Learning the Basics of SEO for Newbie Bloggers

Google's algorithm is constantly changing. Therefore, as a blogger, you shouldn't stop learning about SEO and updating your SEO strategies.

Otherwise, you will not be able to compete in Google search page. If you are a newbie in blogging, you probably find it difficult to optimize your blog SEO. Or perhaps you are not familiar yet with some terms.

This article will tell you anything you need to know, especially the basics of SEO for newbie bloggers.

The Basic Concept of SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a strategy used to increase the traffic of website visits through search engines from organic search without advertising. SEO becomes one of the cheapest digital marketing strategies. So, it is no surprise that a lot of bloggers compete to develop this digital marketing strategy.

As it is said before, it is important for bloggers to keep updating their SEO strategies as Google's algorithm constantly changes. By doing so, your blog will be able to compete with your competitors. By applying a good SEO strategy, your website can potentially attract a lot of visits.

Are you wondering how SEO works?

Google and other search engines have certain algorithms to determine the content that deserves a high ranking. Then, search engines will search the internet to find content and websites that meet their algorithms. Unfortunately, no search engines including Google have revealed the factors that affect the ranking process of a website.

However, you can still learn about SEO basics, such as content quality, keyword optimization, on page SEO, off page SEO, and many others.

Accurate Keyword Research

Using the right, accurate keyword can help your website to get a high ranking and good performance. Therefore, doing accurate keyword research is essential as part of learning SEO basics. Once you have found a popular keyword that you are going to use, you need to figure out the competition map for that keyword, so you know the difficulty level.

This way, you can achieve your target. To help you with keyword research, you can use some tools like Soovle, SEMrush, KWFinder, Google Trends, and so on. When it comes to keyword research, there are several things that you must pay attention to, which are keyword suggestions, keyword difficulty levels, Search Engine Result Page (SERP), and search volumes.

According to research, 75% of people will only read websites and articles on the first page of Google. This means that websites on the first rank will get 30% of clicks, while the ones on the second rank will get 15% of clicks.

On Page SEO

On page SEO is an optimization focusing on a website's internal factors, including keyword optimization, content maintenance, and HTML structure repair. When it comes to on page SEO, several things that you have to pay attention to are using the right heading and subheading, meta description, using simple permalinks, creating attractive titles, and adding video or pictures.

Heading and Subheading

Heading and subheading functions to break your articles down into several parts. This way, your visitors can comfortably read your content. Use the right heading and subheading so that your article has a clear structure, making it easy to read.

Meta Description

Meta description is a description column under the title. It gives a short summary about the content of the article. Make sure your meta description is not more than 160 characters.

Simple Permalinks

Google prefers content and websites with straightforward link structures without many sub-folders. With this simple permalink, Google can easily recognize the topic that you discuss in your content.

Videos or Pictures

Adding images or videos to your article will make it more interesting. People will get bored if your content is only full of texts.

Titles

It cannot be denied that a title becomes people's main focus when they choose a website to read. Therefore, it is crucial to come up with an interesting title so that visitors are attracted to visit your website. Try to make a title that is not more than 65 characters.

Off Page SEO

While on page SEO focuses on internal factors, off page SEO focuses on the external factors of a website. Off page SEO aims to get backlinks or base links that become one main factor of Google's ranking. There are several things that you must pay attention to in terms of off page SEO, which are social signal boost, and guest post and outreach.

Social Signal Boost

Social signal boost is an assessment of how often a website is shared on social media. This is why you need to encourage your audience to share your content to their social media. Also, don't forget to share your website to your own social media to increase your website social signal.

Guest Post and Outreach

Outreach link building requires you to connect a web owner to a relevant niche and work together to give each other backlinks. While guest post link building is basically writing content for other people's blogs. Later, you can provide a backlink on your website through the content.

Website Speed Optimization

Website speed optimization is one thing you should never miss when learning SEO basics. Because it is also one of the factors that determine the ranking of your website on search engines. You should do some checking by using tools to have accurate results. Tools that you can use, for example, GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights.

Do optimization according to the result you have received. Immediately fix it if you have script errors, always enable compression like Brotli or Gzip, and if there is any server issue, make sure you fix it as soon as possible.

Affecting Factors of Google's Ranking

Even though Google never reveals its algorithm to the public, professional bloggers figure out that there are several factors that affect their website's rankings. These factors are content quality, website speeds, website security, user experience, and domain authority. Also, as nearly all people access the internet through their smartphone today, it is important to make sure that your website is mobile friendly.

Those are the basics of SEO for you if you are new in the blogging industry.