Whether you operate as an online business, an eCommerce storefront or an indie blogger, proper SEO can make or break your website in 2020. According to Smart Insights, there are 4.54 billion internet users in the world by 2020, with Google dominating the search engine market with a 73.34% share. With such a large number of potential visitors and long-term leads, it can be overwhelming to come up with an SEO strategy for your website.
Additionally, 99 Signals reports that 94% of search engine clicks go to organic (SEO optimized) search results and not PPC ads. It is also estimated that 50% of users are more likely to click on links which appear in their search result pages (SERP) multiple times. While SEO may have been a noteworthy addition to your site’s optimization before, it has become a competitive necessity as 2020 goes along.
That being said, what are some of the must-dos and benefits of SEO for beginners? How can you take advantage of such an intricate yet straightforward optimization system to facilitate your website’s growth going forward?
The Benefits of Implementing Proper SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) remains a pivotal part of content creation on the web for multiple reasons. First off, it allows content creators to target their markets more effectively, opting for global or local search marketing depending on their needs. Likewise, it rewards creative content creators who innovate, mix different content formats and try to provide their audience with something different from the competition.
Richard Avery, Chief of Content Development at Studyker, had this to say on the subject: “Without SEO, the internet would be a proverbial Wild West. It would be hard to establish which website falls into which content category, making it extremely difficult for users to find what they need. That is why we have a professional and moral obligation to optimize our content for SEO and to meet the high standards our audiences expect.”
Spam, plagiarism and low-effort content often find its way into our email inboxes, social media feeds and search engine results, leading to well-justified skepticism. What SEO aims to do (and needs help of content creators to do it) is to root out such content. Proper optimization of newly-created content can lead to several very beneficial outcomes for your website going forward, including the following points:
- Better positioning in global search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing
- Improved brand reputation, industry authority and B2B network awareness
- Higher traffic, engagement and subsequent conversion rates
- High return on initial time/resource investment in terms of generated leads
Must-Dos for SEO Beginners
- Assemble your Content Creation Stack
The first thing you should do when it comes to SEO for your website is to assemble a list of content creation tools. Creating a reliable set of tools for writing, formatting and editing of your content will already add a lot of credibility to your SEO efforts. As such, some of the options at your disposal include:
Evernote – cloud-based content management platform with import/export cloud-sync features
Top Essay Writing – professional writing platform with dedicated writers and editors available to assist you
Hemingway Editor – tool designed with legibility and text flow in mind, perfect for pre-publishing editing
Classy Essay – writing platform with a plethora of content creation options, ranging from essays to case studies
Canva – tool suitable for visual content creation and editing, helpful for augmenting your writing with visuals
Write Scout – writing platform with short turnaround and high quality services for content creation emergencies
- Proper Keyword Research is a Must
No matter what type of website you create, you will inevitably have a lot of written content on it. Given that users search for internet content based on words and phrases, keyword research is an essential part of SEO.
You can go about keyword research in several ways, either by referring to a professional SEO service or platforms such as Google Keyword Planner. Regardless of which option you choose, it’s important that you consider keyword optimization carefully in order to achieve a higher search engine ranking for your content.
- Create First, Optimize Later
What many content creators fail to understand is that content optimization is done for search engine algorithms – not for the users themselves. This means that you should only optimize your keywords, formatting, tags and metadata after the content has been created.
Don’t go into writing an article or creating a how-to video with explicit intent to fill it with keywords or the exact length of its paragraphs. Instead, simply take as much or as little time as you need to communicate your ideas to the audience. Once you are satisfied with the piece of content itself, proceed to optimize it for higher SERP ranking – your followers will thank you for it.
- Mix up your Content Types
As we’ve mentioned, you might want to get creative and move away from written content on your website – this is great in terms of SEO. Websites that offer a plethora of different content types such as images, graphs, videos and interactive elements bode well with SERP ranking.
Michelle Quinn, SEO Specialist at Subjecto, had the following to say on the matter: “Use whichever content format your ideas require. Some ideas work well on video while others can only be communicated with written words. Add localized transcriptions and descriptions to your multimedia to add an extra layer of SEO and your content will perform significantly better than before.”
- Audit your Content Regularly
Lastly, once your content is published, you will have to keep an eye out for any errors or changes in SEO trends going forward. Trends and audience expectations change on an almost daily basis, making it easy for content to perform poorly shortly after publishing.
Likewise, errors in link building, broken multimedia files and other errors can rear their heads at a moment’s notice. Make it a habit to audit your website regularly to ensure that all content pieces perform as intended. This will ensure that older content ranks well with SERP for the foreseeable future, given that you will add new keywords or links post-publishing.
Tip of the Iceberg (Conclusion)
Depending on how deep you want to go, there is always another stone to turn when it comes to content SEO. Start by creating a website that will serve as a reliable platform for your content creation efforts.
Once you’ve established what kind of website you will run, creating original content for your target audience should be straightforward. Follow trends, news and innovation within your market – aim to provide a professional, trustworthy service to your audience – they will return that favor in spades.
Image source: https://pixabay.com/vectors/interface-internet-program-browser-3593269/