How Do I Start SEO For A New Website?

Have you ever heard of SEO? If not, you are at the correct place to know about it. Through this article, we will enrich your knowledge about SEO and how to do the same for a new website. Let's dive into the fundamentals or the basic concepts first. SEO is the short form of 'Search Engine Optimization. It is a process through which one can optimize one's website to show up for a particular search query on a search engine. The process is unpaid, and the viewership that the process pulls towards the website is known as organic traffic. SEO is typically a digital marketing strategy and is one of the core concepts that every online marketer must learn.

The Basic Concepts Of SEO

First, let’s learn about the basics of search engines and the techniques that professionals employ while carrying out the SEO of a website or a particular web page.

Search engine basics

Search Engine Optimization is a chain of tasks to rank a page on the search engine. Before ranking, search engines must crawl the website or webpage. Then, web crawlers carry out the process.

After crawling, indexing is the process by which a search engine finds out how relevant a website is for the search term. Indexing means putting up your website live on the internet. Then, according to the relevance and the amount of SEO done on the website or web page, search engines rank it. 

SEO techniques

We may divide SEO into three parts - On-page, Off-page, and Technical SEO. On-page deals with the optimizations required on the web pages. These optimizations include proper header tags, meta tags, meta description, suitable title, hyperlinks, keyword density, use of alt tags in images, etc. Off-page requires SEO efforts outside one's website. Anything that brings traffic to one's website using other websites or external media contributes to Off-page SEO. These techniques include link building, articles, social bookmarking, guest posting, directory submission, etc. Finally, technical SEO relates to optimizations that help faster crawling and indexing of one's website. The methods contributing to this type include UX and UI of the website, structured data, page loading speed, SSL certificate, canonicalization, etc.

Hopefully, now you know how one can do SEO on a website and how SEO helps a website in ranking on the search engine result page (SERP).

How Do I Start SEO For An Old Website? 

We can make an entire article regarding this topic. But, for now, we will briefly describe how one can do SEO for an old and outdated website. So, let's check in a point-wise manner.

Check out the analytics

If the website is functional and search engines can index the same, one can include google analytics on the website. Google Analytics is a free tool that shows the website owner how active the website is, the ranking, the traffic on the website, etc. Using analytics on an old website, one can check how long it has been since there was a good amount of traffic, how sharp the decline was, and if any pages on the website still receive traffic. Analyzing all this, one may conclude what is missing and what one must add to the website.

Revamp content

Content is something that needs a revamp now and then. Google and other search engines always favor those websites that have fresh and relevant content on their websites. One must check the website's backlink profile, keep the healthy backlinks and remove the spammy and nonfunctional ones. One must keep the evergreen content up on the site and withdraw the article and content that is no longer relevant. The owner has to work on new blogs and projects for the website.

SEO work

Here comes the big deal, the new SEO of every webpage and website. The meta keywords, title, description of the articles, and listicles must change and become relevant again. The internal and external linking has to revamp. The site should have an SSL certificate to protect it from cybercriminals. The contact details, mobile optimization, mobile-friendliness, page load speed, UI, and overall UX might need a revamp to support the technical SEO. The content would require fresh guest posting, bookmarking, etc., as Off-page work. These methods need an application on the website to make it favorable for the search engines and up and running.

Lastly, the owner must promote the revamped website on social media channels, continuously update the content, and bring new and exciting topics for the internet to see and enjoy.

How Do I Make A Website SEO-Friendly?

An SEO-friendly website is nothing but a website that has all the SEO activities done correctly. These kinds of websites are very much in favor of the search engines and generally rank way above the websites that are not SEO-friendly. So how can one do that? Let's see.

Firstly, one must know the basics of SEO and earch engines. Without the basic knowledge of all these, one would require some professional to optimize their website. Coming to the second point, one must know the different SEO techniques. Starting with on-page optimizations, then off-page optimizations, and lastly, the technical ones. 

Start with keyword research first and make a table of relevant keywords. Make the content keyword centric and keep a check on the keyword density. Too much use of keywords may lead to keyword stuffing which is not a good thing to do while trying to rank a website. Optimize the title and description of the webpage accordingly, and tie up the web pages inside the website using internal linking. Provide alt text for every image, also specifying the source. Hyperlink to external relevant websites and keep a tab using proper header tags for content creation.

Next is off-page optimization, which isn't as tricky as it seems. One may start by including the website in a web directory and a social bookmarking website. Next, reach out to relevant and authoritative websites and ask if they provide space for guest posting. Finally, try contacting the owners and asking for some valuable backlinks to one's website. Off-page optimization is more of communication and establishing great connections in the industry to which the website belongs.

Lastly, check for the technical aspects of SEO. Keep the website user-friendly and easy to use by all. The landing page must be clean and project what the website provides. The website loading speed must be excellent. The website should be SSL certified, and learn how search engines find the website easy to crawl and index.

How Do I Make My Blog Content SEO-friendly?

Content is king. Content is the only composition of a blog. So, while optimizing your website, one must take care of the blogs. So, how can we optimize the blog content?

• Firstly, learn about the target audience. The content that one wishes to publish has to have an audience base. If not, who will read the blog?

• Secondly, learn keyword research to find out how competitive a keyword is. The more the competition for a keyword, the more challenging it is to rank for the same keyword. Choose the keywords wisely. 

• Thirdly include graphics and images with high resolution. At least the photos should be clear and understandable. Finally, link different web pages of the same website using internal linking, and if one wishes to sell or advertise something, one must always add a solid and clear CTA (Call-To-Action).

• Fourthly start implementing On-page optimization by making a catchy yet optimized title and meta description that includes the keyword that one wishes to rank for, shortening the URL and making it presentable, and checking whether the name of the topic is in the H1 header tag. The subheadings are in H2, H3, etc., whether or not the alt tags are there for every image on the blog.

• Then focus on the off-page parameters. We discussed the same earlier. Don't forget to keep the article relevant and put false information in it. Google is more intelligent than the world thinks and can recognize the blog for the keyword. 

How Do I Write SEO-friendly Content?

SO much SEO friendliness might seem overwhelming to you now. But bare with us because this is for one's good. First, we learned about the SEO basics, SEO techniques, optimizations for an old website, for a new website, and optimizing a blog. Now we will check out how optimization works on the content inside a blog. So let's delve into it.

• First and foremost, one must not write whatever comes to one's mind. One must research which topics are doing great in the industry of one's choice and write about them accordingly. Keep in mind viewers first, and not you. 

• Secondly, strategically position the primary and secondary keywords while writing the content. Keep a structure for the content in mind and follow the same. Finally, reading the content should be a good experience and not a pain in the eyes.

• Thirdly, keep the on-page optimization of the content going as one writes. The title, header tags, alt tags, and keyword density should be pitch-perfect for a content to rank high in the SERPs'. 

• Use a good amount of transition words and less passive sentences. Both help in easy understanding of the content material. Keep the sentence short and the paragraphs not too long. Try not to go beyond 150 words for a section and try bullet points as much as possible.

• Keep a check on the length of the article. Don't write unnecessary things to increase the size of the article. A good 8-minute reading time is enough for most people on the internet. Choose the length according to the type of content. Providing hyperlinks is a healthy way of making content SEO-friendly. 

• Lastly, share a part of the post across other social sites. It would bring in initial traffic. Don't forget to update the content regularly. 

Which Is The Best Company For SEO Services?

Many good companies provide excellent SEO services. But, our recommendation would be to learn the skill and implement it on the website. One can learn SEO easily using free video materials from Youtube. In addition, one may use tools like google trends (to find a trendy topic to write on), SEMRush (for keyword research), KWFinder (for keyword research), Moz ( for spying on the content of other websites), etc. 

But if one wants to outsource the work to some company, we suggest Neil Patel Digital. The services are run by Neil Patel, with an extensive team under his leadership. The company is trustworthy and provides excellent deals on their services. They have SEO as well as paid marketing services. Check them out here. 

Conclusion

SEO is one of the most critical aspects of digital marketing. It is one of the earliest known ways of pulling in organic traffic, i.e., viewers, without spending a single penny. Although newer technologies and AI are taking the place of manual optimization nowadays, it will take time for AI to reach the same level of creativity that humans have. For now, as experts say, SEO may be safe for at least a decade or two. Nevertheless, we would highly recommend one to learn the skill because it is both great for an online business and for securing a job in the digital marketing field. Happy optimizing!