Whether you own a small company or run a Fortune 500 corporation, SEO can have a significant impact on your company's success. The ease with which your target customers can find you is determined by your SEO strategy. That's no easy task, given that 75% of Internet users never look past the first page of search results.

We'll walk you through each step. No matter how new to SEO you are, anyone can get started with the SEO tips below and have their website ranking in no time.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a list of actionable steps to get your SEO strategy up and running. 

But, before moving forward let's meet SEO.

Search engine optimization (SEO), is the process of optimizing your website for search engines to increase your ranking in search results and gain more organic (unpaid) traffic.

SEO began when search engines first appeared in the 1990s. It is a crucial marketing tactic nowadays and an industry that is constantly expanding.

How to SEO.

SEO includes five major steps:

1. Keyword Research: Find out what people are looking for.
2. Creating Content: Create content for search engines.
3. On-page SEO: Make your content as simple as possible.
4. Link Building: Build trust and authority by linking to other websites.
5. Technical SEO: Assist search engines in efficiently finding, crawling, and indexing your content.

Here are proven and actionable SEO tactics:

With so many specific SEO terms and improved tactics, it is easy for beginners who do not have a background in SEO to become overwhelmed. Fortunately, even novices can improve their website rankings with a few simple actions.

1. Comprehensive Keyword Research

Keywords are one of the most important ways for people to find pages on search engines. They are particular phrases and words entered into the search bar to help find relevant pages.

Keywords should be included on all of your website pages, blogs, and social media posts to help them rank and appear higher on search engine results pages. Look for keywords with a high search volume, but a low ranking difficulty when researching them.

You must also look for short-tail keywords (one or two words) as well as long-tail keywords (longer phrases) that can be added to your pages. This allows you to rank for more searches and increase your chances of being discovered online.

2. Produce High-Quality Original Content

If you wish users to discover and come back to your site, you need original, detailed, and evergreen content.

Original content allows the audience to connect with you by demonstrating your unique insight and expertise. Furthermore, search engine algorithms, particularly Google, are designed to detect unique content. Those who practice good SEO and publish credible original content are more likely to see an increase in searches.

The SEO Content Template Tool can assist you in creating more detailed content. It examines high-ranking competitor content for your target keyword and recommends which attributes you should focus on to perform well.

3. Tell Google Which Pages it Should not Crawl

Crawling is a term that many SEO beginners are unfamiliar with.

When a search engine like Google “crawls" a page, it employs web crawler software to seek out information on your web pages such as links, content, and keywords. This is how Google discovers and indexes new and revised web pages based on relevance, context, and value.

While crawling is necessary for your pages to be discovered and ranked, there may be some pages that you do not want search engines to see. These could be thank you pages, landing pages for ad campaigns, internal policy/compliance pages, or search results from your website.

Including a robots.txt file on those pages instructs crawl software to avoid them.

4. Improve the Title and Meta Description of Your Page

Your page title and meta description could be the first thing your visitors see. Users may decide to click or skip your page based solely on these factors. That's a lot of power in such a few words, so make them count.

Typically, the platform on which you host your website allows you to easily edit your page title and meta description. 

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind:

• Your page title should be between 30 and 60 characters long.
• Keep your meta description to no more than 160 characters.
• Include your desired keywords.
• Explain what your page is about and what makes it special.
• Make your title and meta description unique for each page.

5. Make use of Short, Descriptive URLs

Working to improve your URL structure can have a major impact on your on-page SEO with very little effort. A smooth URL can help search engines understand your page and make it appear more user-friendly in SERPs.

An effective URL should include the following elements:

• Use keywords: If possible, include your primary keyword.
• Be readable: When your visitor reads the URL, they should be able to tell what the page is about.
• Be concise: URLs with fewer than 60 characters are preferable. Because many search engines cannot handle longer URLs, you may be ranked lower as a result.

6. Plan your Site's Navigation and Hierarchy

The navigation and hierarchy of your website are critical to the online rankings of your web pages. Each page requires its title and, as a result, its URL. These distinct URLs aid in the creation of your website's page lists and navigation.

Your URL structure assists search engine algorithms in determining which pages are linked to others, which pages are more vital in your structure, and which ones are subcategory pages.

The homepage navigation of your website can be a useful tool for organizing your site hierarchy. It informs your viewers and search engine algorithms about the structure of your website, which pages are dropdowns of main pages, and the way the flow of your website brings people from page to page.

7. Use a Combination of Internal and External links

Effective use of internal and external links can improve issues that may come, user experience, and credibility. These links should ideally lead to useful, relevant information.

Internal links take visitors to other pages on your website. They aid search engine crawlers in finding your content and encourage users to spend more time on your site. You could, for example, create links between related blog posts to help your audience find more information on a topic they're researching without ever leaving your site.

External links are links that take the user to another website. You can use these to link to websites that have high-quality, authentic content on the subject of your article. Remember to check your external links before including them, as linking to low-quality content can harm your credibility.

8. Examine your Competitors

It is possible that you and your main competitors are producing similar content and trying to target the same audiences. You can discover more about effective content mediums or develop fresh ideas for your content by analyzing the websites of your competitors.

First, identify your most significant competitors. The Market Explorer tool can assist you in tracking major players in your niche as well as the amount of traffic they generate. The Traffic Analytics tool will show you how much traffic your competitors receive, as well as their primary traffic sources and traffic channels (paid, social, etc.)

9. Audit the Site Regularly

Regular site audits help to ensure that your site is both functional and user-friendly. It's also a great way to catch problems you might have overlooked, such as broken links, orphaned pages, or slow load times. Then you can prioritize and deal with them before they have a major impact.

To begin, follow these steps:

• Make a fresh new project for your website.
• Enter your page source and the number of pages you want to crawl.
• Provide any additional details, such as crawler settings, disallowed URLs, or URL parameters.
• Schedule or run your site audit.

Final Thought

If you want your website to succeed, you must invest in SEO. Even for experts, mastering SEO is a continuous process of learning, experimentation, and creativity.  

Don’t let your learning end here. With the steps outlined above, you can begin developing an effective search engine optimization strategy, but keep in mind that SEO has numerous moving parts that require care, attention, and tenacity. That is why some businesses dedicate entire teams to their SEO efforts.

The best part is that you don't have to guess what you're going to do next. Feel free to contact our team to kickstart your SEO strategy and increase the chances of your website ranking on the first page of the SERPs.