When you come in internet marketing world then a name SEO always captures your mind and begin to move around you.
Over 2.5 million posts publish in a day and I also spend about 5-7 hours in writing my article.
When you search on Google then you see the top results in search but the question is that how Google manage to give top 10 results. Google use algorithms to give top 10 results which are based on all the factors that I’m going to explain you step by step.
So what does SEO mean?
Yes, it is the term “Search Engine Optimization” but what are the factors that need to get optimize?
Is it the optimization of content, images, linking etc?
Yes! Yes! it is.
So let’s see what does the Wikipedia explains about SEO.
According to Wikipedia, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or web page in web search engine’s unpaid results.
Let’s have a look for general SEO term
Search Engine Optimization is the process to make your content optimized in such a way that Google shows it up in the search engine.
If you are ranking on 2nd, 3rd or 4th page of Google, it never means that your website is not optimized.
Actually, the top 10 results that Google presents depend on different factors that based on your efforts and quality that you presented in Search Engine.
For example, let’s say
You have an article on Top 10 diseases in the United States and wanted to show it in the top 10 results of the Google to make it more readable.
For this, you have to make your article Search Engine Optimized in such a way that search engine love to show your article in the top 10 results.
If you will work on the factors that I’m going to explain then Google will like to show your content on the first page.
General Information That You Needs About SEO
When we look at the behaviour of the people when they search in search engines (67% of the times in Google) then we found that top 5 results get 67% of the clicks.
it means that if you will rank on top 10 results in Google then you will still not get enough traffic that top 5 results get.
Some of the websites say that SEO is no more important to rank in Google. But I always say that SEO matters a lot to rank in Google.
Google wants to present those sites in search that have most of the relevancy of the content and website links that embedded in your site.
More your links will be relevant more you will get rank in Google’s Eye.
Before need to know about SEO and its factors, you need to watch this video by Matt Cutts, that explains that how Google presents the Top 10 results in search results.
After the watching the video, I hope you have the idea that how much relevancy is so important to make your article appear in top results.
About 200 are known factors that Google algorithm uses to present the best result. Brian Dean of Backlinko has done a fabulous job to compile most of the factors in a list.
After the general information, let’s go straight to the 2 ways of SEO that works to build the success of your online business.
White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO
When I started blogging then I was struggling to get traffic on my site then ask someone to tell me the way to get traffic to my site.
Even I was unaware of the name Black Hat SEO. I began to work on Black Hat techniques given in the above image then believe me all of my efforts end in smoke.
I began to redirect links, put duplicate contents to get traffic instantly.
If you are looking to get huge amount of traffic by presenting your article on top results that don’t solve the problem of people.
And want to make your website honourable overnight with little efforts then you are on the wrong site.
Because SEO is the process that takes to work and then gives you the best results you are looking for.
In recent years people used different black hat techniques to get their website rank in first page to earn a lot of money overnight.
It is the temporary way and believe me it will not work now.
After the launch of Panda and Penguin robots. Black Hat Tricks of SEO will not work any more.
In fact, if someone uses Black Hat SEO techniques then one will quickly penalise by Google.
If someone will use any other method to fool the Google one will result in getting penalised their site.
Think once a time, you are looking for the solution to any problem and search in Google. If Google will present you the results that not solve your problem then your trust in Google will begin to spoil.
In the same way, if your article does not present the best solution or guide to the people then you are not gonna rank.
Google uses different algorithms and robots to roll out the best content that solves your problems.
Now you have to choose your way to do SEO of your website.
Now, it’s time read the factors that work to presents the top result in the search engine.
On Page SEO & Off Page SEO
On Page SEO depend on factors that works on your page while writing your article.It is based on heading, content, links, description, URL and page structure.
Off Page SEO depends on all the factors that work to impress the Google with links, social power, authority, link with (.gov & .edu) sites and different other factors that I’m going to explain up one by one.
If you want to rank in Google then you have to do well in both of the SEO.
Importance of On Page SEO and Off Page SEO with an Example
Suppose you have a well-furnished and clean house but the garden of your house presenting a bad look then no one will want to enter your house even it is well furnished or clean.
Bad look presenting garden of your house will repel your visitors to enter the house.
It will cause increase in bounce rate of your website as well timing of visitor to stay also decrease.
In the same way, Google gives the good ranking to those sites having less bounce rate and with more timing the visitor spend on it.
In simple words, you have to attract visitors to your site for your success in online business.
First, let’s have a look for On Page SEO
On Page SEO
On Page SEO depend on 3 factors
Content
Let’s have an example
If you have no bone in your body then you will not be able to stand but if you have bone in your body then you can stand easily.
In the same way, if you don’t have quality content on your website then you will not be successful. but if you have quality content on your site then no can stop you from achieving your success.
But if you have quality content on your site then no can stop you from achieving your success.
Because “Content is King” the Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates said in 1996 which is still the main factor of SEO.
If you search on Google for the solution of a problem then Google put all of the efforts in giving you the best result.
Google presents you the best results that not only solve your problem but also the other people in the same way.
So it’s mean that if want to do well with your On Page SEO then you have to produce quality content that solves the problems.
If you want to get the best results then you have to put most of your efforts in producing quality content.
So, the question is that how to produce quality content?
Check out the video by Marie Forleo to know the secret to producing quality content quickly.
After watching this video, I hope you know that how to produce content that solves the problems of your audience.
Google always wanted to give the best experience. If you will produce quality content then Google will find you immediately.
Let’s go in more deep to know that how much the quality of content matter.
Have a look for the search on Google, “Top 10 diseases in the United States”
Websites with the red arrow are highly authoritative sites.
But the website with blue arrow is not with the high amount of audience and authority.
So, the question is that why Google gave the 2nd position to the site with the blue arrow.
Answer is that “Quality of Content”.
I’m not saying that other sites don’t have quality content but the site with the blue arrow has quality content as well as the more clickable title.
When people search for this particular keyword “Top 10 diseases in the united states” then want to look for the number of people who died of particular diseases.
In short, they want to know something that gives quicker answer to their question.
When I opened the site with the blue arrow then I found that the page is good optimized and presenting what the people want.
I’m not saying that bolding every word means good ranking but when you know that what the audience is looking for the quick result then you should do so.
Once you stated writing your blog post then you must need to sure that you have added all the ingredients that your content needs to optimize properly.
If you are a complete newbie then you have to make writing a daily habit and keep practising.
Here are some sites that give you the best suggestion of quality content.
Have a look one by one…
After learning about the importance and production of quality content let’s move to the next step of On Page SEO.
Keyword Research
If the keyword selection is wrong then your efforts of getting organic traffic will end in smoke.
Since you need to add keywords in your article title, content, permalink and meta description.
So, keyword research is the most important part of SEO that you need for the best rank for it in search engines.
If you have never done it before then you don’t need to buy a Book or don’t need to hire an SEO expert for it.
Because Neil Patel’s guide to find keyword will cover up all the basic that you need to rank in search engine.
You can also look for the guide for beginners for finding best keywords to rank in search engine.
Keyword
Now Google has become smarter.
Stuffing your content with keywords never mean that you will rank in Google. In fact, you will get penalised by Google for doing so.
Wordstream explaining that how keyword stuffing hurts your ranking.
When you have to rank for a keyword then you must need to use the synonyms of the keyword as well.
Because Google gives much importance to those articles have synonyms in it.
Because Google knows what are you looking for…
Google is much smarter in searching and is very well aware of synonyms. Have another look for the synonyms that Google knows for “High fiber foods for kids”
Google changes the word “food” with “supplements”, “cereals” and “powder”.
So the synonyms for your keywords are much important not only to rank for the specific keyword but also the for the synonyms words.
Freshness of Content
The freshness of content matters a lot when you want to rank in Google.
Moz guides to freshness of content help you to know that why it is ranking factor in Google’s eye.
Content freshness alarms Google that you have updated your post and you have added something new to it.
If your content addition will be helpful to your audience then Google will definitely give you the best rank for the freshness of your content.
Writing an article on daily basis not only produce more traffic to the site but also keep your audience attached with you.
You can also write one article monthly but it will not work well to keep your audience attach to you.
You have to work hard to keep your website and audience up to date.
You might think that writing an article with more difficult words will make you smarter.No! it will definitely not.Because Google wants that your content should be easily readable to the visitors.
Because Google wants that your content should be easily readable to the visitors.
So, write short lines and easy lines.
Write content not only SEO friendly but make your content more readers friendly and SEO friendly.
Because when your reader fall in love with your content then they share your content with their own audience which is a positive sign for your reputation building.
When your content is loving to people then you will be right at the bottom of the search which is well known as Direct answer. Have a look
When your content will be more readers friendly and of high quality then you article will be in Direct Answer Box.
So, make your hard efforts in producing quality content for particular keywords that could be shared by people.
When you read your own article and if you think it is loving to you and really solving the problems then in the same way your readers will response you.
But if just want to write an article which is even not readable for yourself or not solving the problem of your readers then your audience will not engage with you.
To get more attention of your reader while reading your article then must need to read the basics below
To keep the light of your SEO at the green level, you need to know the basics of HTML.
Fact is that, If you don’t know that basic of HTML then your dream to achieve success in your niche will end in smoke.
To learn HTML for free, check out the amazing guide of Brad Zomick for beginners to learn everything about it.
You should focus on 4 most important parts of HTML to do well with every piece of content that you have on your site.
So, let’s start with 1st part of HTML.
Title
Title is the most important factor when you come in internet marketing world.
These are headlines that show up at the top of the article.It is also known as heading or ht-tag (first order heading).
Every page on your site must have a clear title page that appears in search engines.
Vertical Measures explaining the importance of h1-tag to rank in search engines.
Articles with well looking and most clickable title get good rank in search engines.
Have a look that how the title of the article acts on human behaviour in the search engine.
In the above image the first article by Moz having the attractive title but not as much than other two articles of QuickSprout.
So, even if you are on 3rd 4th or any other rank on the top page of search engines then you can steal the traffic of your competitors just by attractive headline which is more clickable for human behaviour.
Meta Description
Meta description is what that shows as an excerpt in Google and other search engines.
Meta Description also plays important role in search engines ranking. If you have properly optimized meta description then you will not only get good position in search engines but also get more clicks on your article.
So, what is the difference between optimized and not optimized meta descriptions?
Simply, I explain that
Optimized Meta Description: Meta Description that explains better what you have in the article and that shows the solution of problems.
No Optimized Meta Description: Meta Description that couldn’t be able to explain what they have in the article and that couldn’t be the direct solution for which people are looking for.
If you still couldn’t make the difference then read this line. It will clear up the difference.
“The meta description that ends up completely with a dot(.) then it is optimized properly and the meta description that clearly cut with three dots (…) not optimized properly.”
So, if you want to make your meta description much more attractive then must show it completely with your targeting keyword in it.
It will have the good impression on visitor and you will get more clicks on your article in the search engine.
If you want to do best with your meta description then Moz guide for meta description is enough.
Check out these 33 best meta descriptions by Tim Aldiss of Econsultancy.
Subheadings
You want that your reader must read your article completely then this job will be done by eye-catching subheadings.
Why is subheading a good idea?
To make your content look attractive and present very well that boosts user experience.
It also increases the time on your article.
h1, h2, h3, h4 have low SEO value but everything matters when you want to do good with your SEO and look to great results.
Presentation
Third and last part of your On Page SEO is the presentation.
More you will pay attention to the presentation of your site more audience will engage in your site and more your SEO will improve.
Let’s see how we can make good presentation of the site to make good user experience.
I’m breaking it into 4 parts so that you can understand in best way:
- Navigation
- Easy to Crawl
- Page Speed
- Mobile Friendly
Navigation
Good Navigation is also the most of the factor of your website presentation.
If you website has good navigation then readers can be able to read more content of your site and your bounce will be less.
But if the website has no good navigation then readers can’t see the best content that you produced on your site.
It will increase your bounce rate and will result in decrease your ranking in search engine.
Let’s see what are the example of good and bad navigation.
Good Navigation
Moz presenting the best example of good navigation that you can easily engage with the site.
To make the good navigation of your site, these 22 Principles by Dmitri Molchanov give you the best idea for your site.
Check out the 23 examples of innovative navigation for your inspiration that clear up everything in your mind for good navigation.
Bad Navigation
Bad navigations mean bad experience to users which is a total loss of your site.
Check out these designs that presenting 10 bad navigations that you need to avoid to do that with your site.
Easy to Crawl
Google Spider read all the links that you have on your site.
If users can crawl easily from your site to other links then it gives a green signal to Google which results in increase your Google ranking.
Better your website links will crawl, Google spider will easily understand the better experience of your site with others.
The sitemap of your site gives all those information to Google Spider.
If you haven’t created the sitemap of your site then create your XML sitemap.
then check how your website is crawling.
Page Speed
Page Speed is often referred to as the time a page of the site takes to open.
If the page loads very fast then you ultimately rank well in search engine.
On the other hand, if the page speed is low then user will bounce back and will move to other sites.
That not only limits your sale but also fall your rank in search engine.
Faster page ranks and better will be your conversion rate.
Google consider the site speed as one of the algorithms to rank pages.
If your page takes more time to load then you need Moz guide to Page Speed to improve your page speed.
Mobile Friendly
In the modern age, now about 75% are mobile users.
If the website is not mobile friendly then it’s a complete loss of your business.
Over 500 million users use Facebook on mobile.
Suppose, if Facebook will not give the mobile experience then it’s a complete loss.
In the same way, your website must be mobile friendly to give the best experience to your mobile audience.
Let’s see the Mobile-Friendly Test
Most of the WordPress theme are mobile friendly.
But if your theme is not mobile friendly then you can use a WordPress plugin that makes your website mobile friendly.
After complete guide to On Page SEO, let’s see how an SEO optimized page looks like.
SEO Optimized Page
Focused Keyword
Title
Title of SEO Optimized Page has focused Keyword as well as more clickable.
Meta Description
Meta Description of SEO Optimized Page look good as well as contain focused keyword.
URL/Permalink
Permalink of SEO Optimized Page contains focused keyword, short and explaining what the article has in it.
Easy Readable
Make short sentences and use easy words to make your content easily readable.
Keyword Density
Keyword Density of SEO Optimized Page should be between 1%-2.5% for best SEO practice. Don’t do over 2.5% because it can hurt your SEO.
Outbound and Inbound Links
SEO Optimized Page contains relevant outbound links and doesn’t have nofollowed links. You can also add a link with nofollow tag.
Subheading with Focused Keyword
Subheading with focused keyword improve your ranking and then your page could be targetable for more than one keyword.
Try to add focused keyword in your subheadings as well.
Focused Keyword in First Paragraph of Your Article
Focused keyword in the first paragraph of your copy clears the mind of the reader that what you are going to explain in the article.
So, must add focused keyword in your post.
Alt of Image Contain Focused Keyword
Alt of the image must contain focused keyword.
In this way, if a user search for image with your focused keyword then images attached with your site appear in the search and you also get traffic from images.
Number of Words
Text of your article should be of 300 or more.
But here is a suggestion that Google give much preference to the articles contain 2000+ words.
Add featured image to your article and click on publish,
Now it’s time to move to Off Page SEO.
Off Page SEO
The 2nd most important part of SEO is Off Page SEO that can make your content much more appealable to search engine.
I’m breaking down Off Page SEO to different parts so that you can understand everything clearly.
Social Sites
When your content gets power from social sites then your ranking in search engine boosts very well.
Have a look that how content with most shares in social sites rank well in search engine (mostly Google).
The content in above is most shareable content is last 24 hours which mean it’s a powerful social signal to search engines.
Let’s see how Google responses the ranking for those shareable content. I’m looking for 2nd one…
That’s the importance of social site shares in Google’s eye.
If you want your content more shareable then produce high quality content,
Create account on top social sites and begin to engage with the people in your niche.
Create Facebook Page , Google Communities, Tweet your post, Pin your posts to Pinterest, Share your content on Tumblr and LinkdIn.
More people will read your content then more people will share your content which is a great sign to rank in Google.
QuickSprout gives you the complete guide to becoming successful on social sites.
If you content which is similar to other one and was shared mostly then you have to engage with the people who share the similar content.
For this, you have to go to the Buzzsumo and head over to the search. (Start your 14 day trial to Buzzsumo for free)
Click on View Shares you will find the people who shared this content. Like this one
Tweets those people who shared the similar content you have.
Most of the people will share your content and more your article will be readable to the audience.
Join all the social sites and put your website links over there and begin to engage with the people in the niche.
When you will share your ideas with the people they will definitely come to your site to read your content.
Trust
Trust is the most important factor in your business, if you will flow trust in your business you will be able to generate more sales and reputation.
Google don’t give rank to the sites have spammy sites.
Now, the Google’s update its algorithms which hit most of the spammy and untrustable sites.
If you will do good with your audience and continue to do that then Google sees your website as trust.
Let’s have a look for ShoutMeLoud by Google Search
ShoutMeLoud is continuously doing very good with the audience and due to their high trust with audience Google began to see ShoutMeLoud as a brand which is profitable.
If you want your site to look like this, you don’t need to edit or do something to show like that.
When you will continue to do good with your audience then the trust of your audience make the Google show you like that.
So, keep doing good with your audience to impress Google and to boost your ranking in search engines.
Entrepreneur helps you very well to build trust with your audience.
One of the most important ways to increase your trust in Google’s eye is by making quality links with (.gov & .edu) sites.
Authority of Website
Google give much importance to the sites with high authority. Authority that you need to build are of two types:
- Domain Authority: It explains that how much your name is popular among people.
- Page Authority: It explains that how well a page will rank in search engines.
If you want to rank well in Google with with specific page then you have to work well with both domain and page authority.
Check out the guide by QuickSprout to increase your domain authority. On the other hand
To increase the page authority of your page to rank well, you have to create high quality backlinks of your page.
Greater will be your domain and page authority greater your articles will rank in search engines.
So, you must need to give time for your site to increase to do well with both domain and page authority.
Domain Age
Google also give important to the sites according to their domain age.
Yeah! it’s true that brand new sites take time to rank in Google but with the passage of time, your article began to rank well.
If you don’t want to buy a site with specific name then you can also buy an expired domain.
But before buying an expired domain, you need imporant guide of Brian Dean on QuickSprout University in the video.
Links
People say that only building links is the way to do well with your Off Page SEO.
It’s wrong because everything is a part of SEO.
If you will do well every part, your ranking will improve.
Because there are plenty of ways to get backlinks and to make connections with other people in your niche.
Check out these 101 ways to get high quality backlinks and begin to do the same with your site.
Don’t wait for someone to link with you, you have to talk to the poeple in your niche and ask them for links.
Google give importance to the relavancy.
For example if you niche is internet marketing then you should link with internet marketing sites.
But if you will, become greedy to get backlink out of niche by using some black hat tricks then it will not going to generate traffic and you will get penalised as well.
When you generate high quality content then people in your niche will definitely want to link you.
Quality of the link matters a lot in modern SEO
Don’t think so that if you will create a lot of backlinks by doing some tricks and will rank in Google
Believe me, it will not work and you will get penalised as well.
Build links at scale becuase SEO is the process that takes time and you get results.
Country
For example if you want to write an article for the people living in Las Vegas.
Then you can add the specific city or place keywords in your article.
Google will easily understand that you want to show this article to the people living in Las Vegas.
And will improve your rank for the specific city or place.
Because Google’s geo-targetting has been advanced so much that you content can be picked easily for specific people.
Result
I hope you liked my guide to SEO. If you will word hard in every factor then SEO will not be difficult for you anymore.
When you write your content, don’t remove your history.
Because Google checks your history while writing your content and improves rank.
Even if you are beginner, first you need to learn everything,
I know that you will do very well with you.
Still, if you need any personal guidance, let me know I’ll get back to you immediately.
Lastly, don’t forget to share it with your friends and with people who want to know about SEO.
