Ae you looking for a beginner's guide to SEO to increase your website traffic in 2017 and beyond? Well, you are in the right place. Here's where you will find almost EVERY important factor of SEO that helps to boost your search traffic.
Believe it or not, SEO is a HUGE ocean.
On-page SEO, off-page SEO, content, keyword research, backlinks, competitor's research, web analytics, usability, mobile, design – it involves in a gazillion number of factors.
Trying to become an SEO expert is the surefire way to screw up your life. But if you ignore SEO completely, you won't get even 100 visitors a day to your sites let alone the sales. That's the harsh truth.
So what can you do? Sit quiet, blame yourself for your fate and give up? Or learn some SEO basics to increase your website traffic?
This MONSTER (6000+ words) beginner's guide to SEO was written by keeping just one thing in mind: to help the beginners to grow their traffic from Google.
So are you ready to increase your website traffic in 2017? Let's jump into the ultimate beginner's guide to SEO without much ado.
The beginner's guide to SEO in 2017 The importance of SEO toolsAs I said, SEO is a huge ocean and you can't dive into it without having access to the right tools. Yes, there are hundreds of SEO tools available but majority of them don't give you the right results. I've used hundreds of tools over last 6 years and here are few SEO tools that I highly recommend you to begin your SEO journey.
WordPress SEO by Yoast: I so much love this plugin. It's free and easy to use. If you want to boost your on-page SEO (which will be covered later in this massive beginner's guide to SEO), this plugin is a must for you.
SEMrush: I've been using this SEO tool for over 2 years and not only I tripled my overall search traffic but also the website sales. This is a MUST have tool for anyone who is serious about getting better search rankings and sales.
Here are few things you can do with this tool.
You can literally find everything about any website in the world (including their best performing keywords, ads, backlink sources) using SEMrush. So it's the perfect tool for all your SEO needs. Here's an unbiased SEMrush review that can be helpful for you to know why you need it.
Exclusive Deal: For a limited time, you can get SEMrush pro account free for 30 days. Use this special link to get it free ($69.95 offer!).
Keyword Planner: This is a gift for bloggers and SEO enthusiasts. Google's keyword planner has a ton of data to help you find great keywords. It's free and fun to use.
The only drawback of using this tool is that it has access to millions of people worldwide so even if you find low competitive keywords to rank higher on Google search results, you will still have to fight with a thousand of your competitor's to really get better rankings.
The importance of keywordsIf you are a beginner, you might not know the importance of keyword research yet but remember that it's one of the most important things that can make or break your SEO success.
If you are not doing keyword research before creating content, you simply don't attract any traffic from search engines. Without targeting one or two keywords from your content, how Google is supposed to send you traffic?
That's what it's extremely crucial to find keywords. And not just any keywords, they have to be low competitive long tail keywords. Here's the importance of using long tail keywords.
Here are few essential tips you can use from this beginner's guide to SEO to boost your search traffic and rankings.
Every blogger works out seriously on driving traffic to their blog. If you are a newbie in blogging, then there is main thing that you should know is all about SEO.
To rank your blog post in the first results of search engine, you need to take care of SEO while writing great content. Your blog receives high traffic automatically once your posts ranks higher in Google search engine.
You can increase your website traffic with on-page seo techniques.
What is on-page SEO?
It is the way of optimizing your blog posts so that it appears in the first results of Google/bing search engine which helps in driving relevant traffic from search engine.
Why on-page SEO is important for bloggers?
Quick note: If you want to get more out of on-page SEO, you need to do keyword research first. Find a primary keyword for every blog post you write. That way you can use that primary keyword in page titles, meta description, alt tags etc to increase website traffic quickly.
#1. Put your primary keyword in the page titleTitle is what attracts the readers. Whether your article is read or not is completely depends on your blog post title. For Google, title is very important. Experts says that maximum you can include 50-60 characters in title.
You must use primary keyword in the page title. When a person searched with that keyword, search engine highlights that keyword and displays in search results.
#2. Put your keywords in the meta descriptionAfter including primary keyword in page title, it is important to include that primary keyword in meta description section too.
How it helps? The main purpose is to drive massive traffic from Google search engine. However, search engine don't use this meta description factor in its algorithm but it uses CTR(Click-Through-Rate) to determine whether your post link is good to show or not.
So, you must include primary keyword in meta description.
Keep this in mind while writing meta description:
In every blog post, it is mandatory to write meta keywords. Both in meta keyword and meta description sections, use only targeted keyword. Under the meta tags section, use all possible relevant keywords for that particular blog post also include what type of keywords, users may search.
Search engines gets information about your blog site through meta tags and thus indexes your site. Meta tags also describes what your blog post is about.
#4. Optimize your URLKeep your URL's short and simple. If possible, try to use your primary keyword within it. Use clear and user-friendly URL's for all of your blog posts. These are showed in web browser address.
Let's say you wrote confusing URL for your blog post and there is another blog which writes similar content but write simple and clear URL, then search engines consider the simple ones.
So, optimize your URL for search engine.
How to do it?
Heading tags, the name itself says that it will be used while writing headings. Obviously you should use heading 1 for the blog post title.
While writing sub headings in the post, use h2 and h3 tags. For the sub heading, use h2 tag and for the sub-subheading, use h3 tag. Why?
It gives the clear information to the readers what the post is all about and how it will be helpful for them? If they find it helpful they will read the entire article and share it on social media. So, writing interesting sub-headings is very important. It also helps Google to find the main topics very easily and it becomes user-friendly.
Just by reading sub-headings, users will get clarity. If possible include keywords in subheadings, but don't stuff forcibly as it may lose its meaning.
#6. Image alt tags are importantOne image speaks louder more than thousands of words. So, in your blog post, use images related to your post.
Including images helps in getting shared in Pinterest and Twitter massively. Well, to improve the accessibility to your blog site, you must write alt text for the image you upload.
Alt text describes what the image is about.
How it is helpful?
If you use WordPress, it is very easy to fill alt text for an image as it shows alt text dialogue box when you upload an image.
#7. Use your primary keyword in the introduction of your postYour blog post introduction should be very interesting to read. Don't drag too much information here. Use some statistics in the introduction part that is related to your blog post. At least once, use your primary keyword in the introduction part.
#8. Internal linking is super importantInternal links are nothing but links that refers one of your previous blog posts in your blog.
Why to do internal linking?
You can do internal linking only if you have lots of content. So, create great content. Write lots of posts in your blog.
The importance of off-page SEOStarted a blog newly? Then use these off page SEO techniques RIGHT now to boost your blog traffic. You wrote great lengthy content and you published it in various platforms. But did you really taking care of your off-page SEO which is essential?
What is off-page SEO?
Off page SEO mainly revolves around the backlinks from other sources to your site. Google gives #1 priority to backlinks. So by focusing on attracting as many links as possible from other external sources, you can do a better off-page SEO to improve your search rankings.
Why off page SEO is important for bloggers?
To expand your blogging network, the one surest way is blogger outreach. It is all about building relationships with other bloggers of your niche.
No one can grow alone. To drive search engine traffic to your blog and to increase sales, you must build relationships with other bloggers. So, that you will also build quality backlinks from top authority sites.
Benefits of blogger outreach:
How you can do blogger outreach?
Some more useful tips:
Tools that helps for blogger outreach:
Well, writing great lengthy content and publishing it on your site won't fetch you anything.
You need to promote your post extensively. Make use of social media as much as you can to promote your blog. Share it on all platforms. Don't just stop with Facebook, Twitter and Google plus.
While sharing your posts on social media sites, engage with other bloggers and this is very important.
One common mistake that most of the new bloggers does is they simply share on social media and forget it thinking that they promoted. It fetches some visitors but if you want that visitors to be consistent, then engage with other bloggers.
If you don't have time to submit posts on social media sites, still you can make use of automated tools which does the work for you.
Automation tools:
The one that is often neglected by new bloggers is social bookmarking directories. If you are also doing same, then you must read this.
We do bookmark some sites in web browser to read them later or if it is so important information.
What are social bookmarking sites? How it is useful?
You can share your blog link with many other users or bookmark other links and read them later as long as you are connected to internet.
When you submit your posts on social bookmarking directories, it generates one new permanent link for your post so that it gives a strong backlink to your blog site as these social bookmarking sites are indexed by Google search engine.
So, it will be helpful to rank your site high in search results.
Some more benefits of social bookmarking sites:
Now, where to find social bookmarking sites lists?
Here, I provide the list of social bookmarking directories where you can submit your posts.
You can drive lot of traffic to your blog by writing answers on Quora.
What is Quora? It is Q&A website where you get quality answers for any question. It has more than 4.6 million registered users.
Just imagine, if you could write very good answers on Quora related to your blog niche, how much traffic you can drive just from Quora itself.
What you can do on Quora?
What you shouldn't do on Quora?
Guest posting is an incredible tool to drive huge traffic to your blog. However, most of the bloggers fail to get the traffic because they do it in a wrong way.
So, what is the right way of doing guest posting?
How to find sites that accepts guest blogging?
Doing guest blogging helps not only in increasing your blog traffic but also boosts your page rankings.
I have compiled the list of 200 plus blogs that accept guest posts here which you can use.
To increase interaction and to build relationships, blog commenting is very important. If you do blog commenting, it will keep your blog getting indexed and updated so that that chances of ranking your post higher increases in search engine results.
Benefits of leaving thoughtful comments:
Avoid these mistakes:
So, make a list of all blogs of your niche which are active and which are high authority blogs. And start leaving thoughtful worthy comments on other blogs.
#7. Submit your posts on blogging forumsYou need to promote your blog post extensively to make sure that it reaches potential audience.
As discussed in above point #6, you must establish good connection with other bloggers and build backlinks to drive traffic. SEO loves updated content. Google shows only updated posts in the search results. So, submit your posts on blogging forums.
Here are few forums where you can submit your blog posts for free.
To market your brand more, convert your blog posts into ebooks. Make an interesting ebook out of your blog posts.
Why? And How it helps?
You need not create manually anything. Just make use of tools and plugins. It will turn your blog posts into ebooks.
Tools to turn your blog posts into ebooks:
Using Anthologize
Using Zinepal
If you are using some other platform for blogging, then there is a free tool Zinepal that can turn your blog posts into ebooks.
Now, where you can upload your ebook? Here are the sites:
Did you know that YouTube receives 3 billion daily views.
If you are ignoring building traffic from YouTube, then you are probably missing lot of traffic.
How you can get visitors from YouTube to your blog?
The most misconception among people is only viral videos should be created like funny, entertainment.
No, it's not. Moreover we don't need unwanted traffic even if its million. What we need are quality and loyal visitors.
The main goal for every blogger is to gain readers and to drive huge traffic. You may write amazing great content but if it doesn't reach to readers, it will be mere waste.
Most of the blogs gets huge traffic from search engine. You need to take care of SEO in every blog post. A picture is worth than thousand words. Visual content always goes viral if you make it an interesting one.
Some tips while creating infographic.
Tools to create infographics
Everyone says write lengthy and amazing content to get more traffic and to get potential readers. Every blogger is well aware of the fact that short content is dead. There is no scope for the articles with 600 word count.
For a new blogger writing lengthy content is very challenging. To increase Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA), to drive search engine traffic writing lengthy content is very crucial.
Just because you wrote lengthy content, won't fetch any results. What else is needed? It should be keyword centric and useful.
While writing content, you need to make sure that you are following these:
That being said, how to create lengthy content? How to structure your blog post for lengthy content?
Well, I say, more than writing lengthy content, you must write quality content that is useful to your readers. You are not alone. There are lots of people who struggle to write lengthy and useful content. To drive organic search engine traffic, you must create 3000 word length article and they also help you get more social shares. See the image below!
When you search for something say, "yoga poses for weight loss", search engine displays plenty of articles. To compete with, your content should be the best.
Content is king and this should be accepted. If you want to stand in the crowd, only content can help you in this regard.
While creating lengthy post, there is a chance that your readers may get boredom. So, to make it interesting, follow these while writing:
Break you content into smaller pieces. For example, say you are writing about "weight loss". Make a list of ideas related to it and try to discuss that in your blog post.
Likewise you need to make list of ideas to support your topic. Now make killer headlines in your post. Make it more engaging rather than simply writing tips. Speak out practically rather than logically.
Some tips while writing:
What happens if you write 3000 word article?
Everything seems to be difficult in the beginning but once you start it becomes easy. The same with writing 3000 word article.
Did you know that the famous blogger Neil Patel's most shared articles are of 5000 words. If one can achieve the best results by creating long form of content regularly, you too can.
Start creating long form of content from now on if you want achieve SEO success.
The importance of backlinksIf you are a newbie in blogging, you will be wondering how to get links from authority sites. To grow as a successful blogger, you should get some authority links to your blog.
Link building is a powerful strategy to increase rankings for your post in search engine. If you want your blog post to be displayed in the first page of search engine results, you must be very serious about building links from authority sites.
What are authority sites?
A site that has much influence in digital world and is trusted by several users. These are the sites that are ranked top of the SERP(Search Engine Results Page). These are the sites that provide high quality and useful content.
What benefits your blog gets if you can get links from authority sites?
Well, now the question is how to get links from authority sites?
#1. Do guest postingMake a list of influential bloggers in your niche. Come up with topic idea and start contacting them through mail.
How you can find sites to write guest posts?
Not every blogger covers each topic completely. Even a great blogger misses some details while writing post. For example, in a post if it mentions, find your competitors and start link building. But they may forget to mention where to find.
This is incomplete information. When you find such blog posts with gaps in the content, reach out the blog owners and let them know. You offer them that you will fill the gaps in the content. So, that you can get credit to link to your blog.
Remember that you should find such blog posts only from authority sites and also related to your blog niche.
#3. Spy on your competitorsIt is not at all fault to spy on your competitors. Observe where they are getting backlinks and follow it. How to check?
By checking broken or dead links on authority sites, you can get a link. How to check for broken links of your competitor's so you can take benefit from them?
It is recommended to update old posts every now and then in order to keep the site up to date. But it is impossible for the bloggers who has hundreds of posts in their sites.
If you can help them in updating their old posts, you will get backlink as a reward. So find the outdated content in authority sites of your blog niche and contact them that you will update it for free. There are many people (even me) who likes to get detailed and informative post contributions from others and I won't mind giving a link back as the credit.
#6. Interview top bloggersInterviewing the influential bloggers in your industry is the quickest way to boost your online visibility, social shares, links and traffic.
To increase your credibility in digital world, to drive traffic to your blog, to build relationships with other bloggers, to attract readers to your blog, do interviews with top influencers in your blog niche.
While reaching them for interview, don't ask them too many questions. Top bloggers are usually very busy so ask them few questions but important and that helps your readers.
Final thoughts on the beginner's guide to SEOYes, that was really a massive beginner's SEO guide (almost with 6000 words). The reason I spent so much time to crafting this SEO guide is to help beginners to really understand what it takes to get better rankings in search engines.
On-page SEO, off page SEO, keyword research, long form of content, links – these are the major cornerstones of any great SEO strategy. If you analyze any top blog that gets massive traffic from search engines, you will notice that all they have those things in common.
So what are you waiting for? Use this beginner's guide to SEO to quickly grow your search engine traffic and rankings. Did I like this beginner's SEO guide? Do you have any questions? Do let me know in the comments.
Source: The Beginner's Guide to SEO: How to Increase Website Traffic In 2017
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