For about 95% of people; SEO is a tough task to carry out. For some it’s an art that is very hard to master and for some; it is a pool of challenges followed by unknowns and uncertainties. Some people love to try their hands on SEO while some prefer to stay away from this giant.
We have readers of both kinds; courageous as well as coward and this blog post is for both because even if you SEO phobia (fear that occurs as soon as one hears the name of SEO; this term is derived by me!) you will definitely read this post as here we are going to show you how SEO is as easy as to “learn” just within a month.
But you can only learn; it takes a lot of practice to master it and if you are courageous then you will definitely be eager to read this because you will get something new to try your hands on. So, let’s dive into the journey of learning SEO; the major part of internet.
Discover SEO in two fortnights:
Part 1 : SEO Concepts
When you go to school, you are asked to start with the first letter A. Same way, in SEO school; you will have to first know about Basic SEO Concepts. These are as follows:
How search engines work? SEO is directly attached to search engines in the same way like as a child to its mother. Hence, it is of prime importance to know the nature of the mother first i.e. functioning of search engine.You can do this by watching Matt Cutt’s videos. This will help you understand search engines in a better way.
Create your own SEO reading list: Changes occur on regular basis in SEO field. Hence, it is necessary for you as a learner to be constantly updated with these changes. So, it is of prime importance for you to keep reading various SEO blogs from well known websites so as to be aware of latest trends.Here, is the list of some very useful websites that regular updated blogs on SEO:
- Hubspot Marketing blog
- Moz
- Search Engine Land
- Search Engine Watch
- Backlinko
- Point Blank SEO blog
- Matthewbarby.com
- SEOnick
- DejanSEO blog
How SEO works in Inbound Marketing? After performing the above two steps; now it’s time to understand the role of SEO in inbound marketing. SEO and inbound marketing have symbiotic relationship.The success of inbound marketing depends on SEO by making sure that content is easily searchable. Inbound marketing enables SEO by providing appropriate quality content that people love to read.To understand the concept of Inbound marketing in depth; it is necessary to understand how SEO is useful here and then one can easily create perfect inbound marketing strategy.
Know about Fundamentals of On Page SEO: In school curriculum; every book has a separate page known as fundamentals where the basics of that particular subject are given. In the same way, before reading the entire SEO book; it is necessary to understand the fundamentals of its two main types: On page and Offpage.On page SEO includes following:
- Content ( Words and the one included in Design)
- Title tags
- URLs
- Image Alt Tags
- Internal linking
- Schema Markup
- Site architecture
- XML sitemaps.
Know about Offpage SEO fundamentals: The main fear of SEO relates to Off Page. But this should not happen and so it is necessary to completely understand the Off-page SEO basics.This part of SEO is entirely connected with links. This includes everything that is related to site’s visibility on search engines. It is something performed at the back end of any website.Here, one needs to develop complete understanding of everything that is involved in off page SEO.
Make most use of Google Zoo: You might have heard SEO optimizers shouting at Google updates as most of the Google algorithm updates put everything aside that is not up to the mark and this sometimes destroys all the hard work carried out to bring website among top results.So, it is necessary to be aware of various Google updates such as Penguin, Panda, Huumingbird, Pirate etc. One can check the website using Baracuda’s Penguin tool to know whether the website is affected via algorithms or not.
Part 2 – SEO Tools:
Once you have completely understood the fundamentals then it is time to know about various SEO tools. It is necessary to have these tools handy in case you stuck up in any issue.
Develop Analytics: Create your own entire analytics package. Google Analytics is a tool that can help you to select required analytics packages.
Create your Google Search Console: If you really wish that your website should rank high on Google then it is mandatory to have Google Search Console. This tool will help you to view your website in the similar way as Google does by providing you necessary insights into those pages that are indexed, links that point towards your site, well known keywords, rank positions and click through rates.Properly set up this and search for some data and once you have your hands on it, then you can also try such tools from other search engines.
Part 3- Competitor Analysis and Keyword Research:
If you really want to be an expert in the SEO field then always keep these two things in mind; Competitor analysis and keywords. These perform the same role as water and salt does in any of the eatable items.
So, these two are the key ingredients which are solely responsible for success of any SEO strategy. Hence, it is very necessary to spend sufficient time in enhancing your skills in SEO. Patience is the key here. Here, you have to offer a better solution for your visitors.
Become a Keyword Research Expert: Doing quick keyword research is the thing that one should master. One can sign up for various courses offered by experts like the one Nick Eubanks’ one-week course.Once you have registered yourself for this course then you will get one email per day for a week which teaches you the implementation of different stages of keyword research and this is so powerful that within a week you will master in such a way that you can easily complete one keyword research project for your business. The cost of this course is $127, starter version is available for $67 but opt for the former as it is worthy of investment.Another way where you can learn keyword research for free is to learn from various free keyword analysis tutorials and one such useful is Keyword tutorial by Matthew Barby. It includes the complete process of keyword research including keywords for blogs as well as use of various tools that can be used for the purpose.
Carry out Competitor Analysis:Before you actually develop a SEO strategy; perform competitor analysis. While doing so; you need to have answers for these:
- Your main competitors
- Their traffic levels
- Keywords and phrases they are ranked for
- Back link profile view
- Their Social media presence
- Their Content strategy
Part 4: Link Building
Link building is the heart of SEO. We are sure that once you finish reading this part; you will easily be able to develop your own link building strategy.
Know what is link building: Link building is linked with off page SEO. This refers to the practice of getting links from other websites on your own. The more qualitative links your website has; the more rankings your website will have as linking is one of the significant SEO ranking factors.Links are build by many ways however this is not anyone’s cup of tea. It is a very challenging as well as time consuming task. So, by creating useful content one can attract many links in an organic way.
Create a link building strategy: No, this is not something where you will get some resources with bunch of links available at a certain cost. This means you must have complete understanding of significance of link building and must have complete idea of how it should be done.
Part 5 – Local SEO:
Know what exactly local SEO is? In recent couple of years, Local SEO has become a hot trend. This is very different as compared to traditional SEO because it is completely focused on providing results which are relevant for any searcher based on the location for which he/she searches. Always prefer to use Google My Business to start with Local SEO.
Part 6: Measuring SEO
To get best results from the strategies, it is necessary to measure your SEO efforts. So, always keep a track of the data for various things like as rankings, referrals, links so as to analyze SEO strategy and boost SEO success.
Now, here you will have a question in your mind. What things must actually be measured in SEO? The answer to this is as follows:
- Role of search engines in referring your website.
- How many referrals come via search engines?
- Visits that take place by using particular search engine terms and phrases.
- How many conversions occur by using particular search term or phrase?
- How many pages receive one visit from search engines?
- Rankings.
The most important thing here is to properly adjust your SEO metrics along with goals. Let’s say if you have set up a goal to get more email sign ups from blog content then the search visibility that is generated via long tail keywords that are in your blog content must be higher.
So, always try to have clear and realistic goals as it will make easy for you to identify the success and failure of SEO strategy.
Wind up:
We are 100% sure that this blog post will definitely help you to learn complete SEO from beginning to end and then you can be an expert by constantly practicing it. So, if you want you can re read it again and again.
Let us how much this has benefited you. Stay connected with us for much useful guides.