related keywords mentioned in h tags.
How to Write The best headline?
Headlines are extremely important. I learned this truth from my youtube experience: Without a catchy headline, you won't get as many clicks to your blog/video pages as they deserve. You can write the best content out there but if you don’t attract the reader it’s useless
The headline actually affects your Google ranking
When you create a title you need to answer google user’s problem, And when your page gets clicked on more than the competition, it sends a signal to Google that your page is more relevant for that particular search term.
Google pushes sites with a higher CTR (click-through-rate) on the search engine results page.
How long should your headline/title be?
On average Google shows between 50 and 60 characters of your title. So make sure that your keyword phrase is in that first 60 characters.
By experience, I tend to write titles that maximize click-through rate and improves Google ranking, and most of the times I use this formula:
(Number) (Adjective) (Keyword ) (Benefit) (Time)
10 awesome Christmas decoration to impress your guest this Christmas party
Not every blog post will have this exact formula, but it's a proven one that delivers results.
You can check out this headline analyser
Content length
If you are serious about blogging you should Focus on creating high-quality long-form content. Your goal is a blog post worth saving, sharing, or reading again
If you are planning to fill up your new blog with LOTS of short blog posts you're in for a big disappointment. This strategy will get you nowhere, a blog post should be at least 2,000 words long. I would actually recommend making sure that from time to time you write a 3,000 or even 4,000-word post to improve your SEO as much as you can
While word count alone won't get you a better ranking, according to backlinko it does play an important role. And according to the same source, it even plays a role in the social shares number and backlink count
Edit the Meta description/ search description
The meta description is a code that's in the source of your webpage whose purpose is to describe what your post is about. the meta description is the preview of your blog post on Google.
A good meta description includes your exact keyword phrase. When the search term matches your keyword phrase, the text is bolded and draws more attention to your link.
Optimize your images for search
In addition to regular text results, there are also image results.
While not as valuable as a regular search result, you can also get traffic via Google Images.
Another reason you should start optimizing your images is that they rank in other images search engine as well
Tips To help you rank on Google Images:
- While the user cannot see your image file name, Google can. Name your images utilizing your keywords.
- Alt-text is meant to describe your image with text. To add a sentence that describes your image, making sure to add your keywords.
- Add your keywords near the image so that Google identifies what the image is about.
That was everything you need to know on content creation for now as a beginner next we will be talking about authority wich as a beginner you can’t fully get any benefits from it but in the future, it will help you a lot
Authority
You need time to build authority
Google wants to present the reader with the best answer to their question. and Google will look at your content but they prefer to send the reader to an authority blog, If you are a nobody, Google search will ignore you.
But you don't need to despair yet, you too can become an authority in your niche.
Your new blog won't get much Google love to start, but after a few months of showing your worth (providing great content), they'd be willing to take the next step and let you into their search results.
Google can read your blog and determine the subject of your blog posts but it can’t really determent the worth of the content you are providing that’s why you need backlinks.
How to get backlinks?
Create something so epic that you naturally acquire backlinks over time: a bunch of people is all linking to your blog post
Another way to get backlinks is to guest post on popular blogs in your niche
And there is a bunch of websites where you can get backlinks by sharing your blog posts like press releases and content sharing platforms.
Another thing that will get you backlinks + traffic + help you to rank on Google is social shares
While this hasn't been confirmed by Google, it's been shown by experience that links with a lot of social shares end up higher in the search results
Always encourage your readers to share your blog posts on social media, by adding share icons to your blog posts.
To get your content on social media, I use Tailwind for Pinterest and Instagram sharing.
you can check your blog backlink with Linkminer
After all of that is taken care of, you have great content and you have built authority what is left to do is to provide your readers with the best user experience you can.
User Experience
Google recently announced that in 2021 that user experience will be a ranking factor going forward
This statement alone can provide a clear picture of the importance of user experience, and believe me, it is important: have you ever went to a website and immediately got back to the search result to check for other answers. It happened to all of us.
How do you ensure that the reader stays and like your blog?
- Don’t use a lot of/big ads. what google hates the most is clouding the reader's judgment by putting ads everywhere and covering the majority of the page with ads.
Every one of us bloggers wants to use our blog to make some kind of money but more ads don’t mean more money. Plus there are other ways you can make even more money if you know how to use your blog to capture email and followers
- Don’t use the annoying kind of popups that open a new browser or bloc the entire screen
I personally use the less-annoying kind that's called a lightbox overlay You also want to make sure it is easy to close the pop-up.
- Make sure your blog is responsive. Most people now use mobiles and tablets to connect and if your blog is not mobile-friendly you are missing out on a lot of readers, not to mention losing the chance to get ranked with Google mobile algorithm
- Using internal links: By linking to your blog content, you're letting Google know these pages are relevant to the topic of the blog post and the readers can find resources for additional help on related topics...
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