What You Should Know About SEO and Search Engine Optimization

Updated October 6, 2023
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SEO Strategies

When you try to make your very first steps in the world of search engine optimization, the sheer thought of the amount of things you would need to learn is enough to make your head spin. That is totally understandable! And you are probably aware of the fact that the big names of SEO that have been around for more than a decade now, have spent that time constantly expanding their knowledge of the subject and upgrading the already existing skills they have in the sphere.

Yes, it is common knowledge that the changes Google is introducing to its algorithm are probably the fastest ones happening on the internet. That sure means tons of stuff to catch up on if you want to keep your strategy relevant and fresh. So, where do you start? What are the most important basics that can make your learning curve a little bit less steep? Let’s take a look at some of the essentials that will make your beginner SEO efforts more painless and, most importantly, successful.    

Start With The Big Picture

If you want to avoid getting too overwhelmed, skip the details for a moment and step back to take in the big picture. That is what SEO companies like The Top SEO Experts will most certainly advise you to do first. What SEO is all about is making your site more visible in online searches, relevant to your industry and niche. While you can make different approaches work in your favour, it usually all boils down to being relevant, up-to-date and authoritative. The more your website content is relevant to a specific search, the more authority and credit, the more trustworthiness comes with it.

The way to achieve trustworthiness and authority is through links that lead to your site, your brand name getting mentioned on authority websites, as well as the high-quality content that will naturally result in more traffic and a smaller bounce rate. Don’t forget to pay attention to UI metrics as well.  

Page And Domain Authority

The next aspects of SEO you should learn about are page and domain authority. Why? Because they are the tools that will help you predict how high your site will rank with Google. Your authority will depend on your site’s trustworthiness, which in turn is a result of the sum of the quality and quantity of content on your page or the one pointing to your page. In short, the more organic links you have, the greater your trustworthiness and authority.

If you wonder how page authority is different, that means using certain tactics to use links in promoting a specific single page over the rest. This is achieved not only through the sheer number of inbound links, but also their quality.

General SEO Effort

If you want search engines to index your website so that it becomes more visible by showing up on the first pages of internet searches, you need to execute a series of steps, which are not very complex in essence, but putting all of them together is what adds up to the optimization effect.

If you are not sure how to go about it, you can start by making sure you include important keywords in your titles and meta descriptions, keep your code as clean and functional as possible and filling each page with rich and relevant content to keep the audience engaged.

Content Marketing As Part Of The Game

Many people view content marketing as a separate SEO strategy with its own rules and applications.

It is, however, a crucial component of the search optimization process. If you are curious about how exactly the two terms compare to each other, there is an amazing article on the topic at Forbes.com. Different or alike, however, they both center on the concept that the primary key to success is quality content.

Just like everything else, it does not happen overnight but is rather built gradually over time, leading to target keyword optimization, the establishment of site authority and ensuring a loyal audience that will return time and again to the said content. Before you move on to other aspects of SEO, make sure you are at least familiar with the basics of content marketing.  

The Art Of Link Building

One of the most popular ways to create good quality links pointing back to your website is through guest posting. This is achieved by creating content on other sites and taking the opportunity of linking back to your own content, promoting and building your brand at the same time.

Ways to build a network of quality links are scarce, so they should be mastered and applied. When it comes to SEO, you should understand the ins and outs of the techniques you are applying in order to get maximum results.  

At times you may not have access to quality websites. It is important to note that the art of link building is purely based on use of highly ranked websites to point back to your website. Most times, you may not be able to get good websites to help you in building your links. This is where SEO agencies such as Calgary SEO Services come in. Established SEO agencies who have been in the market for a long time will always provide you with a list of quality websites that you can use in your link building.

Researching, Troubleshooting And Adjusting

In order to advance with your SEO efforts, you need to know how to read, analyze and adjust your data appropriately. Results will tell you everything you need to know about the efficiency of your approach. If you are very new to the subject, start by looking at Google Analytics, experiment by looking into its metrics and try to interpret the reports. Its knowledge base is very rich, so read up on some of those articles in order to get an idea about the subject matter at hand. From then on it will become easier to work with different SEO tools.

Your first attempts at optimizing your website will encounter the same problems every other beginner is experiencing. Ranking volatility and duplicate content are just a couple of the most common ones that you will learn to overcome in order to protect your campaign from failure. Addressing these issues in due time when you’ve learned to spot and diagnose them is key. It is also relatively easy to achieve once you’ve grasped the basics of SEO. And it doesn’t really matter which technique you use first, as long as you gradually apply the whole set together for tangible results.

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