SEO
A Basic 5-Step Guide That Anyone Can Follow
Several years ago, I worked in a startup with no marketing budget.
No one had any marketing experience either. Being the only person who had read a couple of marketing books, I was put in charge of the marketing strategy.
Without any know-how or marketing dollars, I read a couple of SEO blogs and tried implementing their strategies.
And it worked.
Sidenote.
Due to business challenges, the company no longer exists, which explains the sudden decline in traffic.
With the proper guidance, anyone can do SEO by themselves. You just need to know how to get started.
That’s what this guide is for.
Let’s begin.
If Google cannot find, crawl, and index your pages, it doesn’t matter what SEO tactics you pull out of the hat. Your pages just can’t rank.
So the first step is to make sure Google can do all of the above for your site.
The easiest way to see if any issues are hindering Google is to audit your website. You can do this by signing up for our free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT) and using Site Audit to run a crawl of your website.
When the crawl is done, you’ll see all the top issues plaguing your site. Click on the number in the Crawled column to see which URLs these are.
You can also click on the issue itself to see why it’s a problem and how to fix it.
To get search traffic, you need to target the words and phrases your potential customers are searching for. You can find what these are by doing keyword research.
Here’s the easiest way to get started. You can:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.
- Enter one or a few relevant keywords related to your website (e.g., if I were a massage therapist, I might enter massage therapy, back pain, back pain relief, shoulder pain relief, and more).
- Go to the Matching terms report.
Here, you’ll see over 400,000 potential topics. But that’s too many. So you’ll want to reduce the list to something manageable. Specifically, you’ll want to target keywords that can potentially send you tons of traffic but are not competitive.
We do this by using two filters:
- Traffic potential (TP) – TP is the estimated amount of search traffic you can potentially gain if you rank #1 for that topic. We can set it to a minimum of 100 to find topics that actually send traffic to your site.
- Keyword Difficulty (KD) – KD gives an estimation of how hard it is to rank in the top 10 search results for a keyword. The lower the number, the “easier” it is. While it does depend on your site’s “authority,” you can start with a reasonable number like 20.
This list is much more workable. Make sure you manually review each keyword to see if it’s relevant to your business.
Learn more: Keyword Research: The Beginner’s Guide by Ahrefs
Creating search-optimized pages is no longer about stuffing as many target keywords as possible. Keyword stuffing died over a decade ago. Today, Google can easily understand synonyms and semantically related words.
Then, how do you create pages optimized for search? Here’s how.
Match search intent
Google wants its users to be happy. To it, that means figuring out why the searcher is searching —i.e., search intent—and then showing them the most relevant results.
So if you want to rank high on Google, you’ll have to match search intent.
Fortunately, figuring out search intent is relatively simple. Since Google already works to serve the most relevant results, we can look at the current top-ranking pages to understand search intent.
Specifically, we want to analyze the three Cs of search intent:
- Content type – Is the primary type of content a blog post, product page, video, landing page, or something else?
- Content format – Is the primary format a how-to guide, listicle, review, opinion piece, news, or something else?
- Content angle – Is there a primary angle, such as the current year or content aimed at beginners?
For example, let’s suppose you want to cover the topic “how to save money”:
Here’s what we’ll learn when analyzing the SERPs:
- Content type – All of the top-ranking pages are blog posts.
- Content format – Surprisingly, instead of a how-to guide, people are actually looking for tips.
- Content angle – Simple/easy, proven, and fast are potential angles.
So we could potentially create an article titled “XX Proven Ways to Save Money.”
Learn more: What Is Search Intent? A Complete Guide for Beginners
Cover the topic in full
The best result for most queries usually covers everything searchers want to know about the topic.
An easy way to find out what subtopics and important points searchers want to see is to run a content gap analysis:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
- Enter the keyword you’re targeting
- Scroll down to the SERP overview
- Check a few of the top-ranking pages
- Click Open in and choose Content gap
In this example, we’re targeting the keyword inbound marketing. You can see that many of these keywords map to potential subtopics:
These subtopics…
- What is inbound marketing
- Inbound marketing examples
- Inbound marketing strategies
… could make perfect H2s for our blog post.
Make your content unique
You should cover the topic in full. But that doesn’t give you leeway to copy-paste what’s already on the top-ranking pages.
After all, copycat content can neither stand out nor incentivize people to link to you (and links are an important ranking factor).
So you’ll want to make sure your content is unique. Here are some ideas on how you can do that:
- Personal experience – If you’ve successfully implemented something, write about it.
- Expert interviews – Reach out and interview experts in your field or ask them to contribute an opinion to your piece.
- Crowdsource – Get multiple people to contribute their opinions, expertise, and ideas.
- Original research – Add data to your post. You can do this by running a study, survey, or poll.
- Contrarian – Be the devil’s advocate. Consider an opposing viewpoint.
Make your content simple and easy to read
Content that’s hard to read is not only bad for SEO, but it’s also bad for business. How can you convince someone to buy your product if your copy can’t even be understood?
Keep your copy nice and simple. Use these tips:
- Avoid big words. Don’t say erroneous when you can say wrong. Always use simple language. If in doubt, use Hemingway to check your copy.
- Use formatting like bolding, italics, and lists to break up chunks of copy.
- Include multimedia like images, videos, and GIFs to illustrate your points and break up walls of text.
Sprinkle on your on-page SEO
This is the “icing” on the cake that makes it extra clear to Google and searchers that your page is relevant.
Follow these best practices:
- Use the keyword in the title – This is usually already included in your headline. But if you haven’t, see if you can work it in. A similar variation works too.
- Write a compelling meta description – While not a Google ranking factor, it helps to sell your article in the search results.
- Use short, descriptive URLs – Such URLs make it easy for searchers to understand what your post is about. The simplest way is to make the slug your topic.
- Add alt text to your images – Google uses alt text to understand images. Create a concise but accurate one for every image you use.
Learn more: On-Page SEO: The Beginner’s Guide
Links are an important Google ranking factor. You’ll likely need them to rank higher.
Link internally
When it comes to links, many people neglect internal links. But they’re actually important—not only because they pass authority between your pages, but they also help Google discover and understand pages.
The easiest way to find relevant internal link opportunities is to use the Link opportunities report in Site Audit. You’ve already run a crawl in step #1, so all that’s left to do is to see what internal links the report suggests you should add.
For example, Site Audit suggests that we can potentially add an internal link to our post on Google’s URL Inspection tool on our post about submitting websites to search engines.
Learn more: Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide
HARO
HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a free service connecting journalists to sources and sources to journalists. If you’re an expert in your niche, you can easily provide a quote and the journalists may link to your site.
Getting started is easy—you just have to sign up as a source on the website.
Then, you’ll receive emails with queries from journalists working for various publications. However, most queries will likely be irrelevant to you, so we recommend setting up a Gmail filter:
- Click the search options filter
- Set the “From” field to [email protected]
- Set the “Subject” to “[HARO]”
- Set “Has the words” to keywords you want to monitor (use the OR operator to list multiple keywords here)
For the best results, only respond to queries where you have relevant expertise.
Replicate your competitors’ backlinks
If someone is linking to your competitors, chances are they will link to you too. So you merely have to find out who’s linking to them and not you and find a way to replicate those links.
Here’s how:
- Enter your domain into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer (set it to Exact URL)
- Go to the Link Intersect tool
- Add a few competing homepages in the empty fields (set them to Exact URL)
Go through the results to see if there are any links you can potentially replicate.
For example, the website below links to both of our competitors. Looking closely at the links, we see they’re both podcast interviews:
Given that the host has already interviewed two of our competitors, they may also be interested in interviewing us.
Finally, you’ll need to track some metrics to know if you’re going down the right path.
The exact metrics you’ll need to track depend on your goals, but some of the most common ones are:
- Organic traffic – All non-paid clicks from search engines. If it’s trending upward, it may be a sign that your SEO efforts are paying off. Tools you can use: Google Search Console and Ahrefs’ Site Explorer (free in AWT).
- Keyword rankings – The organic ranking positions in the search results for the keywords you’re targeting. You can track this using Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker.
- Referring domains – Number of websites linking to your site. We’ve already established earlier that backlinks are an important Google ranking factor. So you’ll want your site to get more of them over time. You can see how many referring domains your site has in Site Explorer.
- Search visibility – How visible your brand is on the market. You can track this by pasting the keywords that matter to you in Rank Tracker. Then go to the Competitors overview tab and check the Visibility column.
Final thoughts
This simple DIY SEO guide covers the fundamentals of SEO.
You can follow this guide over and over again to optimize your site and rank for meaningful and relevant keywords.
Then as you experience more success, you may even consider hiring an agency to take things to the next level. Or if you prefer to continue the DIY route, you can learn more on our blog, YouTube channel, and Academy.
Any questions or comments? Let me know on Twitter.
SEO
Google March 2024 Core Update Officially Completed A Week Ago
Google has officially completed its March 2024 Core Update, ending over a month of ranking volatility across the web.
However, Google didn’t confirm the rollout’s conclusion on its data anomaly page until April 26—a whole week after the update was completed on April 19.
Many in the SEO community had been speculating for days about whether the turbulent update had wrapped up.
The delayed transparency exemplifies Google’s communication issues with publishers and the need for clarity during core updates
Google March 2024 Core Update Timeline & Status
First announced on March 5, the core algorithm update is complete as of April 19. It took 45 days to complete.
Unlike more routine core refreshes, Google warned this one was more complex.
Google’s documentation reads:
“As this is a complex update, the rollout may take up to a month. It’s likely there will be more fluctuations in rankings than with a regular core update, as different systems get fully updated and reinforce each other.”
The aftershocks were tangible, with some websites reporting losses of over 60% of their organic search traffic, according to data from industry observers.
The ripple effects also led to the deindexing of hundreds of sites that were allegedly violating Google’s guidelines.
Addressing Manipulation Attempts
In its official guidance, Google highlighted the criteria it looks for when targeting link spam and manipulation attempts:
- Creating “low-value content” purely to garner manipulative links and inflate rankings.
- Links intended to boost sites’ rankings artificially, including manipulative outgoing links.
- The “repurposing” of expired domains with radically different content to game search visibility.
The updated guidelines warn:
“Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
John Mueller, a Search Advocate at Google, responded to the turbulence by advising publishers not to make rash changes while the core update was ongoing.
However, he suggested sites could proactively fix issues like unnatural paid links.
“If you have noticed things that are worth improving on your site, I’d go ahead and get things done. The idea is not to make changes just for search engines, right? Your users will be happy if you can make things better even if search engines haven’t updated their view of your site yet.”
Emphasizing Quality Over Links
The core update made notable changes to how Google ranks websites.
Most significantly, Google reduced the importance of links in determining a website’s ranking.
In contrast to the description of links as “an important factor in determining relevancy,” Google’s updated spam policies stripped away the “important” designation, simply calling links “a factor.”
This change aligns with Google’s Gary Illyes’ statements that links aren’t among the top three most influential ranking signals.
Instead, Google is giving more weight to quality, credibility, and substantive content.
Consequently, long-running campaigns favoring low-quality link acquisition and keyword optimizations have been demoted.
With the update complete, SEOs and publishers are left to audit their strategies and websites to ensure alignment with Google’s new perspective on ranking.
Core Update Feedback
Google has opened a ranking feedback form related to this core update.
You can use this form until May 31 to provide feedback to Google’s Search team about any issues noticed after the core update.
While the feedback provided won’t be used to make changes for specific queries or websites, Google says it may help inform general improvements to its search ranking systems for future updates.
Google also updated its help documentation on “Debugging drops in Google Search traffic” to help people understand ranking changes after a core update.
Featured Image: Rohit-Tripathi/Shutterstock
FAQ
After the update, what steps should websites take to align with Google’s new ranking criteria?
After Google’s March 2024 Core Update, websites should:
- Improve the quality, trustworthiness, and depth of their website content.
- Stop heavily focusing on getting as many links as possible and prioritize relevant, high-quality links instead.
- Fix any shady or spam-like SEO tactics on their sites.
- Carefully review their SEO strategies to ensure they follow Google’s new guidelines.
SEO
Google Declares It The “Gemini Era” As Revenue Grows 15%
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, announced its first quarter 2024 financial results today.
While Google reported double-digit growth in key revenue areas, the focus was on its AI developments, dubbed the “Gemini era” by CEO Sundar Pichai.
The Numbers: 15% Revenue Growth, Operating Margins Expand
Alphabet reported Q1 revenues of $80.5 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year, exceeding Wall Street’s projections.
Net income was $23.7 billion, with diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Operating margins expanded to 32%, up from 25% in the prior year.
Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s President and CFO, stated:
“Our strong financial results reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base.”
Google’s core advertising units, such as Search and YouTube, drove growth. Google advertising revenues hit $61.7 billion for the quarter.
The Cloud division also maintained momentum, with revenues of $9.6 billion, up 28% year-over-year.
Pichai highlighted that YouTube and Cloud are expected to exit 2024 at a combined $100 billion annual revenue run rate.
Generative AI Integration in Search
Google experimented with AI-powered features in Search Labs before recently introducing AI overviews into the main search results page.
Regarding the gradual rollout, Pichai states:
“We are being measured in how we do this, focusing on areas where gen AI can improve the Search experience, while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants.”
Pichai reports that Google’s generative AI features have answered over a billion queries already:
“We’ve already served billions of queries with our generative AI features. It’s enabling people to access new information, to ask questions in new ways, and to ask more complex questions.”
Google reports increased Search usage and user satisfaction among those interacting with the new AI overview results.
The company also highlighted its “Circle to Search” feature on Android, which allows users to circle objects on their screen or in videos to get instant AI-powered answers via Google Lens.
Reorganizing For The “Gemini Era”
As part of the AI roadmap, Alphabet is consolidating all teams building AI models under the Google DeepMind umbrella.
Pichai revealed that, through hardware and software improvements, the company has reduced machine costs associated with its generative AI search results by 80% over the past year.
He states:
“Our data centers are some of the most high-performing, secure, reliable and efficient in the world. We’ve developed new AI models and algorithms that are more than one hundred times more efficient than they were 18 months ago.
How Will Google Make Money With AI?
Alphabet sees opportunities to monetize AI through its advertising products, Cloud offerings, and subscription services.
Google is integrating Gemini into ad products like Performance Max. The company’s Cloud division is bringing “the best of Google AI” to enterprise customers worldwide.
Google One, the company’s subscription service, surpassed 100 million paid subscribers in Q1 and introduced a new premium plan featuring advanced generative AI capabilities powered by Gemini models.
Future Outlook
Pichai outlined six key advantages positioning Alphabet to lead the “next wave of AI innovation”:
- Research leadership in AI breakthroughs like the multimodal Gemini model
- Robust AI infrastructure and custom TPU chips
- Integrating generative AI into Search to enhance the user experience
- A global product footprint reaching billions
- Streamlined teams and improved execution velocity
- Multiple revenue streams to monetize AI through advertising and cloud
With upcoming events like Google I/O and Google Marketing Live, the company is expected to share further updates on its AI initiatives and product roadmap.
Featured Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock
SEO
brightonSEO Live Blog
Hello everyone. It’s April again, so I’m back in Brighton for another two days of Being the introvert I am, my idea of fun isn’t hanging around our booth all day explaining we’ve run out of t-shirts (seriously, you need to be fast if you want swag!). So I decided to do something useful and live-blog the event instead.
Follow below for talk takeaways and (very) mildly humorous commentary. sun, sea, and SEO!
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