Main menu

Pages

SEO Guide for Beginners - How to do SEO for free

You've used Google thousands of times, I guess… Yahoo maybe, MSN / Bing and several others that work sooo alike from time to time.

Actually, they all have something in common: they are search engines that people turn to to find websites.

Search engines help users find pages on a certain topic. What they basically do is index pages and blogs in their databases, and then list them in their results in an order of relevance in relation to the search criteria.

SEO Guide for Beginners

This is precisely why they become fabulous allies in your battle to attract good visitors. Surely you have heard a very fashionable acronym and also something controversial on the Internet: SEO , Search Engine Optimization  or web positioning.

There is a lot of information about it, but none really intended for entrepreneurs and technophobic users . Users who don't exactly get along with technology and to whom words such as web positioning, search engine marketing, search engine optimization ,  SEO On Page , SEO Off Page ,  link building  or  PNB  sound like Chinese.

Are you part of this group? Do you want to learn SEO from scratch even if you have no idea how Google works?

No problem, marching an  SEO guide for beginners .

How does Google and the other search engines work?

The algorithms used by search engines are kept under seven keys so that no one knows exactly how they work. It is clear that it is their greatest treasure and that they will not make it easy for you to make your search engine marketing strategy work the first time.

Why so much zeal? To avoid spam .

Spam is a cursed word for them because it acts by distorting the relevance, something sacred for a search engine. If people launch a search, they will want to get relevant results, because if they are not satisfied they will quickly go to another search engine.

Currently it is known exactly what are the most important web positioning factors. Through testing and experimentation, people understand how the heck search engines work.

But we must not forget that the famous algorithm used by search engines to present results can change overnight without asking us . And as a consequence, it can have staggering effects for anyone on search results. Maybe you may have managed to become number one within a fairly popular search criteria, but suddenly, tomorrow you find yourself at number 30.

By this I want to tell you that search engine results are not guaranteed at all. As much as you dedicate hours and hours to optimization, to read another and another tutorial to learn SEO and everything that is written about SEO positioning in Google ... you may not get anything.

Be clear that the top ten (the first page of results) is coveted by everyone  and that you should try to position yourself as best as possible in search engines.

And why is that Top 10 so coveted? For this:

This graph indicates that, of the 100% of searches that are made on Google, 94.41% of people only open results from the first page .

And we are not just talking about the Top 10, but if you are not in the Top 5 you will practically be invisible because not 10% pass the result No. 5 when they search for something in Google.

As you can see, people are very selective when searching and, except in very exceptional cases, they will search the first 5 pages of Google.

And there you have to be.

Types of searches

People love to search.

Hence the appeal of Google, which is the great door to the information one is looking for. Goodbye to those days when you had to wander through libraries, deal with dust, turn the pages of a book, one after another in search of valuable information.

It seems distant, but not long ago it was like that.


Now people want information instantly, in their hands, lightning fast. Accurate. And it achieves it thanks to the excellent results that Google delivers in seconds. That's why people choose it.

Searches come in all sizes, formats and colors, but the search activity itself can be classified into three broad categories.

1-Content : when you search for news, videos, forums, blogs, etc.

2-Comparison : you look for reviews, product and price comparison and the like

3-Buy : you want to buy something.

The search terms that a user enters in Google already tell us a lot about what they are trying to find and fundamentally about what they have in mind.

Then many users will refine their searches, usually adding more terms to the one already made, in order to further narrow the results, with destinations that are really relevant to them.

These searches of more than 2-3 terms are called, in the SEO world, as long tail . To give you an idea, I'll give you an example of a "normal" search and a long tail:

Standard search: " soccer jersey" or " create a blog ".

Long tail search: « buy a soccer jersey in London» or «How to Change Careers at 40 «.

Learning the difference between these two types of search will help you on your way to positioning your blog or website and learning how to do SEO.

Why?

Because normally, if you know how to find them, long-tail searches are easier to position in Google. In other words, it 's easier for you to appear for a long-tail search or SEO for a long-tail than for a general one .

Therefore, in your SEO strategy for bloggers, it is normal to attack long tail or long tail searches at first and then short or main ones.

I'll tell you why later.

An example of search activity during a purchase cycle

If in front of the computer we have a consumer determined to buy something through the web, he will surely be in one of these three marked stages: the research phase (what kind of product am I looking for?), The price comparison phase and products (where can I buy the product?), or the purchase phase (I know what I want, now give it to me!).


1-Research phase:  the phrase that you enter in the search engine would be, for example, " digital photography" , in order to decide on a product or a list of candidates.

2-Product and price comparison phase:  the search could be " digital camera offers" , if the customer is interested in the products of that firm.

3-Purchase phase:  the search will be much more specific, since the customer has perfectly decided what he wants, then he would enter, for example, " Sony Cybershot DSC-T10 Black" .

What is search engine marketing

Search engine marketing is the technique of using search engines like Google to attract visitors to our blog.

And there are two ways to achieve it:

1-Search Engine Optimization (SEO):  its objective is to gain positioning in natural listings, or as it is also often called, organic listings. They are none other than the results that appear in the left column of the page. There is no cost to you when someone clicks on those results, but in return, SEO requires a lot of patience, investing time and being willing to wait.

2-Advertising or Paid Searches (SEM):  These "sponsored links" are basically results over which the advertiser has control. Companies contract to place their ads on search results pages that match what they are offering. These links are usually on the right and top of the page. And if you are the advertiser, you will have to pay every time someone clicks on them, although the good thing is that you define in advance how much you are willing to pay. And the results basically act like an auction, bringing up those who offer to pay more.

The truth is that search engine marketing is of vital importance for any business, even if it does not have an online sales platform. And I clarify that there are no exceptions to this rule: everyone must have a strategy for searches .

Despite the obviousness of all this, there are still companies that do not pay attention to these issues, nor to the popularity of search engines such as Google mainly and Yahoo or Bing in second place.

Search engines allow you to reach your customers just at the precise moment they are "looking" for something specific . Hence, it is an advertising modality with the highest precision in terms of segmentation, which provides excellent results.

Search engines are tremendously popular and are the most widely used tool on the entire Internet. And within them, the most popular of all, which is undoubtedly Google, has become a gateway to the markets.

Google generates multimillion-dollar profits to the companies that it has indexed in its results in those first positions. And Google users are surely your potential customers, if they are not already your current customers.

You already know that if your company does not appear on the first page of organic results, you may need to analyze the possibility of "scaling" through paid platforms such as Google Adwords or learn to do SEO for real.

But don't be scared. If you are new to all of this there is no need to panic as it is not science. You just have to decide to start. For that I am just trying to give you a hand from this blog, so that you understand the opportunity you have and take advantage of some tips.

What is SEO?

This is the first question you will have and I imagine you will be surprised to see that I answer it for you at this point. First things first, now to answer what is SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO or SEO positioning in Google) is nothing more than the way to achieve that your products, your services or your brand gain in organic natural positioning in the search engines (not in the spaces of payment for advertising), something that It is achieved by using relevant content to attract visitors to your blog.

In other words, "doing SEO" consists of using different techniques to get your website, blog, article, sales page, e-commerce article or whatever appear as high as possible in the organic results .

And for this most sites will require love and dedication to remain attractive to our friend Google. In short, your blog or your pages must be optimized so that they are evaluated as important and climb positions in the organic listings, which are otherwise free.

SEO itself is divided, in turn, into two large groups of techniques:

  • SEO On Page:  SEO On Page, as its name suggests, refers to everything YOU can do on your website, blog or store to improve your positions in Google. This includes aspects such as knowing what keyword to choose, how to structure your website, loading speed of your site, structure of your links, etc.
  • SEO Off Page:  SEO Off Page refers to everything that does not depend strictly on you and that is not "within" your website. Here we mainly talk about inbound links (number of websites or blogs that link to your content), social signals (shared on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn ...), etc.

For a result to rank higher, a correct mix of SEO On Page and SEO Off Page must be achieved.

Relax, if everything still sounds like Mandarin Chinese, I will explain the basic terms in this article. Even so, I hope that you have already become more or less clear what SEO is!

IF I HAVE TO CHOOSE ... DO I IMPROVE SEO ON PAGE OR SEO OFF PAGE?

Before I tell you my personal opinion, I will tell you one thing:  the only thing you can control is SEO On Page .

Yes, you can buy links, make guest articles and get links from friends to improve your blog's SEO Off Page. But, even so, you will not be able to control it 100% or know if tomorrow those pages will disappear, your link will die or that website will be penalized and the penalty will pass to you.

For this reason and another very important one that I am going to tell you right now, I have always thought that the first and essential thing about SEO is SEO On Page .

That second reason is that, no matter how many links you put to an article, today it is very difficult to position anything if the SEO On Page is not correct .

I will make you a metaphor so that you understand.

Imagine that you have a store and that you advertise all over the city for people to go shopping. However, when they arrive after seeing the advertisement they find a dirty shop window and disastrous customer treatment.

What will happen? That they will never come back and that in the end the only thing that you will have caused is that the defects of your business are even more exposed.

The SEO Off Page - SEO On Page relationship is similar.

If you send a lot of links to your post, but when Google or another user arrives, they find a real article crap ... in the end you will fall from Google rankings.

Therefore, we can draw 2 conclusions:

1-SEO Off Page is useless if SEO On Page is not correct .

2-The only thing you can control of your SEO strategy 100% is SEO On Page .

Once this is clarified, I think my opinion is clear: if I have to choose, I will stick with SEO On Page when defining my web positioning strategy.

Deciding whether to use paid results or organic results

At this point, you may be wondering whether to invest your budget in SEM (paid results) or invest effort or money in SEO (organic results).

Both have their positives and negatives each, but like any dynamic duo, they will work best when used in combination as part of the same marketing strategy to generate web traffic.

  • Organic searches:  basically its great advantage is that these searches are free, that is, you do not pay for the clicks generated. But in return, you will have to invest in other areas, such as improving and maintaining your blog, in addition to paying for content generation, link searches and other costs, in order to stay at the top of Google results. The traffic and the benefits it generates can be fabulous, but until you get to that point, it may not be a bad idea to hire paid results, at least when you start your activity.
  • Paid advertising: it  has the advantage of ensuring massive visibility in the short term, supporting your highest performing pages (conversions). In addition, paid results can be a good way to correct or cover the time it takes you to achieve good results in the organic results list.

When choosing, you must take into account the way people surf the net. Normally the human eye will sweep from the top left of the screen to the rest, as it would on a book page.

For this reason, the content that appears in that location will naturally attract more attention. And since most of the paid ads are located to the right and above, it is logical that they generate fewer clicks than those that appear at the opposite end. Organic results typically take more than 90% of the clicks generated on a search result page.

My personal recommendation is that, if you have the right budget, do the following combination:

  • SEO for Informational Content:  Remember Search Types? Well, for the research and comparison phase, you should try to position yourself organically. They are visits that do not ensure conversions, but that can begin to see you favorably if you impact on them from the beginning of the search phase.
  • SEM for content directed to the sale: the sales  pages, product sheets of your store or pages of your info products  are great options to advertise on Adwords . Why? Because they are pages directed, 100%, to generate sales and conversions. If you spend € 1 per click to take a person to a service that can give you € 100 of benefit… do the accounts add up right? 

Well, as you can see, there are no drawer results, but the decision is made by you according to your needs, your anxieties and your resources. Take one or another route, my deepest advice is that you take one.

Do not forget that Google or any other search engine can become your main ally in a short time. And you don't want to miss it.

As an entrepreneur, what should I consider in my SEO strategy for dummies?

Positioning your blog in search engines can be difficult, depending on what type of keyword you want to compete with. Getting a fast ranking on Google can make a big difference for your business. There are 2 different themes:

  • Optimize your content (SEO On Page).
  • Get quality links (SEO Off Page).

HOW TO DO SEO TO OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT AND MAKE GOOGLE FALL IN LOVE?

If today someone asked me how to do SEO, without a doubt I would only give them these 9 tips. There are thousands of tips, techniques, and tricks, but you and I don't want to be "World's # 1 SEO", we just want the bare minimum.

That's why I list 9 tips for SEO optimization of your posts with search engines in mind:

  • Write about popular things, but don't overdo it : it helps to know the status of daily searches in a niche to identify what people are looking for on the web. If your topic is popular, the probability of receiving visits will be higher. But if your keyword is too popular, your blog, except for miracles, will not appear in the first results and as a consequence it will not get the expected visits. As you can see, everything is a matter of balance in life. Use tools like Google AdWordsGoogle Trends and Google Ad Planner to quantify the current and future popularity of a keyword, as well as profitable ads. You are looking for words with a future projection, without too much competition and with significant daily searches (at least 100 searches / day).
  •  choose very precise and relevant keywords : As a rule, you should try to optimize a post for a single keyword. Of course, this keyword will have to be 100% relevant to your article. Instead of using generic keywords, go for very specific keywords. Let's take an example: instead of trying to position an article on "Twitter", try it better on "Twitter applied to technology SMEs".
  • Select keywords with 2 to 3 words, even better if they are 3 to 4 words : statistics show that about 60% of searches include 2 or 3 words. Take this into account when doing the SEO optimization of your article for a keyword. For a brand new blog, I would recommend choosing 3- or 4-word keywords. You will improve the long tail of your articles.
  • Use your keyword in the HTML title of your page - the title tag : use your keyword as early as possible in your title tag, and try as much as possible not to dilute it with too many other words. Remember that your title tag must be explicit, as it is what appears in search engines as the result title.
  • Use your keyword in the titles and subtitles of your article : use the titles and subtitles as one of the usability elements that make your post easier to read, but you should also take advantage of these elements to make your keyword appear.
  • Use your keyword in the body of your article : Especially as soon as you start (in the first 50 words) and just before finishing your article. Every 100 words you can mention your keyword again. Do not go overboard, look at what I tell you in point 9.
  • Use your keyword in the text of your internal or incoming links : try to use semantic links, meaningful to the search engine (primary navigation). If this is not possible - as for some Call To Action (CTA) of the type "Click here" or "More information", put the tag rel = "nofollow" so that the search engines do not get complicated with them.
  • Use your keyword in your images : both in the name of the file (without special characters and separated by a hyphen), and in the Alt tag (with spaces). Image searches lead to non-negligible qualified traffic.
  • Do not overdo it : do not overdo the use of your keyword in your article, because above 3-4% density, Google could decide to penalize you for Spam. Penalties are typically 90 days, and trust me 90 days is forever if it's your # 1 keyword. How to know if you are passing? Think about your reader and the quality of their reading. Read your post aloud. If it sounds weird, you're overdoing it. You will see how it is very easy to identify when you are reaching the limit of what is acceptable.

Learn to integrate these 9 elements when producing your content. When in doubt, always put your reader before the search engine .

Don't forget either that blogging or keyword business web domains are more likely to achieve good results for these same keywords.

Maintaining a brand comes at a cost that not all online businesses can - and should - not afford.

HOW TO GET QUALITY LINKS?

I will not detail all the existing tactics to achieve this goal in this article. Don't worry, I'll give you more information in the coming weeks. As a summary, and as my favorite methods:

  • Guest Posting : write as a guest on other bloggers' blogs with a relevant audience greater than yours. It's win-win: the blogger has fresh and relevant content at zero cost (Google will know how to thank them) and you have a way of presenting yourself to an audience you haven't reached yet. It is common practice that the blog that invites you enables an author box with a bio of 3 or 4 lines about you and how to contact you: you can customize a couple of links as you want. Also, being seen on other blogs will also help you improve your personal brand . If you want to know more about this tactic, I recommend you read this post .
  • Write unique content with strong added value : if what you say is useful and valuable, it is only a matter of time, but you will get inbound links.
  • Collaborate : a necessary complement to the two previous points. Comment on blogs and help on Twitter. The key is not to think about promoting yourself but about how you can help others to promote themselves. You will see how magically, the mentions, retweets, comments about your blog will grow naturally. If you read me correctly, do not do your promotion and they will talk about you. How many Marketing experts should realize this fundamental principle of web 2.0.
  • Interview relevant people in your niche : This is unique, easy-to-read content from recognized people in your niche. Guaranteed success, easy to spread, and will allow you to consolidate your position as a relevant expert in your niche.
  • Link to others : "Givers get" say the Americans. Don't wait for them to link you, do it yourself pro-actively. I do not recommend exchanging links from blog to blog, but rather to quote relevant posts in your articles, if they add value to your messages.

Do not lose sight of the fact that getting quality inbound links is more important than optimizing your content, and that patience is a very important virtue in an SEO strategy.

Do you want to learn more SEO?

This little tutorial on SEO for dummies or SEO for dummies (don't be mad!) Is enough to get your SEO strategy going.

Even so, if you want to continue investigating and see some other tutorial to learn SEO, I will recommend some of the most powerful that I have seen.

I refer you to 2 resources in English that you should consult if you want to go deeper into the subject:

MOZ:  KEYWORDS AND ON PAGE OPTIMIZATION

At the end of this article you will see the results of a survey that reveals that the most important factors for SEO are:

Authority / Trust of the domain linking: 23.87%

Page Popularity : 22.33%

The link text or anchor text: 20.26%

Other on-page factors : 15%

As a consequence, to develop a really effective SEO strategy (that is, one that generates a lot of traffic to your blog) you should focus on generating quality links to your blog.

How to do it?

Writing quality articles on your blog (so that other bloggers will link you naturally) and offering to write even better content as a guest on already established blogs (Guest Posting).

Acting as a guest on other blogs, you will have an author box where you can refer to your website. It is the only way to control 100% factors 1 and 3, that is, authority and link text (you always have control over the on-page factors, point 4.) The difficult thing is that they accept you when you are a blogger without audience or reputation.

VIPERCHILL, THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO DO SEO IN WORDPRESS

Glen is a blogger worth following if you want to have the right blogger SEO strategy. He is dedicated to publishing a few feature articles, usually once a week.

In this article he tells us that to optimize on-page SEO in WordPress you just have to:

Install the Yoast SEO plugin .

Focus each post on a single keyword, using the plugin mentioned just before.

Optimize permalinks.

A bit of htaccess.

My final recommendation for those starting a search engine optimization strategy

If you do not have the budget to launch a PPC campaign (it is my case with this blog), then you will have to learn to be patient, since SEO is anything but fast. My advice for entrepreneurs: don't neglect SEO .

Moreover, if you only have to learn one thing in this adventure of setting up an online business, especially if you want to start without money , then let it be this: how to get the most out of search engines. And this is called SEO, although it is not the fastest strategy, it is the only really scalable. Consider SEO as your sales force on the web. And if you use WordPress, don't miss this series of SEO resources for WordPress .

If you have questions about the topics covered in this  SEO guide for beginners , ask me questions by leaving me a comment.

Comments

table of contents title