SEO Basics – Know This Before You Create Your Next Piece of Content
Although there are many aspects to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), isn’t as hard as people would have you believe. It’s straightforward if you start thinking of it in the right way. In this post, I cover the SEO basics that you really need to know and implement throughout your site.
It’s not about tricking anyone with words or phrases. SEO is about using the terms that your audience uses to get the targeted traffic you need. There are also a few techniques, such as linking strategy, you can use to improve search results.
There are two types of SEO: on-page and off-page SEO. We’re going to go over both but understand that this is not comprehensive. These SEO basics are designed to give you an excellent overview before you create your next piece of content so that you can think about how this works and improve your results.
To get the best results for any of the advice here, please install Google Analytics and Google Search Console onto your website.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is simply search engine optimization that is performed by tweaking the way you have your website set up, how and what content you publish, and how you improve not only search results but user experience.
Here are some key points to keep in mind when creating your content:
Develop URLs with Keywords Included
Even if your website URL is not a keyword, you can improve your SEO by making the rest of your URLs include keywords and variations of keywords from now on.
Keep URLs Short
You don’t want to have super long URLs with a bunch of unimportant information such as dates. Set up your URLs to be basically your main URL then the keyword or keyword phrase.
Front Load Keywords
Whether it’s a URL, a title, or a subject line putting your keywords at the front of the words helps the search engines find you and helps your audience notice you too.
Use All Title and ALT Tags
You may need to install a plugin like Yoast to help you with this because these things are within the code of your site. When you use these tags on images, titles, descriptions, and so forth, it’ll vastly improve your search results.
Use Keywords in Titles, Headers, and Subheadings
Try not to use the exact word everywhere as that becomes really annoying when reading your content. Instead, use versions of the main keyword within these areas.
Use Your Keyword Within the First 150 Words
Use the keyword you’re using to attract visitors within the first paragraph or opening statements on the article. This helps your reader and the search engines know exactly what your content is about.
Optimize All Images
You may need to read about what this means because it is technical but know that an optimized image 
means the alt information is filled in, and the size and shape is correct for the use.
Getting images indexed in the search engines is as important as your actual content. Make sure you at least have the alt information filled in.
Use Different Forms of Your Keywords
Don’t use the same word everywhere; instead, get out the thesaurus and find other words that mean the same thing. Be cautious here, though. You don’t want it to be hard to read, so only include the words if they feel and sound natural.
Link Externally Strategically
When you link out to any information, it should be authoritative. For example, you could link to additional information and proof of your idea to a scholarly magazine, a newspaper, or another site that your audience sees as authoritative, like Google and Wikipedia.
Link Internally Strategically
You want to also link to your own information inside your websites, such as other articles about this topic, or more information and so forth. You want to try to link to at least 2 to 5 additional pages after every piece of the published content.
If you use WordPress, there are plugins that can help with that by automatically adding links to related content at the end of each post (take a look at the bottom of this post to find Related Posts).
Identify Site Errors
Site errors can cause your site to lose traffic and even trust of your audience. Continually check broken links, 404 error pages, shopping cart processes, email newsletter processes, and so forth.
Optimize for Mobile Devices
The time is over to have two sites or a site that is PC first. You want your website to be mobile facing because most people use their mobile devices now, not PCs.
Secure Your Site![seo basics secure]()
Google does rank your site higher if you are using HTTPS, which is a security protocol. Most hosts are upgrading all sites now automatically. If yours is not, contact them to find out what to do.
Ensure Fast Loading Pages
Take the time to check loading speeds for your pages periodically. A slow loading site can cause a lot of bounces and ruin any planned campaign.
Publish Relevant Content Consistently
Publish new content consistently over time so that the search engines and your audience know you’re still producing and a real person and business that is working.
Format Your Content Properly
When reading online, people tend to read content in an F pattern. This means that chunky content with plenty of white space is best.
You can lose the interest of your audience if your content is full of long paragraphs and sentences. You also want your content to flow easily and not feel too choppy.
Develop In-Depth Content
Google ranks your site as more authoritative and higher in search results if you include in-depth content. Some people call this long-form content or epic content.
Use Schema Markup
You can learn more at Schema.org about this, but it involves using specific code to help the search engines return better looking and useful results for your users and the search engines.
Publish Expert Original Content
Content like case studies, real-life examples, evergreen content, original research, expertly studied content, and so forth is very helpful in increasing search results as well as pleasing your audience.
Use Multimedia
Don’t only publish text-based content. Use the content in all forms like graphics and images, text-based content, video-based, and audio content.
Again, if you use WordPress, you can use SEO plugins to assist you with at least half of the SEO basics for on-page SEO listed above. I use the Yoast SEO plugin. The free version is a great place to start.
Off-Page SEO
While SEO does focus mostly on using your keyword strategy and content marketing to get more traffic from your audience, a lot of the off-page SEO tactics and techniques involve link building and relationship building. Here are our off-page SEO basics.
Build Links Back to Your Site Strategically
Take the time to work on building links to your site from other sites. You can do this via guest posting, through affiliate marketing, and by posting your own links on your own social media accounts to promote your content and offers.
Leverage Social Media to Promote Your Content and Offers
Promote your content via all your social media profiles. Use the right size images, change up the quotes or blurb, and images for each social media site to ensure they notice what you’re publishing.
Bring Them Back to Your Site
You can also use techniques to bring people back to your site that works as off-page SEO, such as paying for remarketing through a PPC advertisement on social media or Google Ads. You can also allow your audience to sign up for RSS, which means they want to come back often. Plus, don’t forget to use email marketing to tell your former visitors about your new content or offer via email.
Comment on Other Websites and Blogs
It’s still useful to comment on other people’s sites, blogs, vlogs, articles, and so forth. However, it is more effective if they allow links back to your website through their set up. Sometimes they don’t, but if you have developed a recognizable brand name and voice, it will still help in the eyes of your audience to see you commenting elsewhere.
Guest Post Original Content
Locate movers and shakers sites that your audience trust and come up with content ideas for them. Pitch them and ask for a byline and link back to your offers in the author box. This is a great way to get links back that are authoritative and valuable but also a great way to attract your audience and give them something special.
Get Interviewed
The more you can get in the public eye and awareness with your audience, the better. Getting interviewed online is an effective way to earn backlinks. Try podcasts, YouTube influencers, webinars, and more.
Post in and Run a Forum or a Discussion Group
Forums and discussion boards are handy for sending more traffic to your site. It’s an effective off-page SEO. You can use other people’s forums if you follow their rules, but you can also start your own easily on Facebook.com, Delphiforums.com, or even by installing a message board yourself off-site. If you install it on your site, it becomes on-page SEO.
As you can see, SEO is beneficial and comprehensive. This list of the SEO basics covers the tip of the iceberg barely. The more you learn about SEO, the more you realize how important it is to the success of your site, not just so that search engines find you, but it ensures you follow best practices that help your audience too.
