Beginner’s Guide to SEO Search Engine Optimization

Topic clusters show me how well my keyword-based content categories are performing. Although I also use it for link analysis, typically alongside Semrush (as every SEO tool’s database is different, so it’s not a bad idea to use multiple if you can). Regularly conduct technical SEO audits of your website to check for technical problems that could seriously harm your search performance. There are many image editing tools and website plugins that make it easy to minimize your files without compromising quality. Submitting an XML sitemap to Google tells the search engine which of your pages should be indexed (i.e., added to its database of possible search results).

While the rise of ChatGPT has taken a lot of informational queries, Google is still king when it comes to most searches on the web. It’s a great example of a programmatic strategy that is so bottom of the funnel that while the traffic may not be that high, the conversion rates are. And think of all the combinations of tools that can fit together — even more thousands. And I hope to keep growing it and documenting the process here, on my YouTube channel (Marketer Milk), and in my course. If you have your own ecommerce brand or are managing one, you need to check out Mad Rabbit as an example of how to do Shopify SEO right. Next up is Mad Rabbit, an ecommerce brand that sells tattoo aftercare products.

Semrush Alternative: Ahrefs

Don’t forget you’ll want to optimize your content by adding high-performing keywords and making sure it’s high-quality. Visit forums and social media sites to see what kinds of questions people in your niche are asking. Check out competitor blogs and content to see what types of articles they are writing.

XML sitemaps are used by search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yandex, to understand the hierarchy and structure of your site and ensure better crawling. Sitemaps aren’t required, but apart from the above, creating one allows you to access more reporting data about your site. Typically with SEO, you want to get backlinks from other sites, which helps build up your domain and page authority. But manipulating links is against Google’s guidelines, so you could wind up with a link penalty if your site is flagged as involved in link schemes. Earlier, we covered how creating key pages can help improve both Google’s and your users’ perception of your E-E-A-T. Users expect to find links to these crucial pages in your footer, so including them is a good start.

The site has fairly stable SEO traffic, and is sitting around 20-30K monthly visitors just from SEO. But that traffic is very valuable because it’s all super bottom-of-funnel traffic to software products. Now, think about the opportunities you have here with other services. No SEO person, not even me, can predict if and when this will change. While their domain rating is quite high, 88, it’s still a good sign that topics like this are still here to stay.

And considering that Google owns the popular video site, it’s a trend that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Research by Dr. Ellen Langer of Harvard University tested whether people waiting in line to use a copy machine would let a stranger cut in front of them. In other words, pages that link out to awesome resources establish themselves as hubs of helpful content in the eyes of Big G. And pages that link to helpful resources also tend to be higher-quality than pages that only link to their own stuff. And now that your content is optimized for shares, you want to make sure your page’s on-page SEO is good to go. Well, you could re-create that dead resource on your site and replace the dead link in Wikipedia with a link to your site.

If you add an internal link to a new blog post from there, Google can “follow” that link to find the post. Google can discover new pages on your site by “following” links from known pages on your site. Like building 10 sites and interlinking them to make Google think your crappy bitcoin sites are legit. They release updates, and there are a few lists of the most crucial ranking factors. Optimizing your webpages helps you rank higher and convert more searchers to customers. In GA4, conversions are called “key events.” Use Google’s guide to learn how to create and edit key events.

best SEO examples from real businesses in 2025

You need to understand how search engines work and the four main facets of SEO. Rather than buying links, I’d recommend starting with our guide to link building. In this article, you will learn about the process used by marketers to optimize your website for search engines SEO Anomaly like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and many others. Experience in digital marketing, digital communication, media journalism, CRM management with Hubspot, creation of global content strategy, workflows and lead nurturing. Add the keywords that matter most for your business, and the tool will track your rankings daily. Links from other websites to yours (called backlinks) are like votes of confidence that can lead to better rankings.

How To Create & Pitch Content That Attracts Incredible Links

• This tool shows you subtopics (and terms) that are related to the keyword you typed into it.
• It’s great having well-thought-out and useful content, but if a search engine can’t crawl your website, it’s likely that very few people will actually see it.
• These listings are prime real estate for local businesses, often leading to higher click-through rates and conversions.
• A good starting point for competitive analysis is to uncover which keywords your competitors are targeting and where they rank.
• Sure Oak doesn’t publish its pricing, but based on what users have reported, pricing seems to start at about $2,000 per month, which is slightly higher than the average for SEO service providers.

I generally include the keyword a few times on and off your page to give Google a hand. I recommend using a tool to help you find potential keywords, such as Ahrefs or Semrush. Her blog post, “How to Find a Literary Agent,” ranks #1 for the highly competitive head term “literary agent,” above top publishers such as Reedsy and even Wikipedia. All of these conspire to give us fewer chances for ranking for this keyword because the SERP features push us down, and we’re already competing against publishers like G2. Looking directly at the SERPs as you create an SEO strategy is crucial because Google comes up with new SERP features daily. If your pages were not designed according to recent white hat SEO methods, then Gooogle will identify this and lower your site rankings.