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SEO Principles: A Complete and Basic Answer for Beginners
If you asked the question “what are SEO principles”, most probably you have heard about SEO recently. To understand SEO principles you need to know SEO foundations well. Without it no SEO principles will work for you.
Anyway, whether you are a seasoned pro or have started an online business recently as a beginner, SEO is part of your obsession. What is SEO? What does it stand for? What are the rules?
No one can overlook the importance of SEO. Learning SEO standards is necessary for everyone who wants to grow a business in busy and noisy online world.
This article consists of seven chapters. Each chapter covers different elements of SEO principles.
Let’s start the SEO rules tutorial.
Who this article is for: This article is an essential guide for beginners who want to know SEO best practices and techniques.
What will you learn: You will learn SEO basic principles to boost your website rankings.
Chapter 1: SEO Fundamentals
In the first chapter, you will learn SEO definition and basic concepts. These concepts are fundamental. You must learn them carefully to grow your knowledge accordingly.
What is SEO?
In simple language, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is optimizing a website to show search engines (especially Google) that the website is better than other competitors in a specific field.
Hey Google, look at my website! It is great!
It makes sense. Imagine you’re a company owner. You try to give the best service to your customers because you want to grow your authority. Google also wants to present the best service to clients. For this reason, you should show how your website cooperates with Google’s guidelines.
The history of SEO dates back to the beginning of search engines in the 90s. By growing Google, SEO becomes an essential part of online marketing and the internet industry.
Now let’s dive into details and explain more about this growing industry.
What are the different types of SEO?
Mainly there are 3 types of SEO:
-On-page SEO
-Off-page SEO
-Technical SEO
On-page SEO is any effort on your web page itself to optimize it for better ranking. It is also called on-site SEO. It’s under your control totally. Some on-page SEO factors include:
- Keyword research
- Content optimization
- Title tag optimization
- Page performance optimization
- Internal linking
- Short URL
- Meta tag optimization
Off-page SEO is every external effort to show Google your web page has authenticity and quality. For example:
- Guest post
- Backlink building
Technical SEO refers to improving the technical aspect of a website to attract search engines and users. For example:
- Mobile-friendly
- Website Speed
- Being crawlable for search engines
- Meta robots tag
Google algorithms
Google has its own algorithms to manage optimization on this popular search engine.Google algorithms are constantly changing and evolving, which means that our strategies must adapt as well. Florida, Jagger, Vince, Caffeine, Panda, and Big Daddy are some examples of these algorithms.
White hat SEO vs. black hat SEO
Like every other field, there is spammy and unethical SEO too. White hat SEO refers to ethical and legitimate practices that aim to improve website rankings through legal guidelines. On the other hand, black hat SEO involves using unethical tactics to manipulate search engine algorithms for quick results.
Black hat SEO refers to the violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines to improve ranking on Google. This behavior is unethical. Maybe it brings short-term success for the website owner, but finally, Googlebots recognize this violation and penalize the webpage. Below are some examples of black-hat tricks that should be avoided:
- Hidden text
- Manipulative links
- Violation of guidelines
- Keyword stuffing
- Irrelevant backlink
- Duplicate content
White hat SEO is the way that all brands have passed. It is a long-term strategy that good ranking is due to quality content, a user-oriented approach, and permanent website optimization.
- Giving value to readers
- Keyword research
- On-page & off-page SEO
- Importance of quality &quantity
- Fresh and relevant content
- Building natural backlinks
SEO principles included in Chapter 1:
- Google makes the SEO principles. So, always keep up-to-date with Google’s algorithms. (If your goal is ranking on Google, not other search engines)
- Stay away from black hat tricks in SEO.
Chapter 2: Search Engines
In this chapter, you become familiar with different search engines and how they work.
What are search engines?
Search engines are machines for online searching and answers. The most common search engine, Google, searches for the best answer for users. Google uses unique algorithms to sort websites and gives the most relevant results to users. These results are called search engine result pages or SERPs.
A short history of search engines before Google
- Archie was the very first search engine in 1990.
- Veronica, Jughead, Vlib, AltaVista, Galaxy, Yahoo search, Infoseek, WebCrawler, Lycos, and Looksmart were in the market during 1991-1995.
- Google was launched in 1998. Its original name was BackRub back in 1996. Over the years it becomes the most popular search engine in the world.
How search engines work:
Search engines work through these primary steps:
- Crawling: Search engine resembles a spider (also called spider bot) that crawls to find content from each URL. This step is so critical in SEO. Because it will be an introduction to ranking.
- Indexing: After crawling, the search engine stores and organizes the content found during the previous process. If a page displays as a result of relevant queries, this page will be indexed.
- Ranking: Once an indexed page provides the best answer and search engine places it at the top of search results, this page is ranked. This step is the ultimate goal of SEO.
SEO ranking factors
Although search engines don’t disclose a checklist for SEO, it doesn’t mean these SEO principles remain a secret. Many of these factors are well known, and SEO skill has grown accordingly. Some of them are also officially confirmed by Google.
Below some of the ranking factors are noted.
1. Updated content
Considering fast-growing technology, no one likes to get outdated information. People always need fresh and the most recent data in every scope. Therefore, updated content is an important factor in ranking.
2. User satisfaction
Users and clients tell the last word in every business. Therefore users must be satisfied with your content to come back again. Google counts the time a user spends on a page. If users remain on your page long duration or come back again, it will bring authority and value to your page.
3. Website speed
Google has stated that website speed is a ranking factor. So, it’s vital to ensure your website loads quickly. No user waits for a slow website loads, and it will fall down in ranking.
4.Content's quantity and quanity
There is no doubt that SEO and content go hand-in-hand. Quality and quantity of the content on your webpage have essential roles in determining your SEO ranking. To improve your SEO ranking, you need to create high-quality and keyword-rich content relevant to your audience’s inquiry.
5. Backlink
A link from other websites that comes to your page is called a backlink. They are also known as incoming links. These links are the most important factors in ranking any web page on search engines.
6. Mobile-friendly
In the modern world, mobile phones are everywhere and have become part of our everyday lives. It means if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you lose your potential customers.
When it comes to looking at search engine rankings for websites, many SEO experts claim that being mobile-friendly significantly increases your rankings in Google search results.
7. Authority and trust
Authority is achieved through years and years of activity within any given niche, link-building strategies, and content creation for readers to keep them to come back. So, be patient for this one.
8. Crawlability
There are several factors that can affect a website’s crawlability, including broken links, duplicate content, slow loading times, and inaccessible pages. To ensure optimal crawlability, it is important to regularly check for any technical issues and fix them promptly.
SEO principles included in Chapter 2:
- Users are on the high priority for Google and other search engines. So, optimize your webpage for users and provide a better user experience. It includes creating valuable content and all kinds of stuff that help users.
Chapter 3: Keywords in SEO
Keyword research is a critical part of SEO. Although all elements in SEO are essential, keyword research is super important. It is all about choosing the right keywords that users find you. These right keywords should investigate in different aspects. Keep reading.
The more valuable keywords you make, the more traffic you get. More traffic means earning more money. These sentences clarify the importance of finding the right keywords in SEO.
How to conduct keyword research?
It’s important to know what keywords your business is ranking for, and how to use these keywords to improve your website’s ranking. Keyword research helps you to figure out what your target audience is looking for when they visit your website.
So, finding the right keywords makes it easy to create content that will interest your audience. Below I mention some ways for finding the right keywords.
Google Suggestion
Google statistic shows 9 billion searches are done on Google every single day. Really it’s huge one. By such search there is no doubt Google is the best place to find write keywords.
Forums( like Quora), Wikipedia
Using forums, especially Quora, and Wikipedia can be incredibly helpful. These platforms provide a wealth of information on what people are searching for and what questions they have related to a particular topic.
Search for topics related to your business on Quora, then look at the questions people are asking. It helps you to identify common words and phrases you can use as keywords in your content.
Wikipedia is another great resource for finding keywords. Start by looking up the main topic of your business and then explore related pages. As you read through the content, take note of any relevant terms or phrases that could be used as keywords.
Keyword Research Tools
The keyword search tool is a powerful tool to identify the most relevant and profitable keywords. It helps to understand what people are searching on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This information helps to optimize content and improve search engine rankings.
The process of keyword research involves analyzing search volume, competition, and relevance of various keywords related to your niche. With the help of a keyword research tool, you can easily find out which keywords are being searched for the most and how difficult it is to rank for them.This allows you to focus on best keywords that will bring in the most traffic and revenue.
What are the metrics for choosing right keyword?
There are different types of keywords such as semantic keywords, evergreen keywords, geo-targeted keywords, primary keywords, long tail keywords and etc. To use these keywords you must measure them with the below metrics:
- Search volume
- Keyword difficulty
- Keyword relevancy
- Competition
By considering these factors, you can choose the best keywords that help to drive traffic, improve visibility, and ultimately achieve your business goals.
1-Search volume
Search volume is the number of times a keyword is searched on the internet (usually monthly). You can get this information by using a keyword research tool.
Finding a keyword with suitable search volume is not easy, and it needs a lot of trial and error to be professional. But it is not rocket science!
The higher search volume means more work and effort for ranking. But it doesn’t mean to select the lowest search volume keywords. Because maybe it causes no users to visit your website.
It’s better to target keywords with a search volume of 100–1,000. The higher search volume means the keyword is competitive and hard to rank. It also depends on the industry and the level of competition calculated for each keyword.
For example, ranking a keyword like ” SEO tool” is hard to rank. Although many users search for it (high search volume), at the same time many of your competitors have ranked for this keyword before. So, you can take advantage of low-volume keywords which are more specific. It is called the long tail keyword.
Long Tail Keyword:
Long-tail keywords, which are more specific phrases that typically have lower search volume but higher intent. These keywords can be easier to rank for and can attract highly targeted traffic.
1-Imagine you’re going to buy a scooter.
2-When you search on Google, you type ”Buying scooter”.
3-Or you can be more specific and type: “Three Wheel Scooter for Kids”.
4-Or even you can be more specific and type: “Three Wheel Scooter for kids 3-12 years”.
The two last ones are examples of long tail keyword.
Long tail keywords are very important in SEO, because:
- They aren’t ambiguous
- Usually they have both lower search volume & lower keyword difficulty
- They have higher engagement
- They attract more organic traffic
2-Keyword difficulty
Keyword difficulty is also called SEO difficulty. This step comes after you select a keyword by considering Keyword volume. As the name implies, it shows how difficult it is to rank for a given keyword. It also illustrates you are entering a challenging competition to rank #1 on SERP.
Keyword Difficulty scale measure from 0~100.
Keyword with 0 difficulty means ranking is so easy, and no one recommended selecting a keyword with 100 for keyword difficulty.
3-Keyword relevancy
Keyword relevance, or popularity, is a qualitative measure of keyword segmentation. Relevancy is how Google and other search engines determine what user search for.
-if they want to purchase something?
-if they want to learn?
-if they search for a specific website?
All above questions are about search intent.
According to users’ search intention, there are four types of search:
- Navigational – search for a specific brand
- Informational – search for general information
- Transactional – user knows what to want to buy online exactly.
- Commercial – the user does the research before the purchase
So, pay attention to the user’s search intent and choose your keywords accordingly.
4-Competition
Competition metric provides insights into how many other websites are targeting the same keywords and competing for visibility in SERPs.
By analyzing this metric, you can gauge the intensity of competition and make informed decisions about which keywords to prioritize.
In order to effectively evaluate the competition metric, consider several factors:
- Examine the number of websites that are already ranking for the target keywords.
- Analyze the quality and authority of these competing websites.
- Consider the backlink profiles of competing websites.
SEO principles included in Chapter 3:
- Before you start any article, choose your keywords. Because keywords give direction to your content.
- Find the best keywords for your website. The best keywords have three characteristics: High or medium search volume, low difficulty, and they are long tails.
- After choosing the right keyword ,write the outlines of your article. Becuase structured content is one of the ways to improve search engine optimization.
- Search intent is essential. So, your keywords and your content must match the user’s search inention.
- Use keyword research tools to provide the right keywords but don’t forget your instinct. It means putting yourself in the user’s shoes and finding the keywords they type in search engines.
- Long tail keywords are the best choice, especially if the authority of your website is low.
Chapter 4: Types of SEO
In this chapter, you will be familiar with different types of SEO.
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On-Page SEO
On-page optimization is what you do on the page itself to improve its rankings. It focuses on helping Google and users to understand your content better.
Like other aspects of SEO, there are no confirmed and written rules for it. But there are the most important factors that every SEO beginner must know well.
1. Title Tag
When searching on Google, every page appears with a description on search engine results.
The first one in black is the URL.
The second in blue is the title tag.
And more details in black are the meta description.
People click on your page because of the compelling and clear title tag. So, in a short sentence, you must tell what is inside your page.
Pay attention to the below tips for writing better title tags:
- Keep the title tag short. Under 70 characters is good.
- Match search intent. Tell users you have what they want.
- Be descriptive. Don’t be ambiguous.
- Include the keyword. The best place for keywords is at the begging of the title tag.
- Include the year. For topics that demand freshness.
2. Headline (H1)
When you catch the reader’s attention with your compelling title tag, the reader clicks on your URL and enters your page. Now you should gain the attention again by Headline. It is the sentences that come at the top of your article.
A headline must be a powerful part of the article. It should convey to the reader that you have a solution for their problem.
There are some tips for reading a good headline:
- Short and clear: 6~10 words
- Match with the content
- Use pleasant adjectives or adverbs
An example of Headline before and after optimization:
Before: How to learn English?
After: How to learn English easily in less than 3 months
Be noted, many websites use the same title tag and headlines for a given post. It depends on you.
3. Subheading (H2-H6)
It is important to understand the structure of the subheadings in your website. These headings help break up your content into smaller sections and make it easier to read. It also is better for ranking on search engines.
4. Keywords
You choose the right keywords and use them in the title tag and headline. But forget to drop it in the first paragraph. It destroys all of your efforts. Keywords must be in the first paragraph more than other parts.
5. Internal link
Google crawls your website to find information in each URL. So, internal links are like a chain that connects your pages. Make the right connections among your pages through internal links.
6-URL Structure
The URL structure is the naming of the pages on your website. It includes the domain name, the file extension, and the actual page name. Look at the below URLs:
www.mywebsite.com
www.mywebsite.com/blog/
www.mywebsite.com/blog/category/health
www.mywebsite.com/blog/category/health/ear
The way the URL is structured can impact your search engine rankings. Make sure URLs be easy and short, and avoid numbers in them.
7. Writing structure
- Use simple words: Even great writers would be forced to write in simple language for blog posts. Don’t need to use advanced literature.
- Write in short sentences: Long sentences make readers bored.
- Use active voice instead of passive voice: Always talking in active voice conveys more energy.
- Use images within your content: Images must be compressed. Otherwise, it will affect page speed.
- Call to action: It is the aim of your article. Don’t forget to remind yourself and your audience.
- Edit your content before publishing. Your content must be error-free and structured.
8. YouTube Videos
There is no doubt making videos more easily make your work known to others. By the way, Google owns YouTube. Just make sure your videos are relevant to your content. Otherwise, it will disturb your SEO.
Off-Page SEO
While working on your On-page SEO, you have more control over your tasks. But off-page SEO isn’t fully under your control. Below some important factors in off-page SEO are noted.
Backlinks
It is a link from another website that comes to your website. Backlinks are important because they help rank your website in search engines. Search engines like Google use backlinks to determine how relevant your website is to a given search term.
Backlinks are the most important part of Off-Page SEO.It increases your page authority more than any other element in SEO. In backlink building must pay attention to using high-quality backlinks. Otherwise, it doesn’t work.
Guest Post
It is a type of content marketing strategy that involves publishing content on a website owned by someone else. Guest posting has been proven to be one of the most effective methods of acquiring new links and social shares, which is why they are a popular strategy for bloggers.
Technical SEO
It is part of SEO, which focuses on improving below elements on your website to get higher rankings.
1. Crawlability
In simple terms, crawlability refers to the ability of search engine bots or spiders to navigate through a website and access its pages and content.
These bots are responsible for discovering new web pages, updating existing ones, and determining their relevance to specific search queries.
Therefore, it is essential to ensure that a website is easily accessible and understandable by these bots.
2. Web page speed
Web pages that load quickly are ranked higher in search engines. In order to ensure your site loads quickly, you need to make sure that it is optimized. One of the best ways to optimize your site speed is to ensure that it is not loading too many images.
If your site has a lot of images, you can use a tool like Google’s Image Optimizer to strip the unnecessary images and reduce your page’s load time.
3. Fixing broken links
Broken links lead to a non-existing page on your site, users encounter an error page. Such links should fix. Otherwise it waste crawling budget.
4. Avoiding duplication
It is important that your website doesn’t confuse search engines with duplicate content. If you have a website and want to keep your rankings up, you should avoid using more than one URL for the same content.
5. Website Security
Make your website safe for users to guarantee their privacy. There are many ways to provide this security including HTTPS. It secures the data that are sent between the browser and the site.
6. Mobile-friendly
It has become increasingly important in the SEO world. Websites that don’t have a mobile-friendly design will be less likely to rank well on mobile devices. Ensure about how your website will look on a mobile device before you create it.
SEO principles included in Chapter 4:
- Headings include H1 to H6 effect on SEO. Search engines index your web pages by using these tags. When a user accomplishes an inquiry, the search engine finds relevant pages by reading these tags. So, use keywords in headings if possible (use it if you can but be careful about keyword stuffing).
- Make sure to link your pages to each other through internal links. Using the appropriate anchor text for making an internal link is crucial.
- Linking to a high authority website help to the authority of your website. So, use external links when it helps your users.
- URL structure should be short and precise and contain keywords.
- Backlinks are the most important to increase the authority of your web pages. Just be careful to get backlinks from high-authority websites.
- Make sure of your site speed. It seriously can decrease your users if it works at low speed.
- Due to the wide range of people who use mobile devices to search pages, mobile-friendly should be contained in your SEO strategies.
- You can’t rank on Google if your website doesn’t crawl. This issue happens due to technical disorders.
Chapter 5: SEO & Content Marketing
SEO and content marketing are both sides of a coin. They play crucial roles in driving traffic to a website and generating leads. By understanding their relationship and implementing them together, you can achieve greater online visibility and success.
What's content marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic approach to creating valuable content to attract audience attention. It involves the creation and sharing of various types of content such as blog posts, videos, social media updates, whitepapers, email marketing, e-books, infographics, podcasts, and more.
The main purpose is to find permanent customers. It won’t be achieved except put yourself in the audience’s shoes and become familiar with their problem. The goal of content marketing is to provide useful information that helps potential customers solve their problems or achieve their goals.
By providing valuable content, businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry and build trust with their target audience. This, in turn, leads to increased brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty.
Below there are some factors you should be careful about while writing content marketing.
- Be positive. No one likes to listen to a pessimistic person. Maybe people tolerate it in the real world for respecting others, but in the online world, they skip these pages easily. Therefore, be positive and trustful at the same time.
- Be helpful: People come to your page to know more and get help. So, write to teach them and solve the related problem.
- Use active voice instead of passive voice: Always talking in active voice convey better sense. Audience get more energy with content with more active voice sentences.
- Create content more conversationally: Content marketing isn’t writing thesis for Harward university. It is just talk to people. I don’t want to say be informal completely. But be warmer and talk friendly.
- Write a short paragraph: Long paragraphs make the readers tired. Try your paragraph doesn’t exceed more than four sentences.
- Use simple words: Since it is a conversational writing method, so, there is no room for complicated words. By the way, your readers may have different educational degrees.
- Show the next step to the audience: Content writing must teach the audience. So, take them to the next step. Don’t give up on them.
- Add visual data to your content: It helps content become more understandable, and audiences don’t tired of reading content.
- Add conclusion section to your content: When creating content, it’s important to remember that the conclusion is just as crucial as the introduction. The conclusion serves as a final opportunity to leave a lasting impression on your audience and summarize the main points of your piece.
- Edit your content: Editing your content after writing is an essential step in ensuring that your work is of the highest quality. It’s important to take the time to review and revise your writing before publishing or submitting it to ensure that it is clear, concise, and error-free.
What's the relationship between SEO and Content Marketing?
There is no doubt that SEO and content marketing are two interwoven parts.
The relationship between SEO and content marketing is mutual. High-quality content helps to improve a website’s ranking on SERPs by providing valuable information that users are searching for. At the same time, SEO helps to ensure that the content is optimized for search engines, making it easier for users to find.
One of the key ways that SEO and content marketing work together is through keyword research. By identifying the keywords that users are searching for, content marketers can create content that addresses those queries. This, in turn, helps to improve website ranking on SERPs for those keywords.
Another way that SEO and content marketing are connected is through link building. When high-quality content is created, it is more likely to be shared and linked to other websites. These links help to improve a website’s authority and credibility and boost ranking on SERPs.
Although you can use AI copywriting tools to generate content marketing, it can’t replace human-generated content. These tools help to rescue you from writer’s block and give ideas to you.
SEO principles included in Chapter 5:
- A successful SEO process isn’t possible without having the right content creation strategies because valuable content is the central element of SEO tactics. In addition to creating high-value content, consistency is important too. The content planning tool can help you to do the right thing at the right time.
Chapter 6: Link Building
Link building is one of the crucial factors for ranking. In this chapter, you’ll learn how different types of links help the SEO of a webpage.
Internal link
An internal link connects one page of a domain to another page of that domain. Internal links help to structure a website. In addition to SEO profits, it also causes you to introduce your other pages to readers.
Why is internal link important in SEO?
By linking to other pages on your website, you tell search engines which pages are most important and relevant to your website’s overall topic or theme.
Internal link helps Google find your content better. Content without internal links is like a bare desert that no one even passes there.
Furthermore, internal linking can improve user experience by making it easier for visitors to navigate your website and find related content.
This can lead to longer visit duration and lower bounce rates, which both are positive signals to search engines.
How does the internal link support your website?
- It helps your website be more crawlable for search engines.
- Internal links caused users to stay more time on your website.
- It shows the authority of your webpage to Google and users.
Although an internal link is profitable for SEO, a bad internal link maybe cause your website penalized by search engines.
Pay attention to below points for internal links optimization:
Choose right anchor text
Anchor text is a clickable text in your content. For example, in this article, the phrase “internal link” in orange color in the above lines is an anchor text. It must be brief and relevant.
Contextual relevance
The internal link needs to have contextual relevance. It should be relevant to the topic of both pages (origin & target page), and it should be clear to the user why this link exists. Simply putting an internal link in the wrong place not only confuses users but also the search engine.
Make a balance between internal & external links
If you use many internal links without external links, it will be a shortcoming for your website. When you make a balance between them, it will be a sign to the search engine that your website provides more range of content for users.
An external (outbound) link is a hyperlink that directs users from your website to another website. These links are essential for search optimization as they provide additional information and resources for your audience, which can improve user experience and increase the credibility of your content.
Maybe you ask, “Why should I refer users to another website? I want them to remain more time on my website.” Right?
When you include external links in your content, it signals to search engines that you have done your research and are providing valuable information to your readers. This can help boost your website’s authority and ranking in search results.
It’s important to note that not all outbound links are created equal. The quality and relevance of the external site you link to can impact the effectiveness of your link.
For example, linking to a reputable source with high domain authority can be more beneficial than linking to a low-quality or spammy site.
Additionally, it’s essential to use outbound links strategically. Too many outbound links can reduce the focus of your content and potentially harm your ranking.
Backlink
Backlinks are also well-known as inbound links. It is a link from another website that directs to your website. Backlinks are important because they can help improve your website’s search engine ranking.
Search engines like Google consider backlinks as a sign of authority. The more high-quality backlinks direct to your site, the more likely search engines notice your site as a valuable resource for users.
Assume you have a shop in the real world. When your customers recommend your shop to others? It is obvious. When they see the quality of your work.
Backlinks have the same story. When you have high-quality content, other websites refer their users to your website for more information. When a search engine observes, it brings authority to your website, and search engines give more credibility to your website.
Effective factors in creating high-quality backlinks:
Although backlinks are vital to increase ranking on search engines, every backlink can’t bring authority. There are two elements that should be careful about while you are working on backlinks:
- Relevancy: It’s the main factor. When you’re talking about “economic” on your page, a backlink from another page about ‘sport” can’t bring authority to you.
- Quality: It’s important to note that while backlinks can be beneficial for SEO, it’s not just about quantity. Quality should always be prioritized over quantity. It’s better to have a few high-quality inbound links than many low-quality ones.
Dofollow vs. Nofollow links
Every type of link including internal, external, or backlinks can be dofollow or nofollow. The difference between a these link lies down in passing RankPage signals or not. Dofollow links have ranking factors but nofollow links don’t.
How do you check if a link is nofollow?
1-Right click on your page and click “View page source”.
2-Another page (HTML page) will open for you.
3-In HTML page look for ”Nofollow” words.
4-If you see a rel=”nofollow” attribute, that link is nofollowed. Otherwise, the link is dofollow.
Some people think nofollow links are bad for SEO and must be removed. Some others tell these links are useful to some extent.
Experiments show the second hypothesis is correct. Although nofollow links don’t have ranking factors, they are effective in SEO.
SEO principles included in Chapter 6:
- Make sure to choose the proper anchor text. Relevancy of the origin and the target pages to each other is necessary for every type of link.
- Internal links are vital so that search bots understand the structure of your website.
- Use nofollow links when you don’t want to pass the authority to the target page. For example, linking from Homepage to the page Contact Us.
- Backlinks can work when gained from high-authority pages..
Chapter 7: SEO Audit
In this chapter, we’re going to talk about SEO Audit. It is like a test before the final examination at school. Here you know if your efforts will be influential. And improve everything going wrong.
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How to do a website audit?
SEO audit is performing a detailed check-mark to know how your SEO strategies (On-page & Off-page SEO) work. In other words, it shows how much you’re successful to rank your website.
To perform an audit on your website, start by analyzing the website’s overall structure and content.
This involves checking for any technical issues such as broken links, slow loading times, or duplicate content. Also review the website’s metadata, including title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags to ensure they are optimized for relevant keywords.
Next, examine the website’s backlink profile to determine the quality and relevance of inbound links. This includes identifying any spammy or low-quality links that may be harming the website’s search engine rankings.
Also, analyze the website’s keyword strategy, looking at both on-page and off-page optimization efforts. This involves reviewing the website’s content to ensure it is targeting the right keywords and using them effectively throughout the site.
In addition, assess the website’s use of internal linking and anchor text to improve its overall SEO performance.
Finally, evaluate the website’s social media presence and how it integrates with its overall SEO strategy. This includes examining the website’s social media profiles, assessing its engagement with followers, and evaluating the effectiveness of any social media marketing campaigns.
Performing an SEO audit requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account all aspects of a website’s online presence. By identifying areas for improvement and implementing effective SEO strategies, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website.
SEO audit to some extent can perform manually. But always you need to use a SERP tracking tool to audit your website and use the analytics result to improve SEO.
There are plenty of the best SEO tools. Google Search Console and Google Analytics are two of them that has designed by Google itself.
SEO principles included in Chapter 7:
- Run your website through an SEO tool like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, or any other SEO tool you like.
- Make sure all of your pages are indexed.
- Check all types of links and fix each one that has a problem.
- Use an SEO plugin like Yoast on your website if you use WordPress. It helps you make your website more SEO-friendly.
- If your site speed is low, optimize the images on your website. If it’s not an internal problem, check it with your hosting service.
Conclusion
SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field that requires constant attention and adaptation. As a beginner, it can be overwhelming to navigate the various strategies and techniques involved in optimizing your website for search engines. However, by following the steps outlined in this guide, you should have a solid foundation of knowledge to build upon.
It may take time to see results, but with consistent effort and a focus on creating high-quality content, you can improve your website’s visibility and attract more organic traffic.
