Search Engine Optimization Guide From Semalt Expert For Beginners

A Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization | Bouvier Kelly

Each of the website owners wants to be discovered by as many users as possible. However, nowadays, with almost 2 billion websites available, it is very difficult to break through the ever-increasing competition. If you thought that just creating a website was enough for you to succeed on the Internet, this article will help you realize how much work you still need to do. In this guide, I have tried to include the most important elements that should be paid attention to when positioning a website. The guide is addressed to people who run their own website, blog, company website or online store as a hobby. If you are one of those people, I encourage you to read this article to the end.

What is page positioning?

For the purposes of this article, it is necessary to systematize several concepts. The first and one of the most important is the question of what exactly is website positioning. The definition tells us that there is a set of actions to improve the visibility of a website in a search engine. This allows you to increase organic traffic on the positioned website. What exactly is organic traffic? Simply put, these are the users who come to our website from organic search results. As the Google search engine is by far the most popular one among users, it is its results that we will choose.

The page positioning process consists of several elements. These include:
I will discuss each of these elements in more detail later in the article.

Is not Positioning the same as SEO?

For many people, the terms SEO and positioning are synonymous, but positioning itself is a much broader concept, covering a larger number of activities, such as link building or web analytics. 

Keywords - how can users find you?

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Keywords (key phrases) are words based on which search engine users try to find interesting information, products, services, etc. Keywords can consist of a different number of words, usually from one to several. This is the first thing you need to put some effort into. Their proper selection should start every positioning process. For a website to rank in the results for selected keywords, we should carefully consider their selection and the degree of matching to what the user can find on the website.

We distinguish several types of keywords, and each of them will differ in search volume and competitiveness. Most popular keyword breakdown:
People starting to learn positioning on their website should focus only on brand and long tail phrases. At a later stage of positioning, you can slowly move on to more difficult phrases, as long as the easier ones are in higher positions. It is very important to match keywords to the products we offer or information that the user can find on our website. User expectations are equally important. It is important whether, after entering a specific phrase, the user wants to find a product, an article related to its review or, for example, an article comparing it with other products of the same type.

Beginner positioners usually do not have access to or cannot afford paid tools. Therefore, below is a list of free plugins, programs and websites that will allow you to check the search volume for a phrase, find related phrases and check what phrases competitive websites rank for.

Keyword Planner - a tool from Google that allows you to find words that best match your website. In the case when no advertising campaign is active, the number of keyword searches is not exact, it only shows you the range of searches.

The  Dedicated SEO Dashboard - a very intuitive tool that, after entering a phrase, allows you to display related keywords or use them in content marketing. The tool allows you to select many countries and languages.

Suggestions in the Google search engine - By entering any keyword in the search field, after a while we receive several automatic suggestions. These suggestions are often excellent keywords. Also, after entering and searching for a term, you will find related queries at the bottom of the search engine.

SEO audit - key in the positioning process

The SEO Audit: Your Agency's Secret Weapon - Conduit Digital

We have already chosen the keywords we want to rank for. However, one of the most important steps lies ahead. Of course, we are talking about an SEO audit, which should always take place at the beginning of the positioning process. It allows you to find the key elements that need to be worked on so that the traffic on our website soars. SEO audits, especially those performed by people without much experience and access to many tools, are not as extensive as those performed by SEO agencies. However, even at home, we can check many elements using several free tools and devoting the right amount of time.

An SEO audit should consist of an analysis of factors such as:

Basic SEO audit

Users who do not have access to many tools are not able to conduct a comprehensive audit. However, with the right amount of time, they can check the basic elements responsible for positioning.

Mobile First Index

Let's start with the fact that Google introduced the Mobile First Index when evaluating pages by its algorithm. This means more or less that the mobile version of our website is analysed and evaluated by an algorithm. It is the mobile version of the website that is responsible for the ranking of our website. It is worth taking care of its proper adjustment. While most newly created websites are adapted to mobile devices, older websites may have a problem with them. Google has provided a tool that allows you to analyse your website for display on mobile devices.

The test can be performed at: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly. The guidelines you will receive should be sent to the person responsible for the technical support of the website.

Google Search Console

12 Ways Google Search Console Can Supercharge Your SEO | StableWP

Search Console is the basic tool used by positioners every day. It allows not only to check the visibility and traffic on the website or individual subpages but also to verify whether a given page is included in the submitted sitemap or whether it is indexed.

Implementing Google Search Console is a simple operation. All you need is an email address from Google or related to its services. When you sign in to the Search Console, enter the address of the website that you want to verify. 

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is another analytical tool provided for free by Google. Unlike the Search Console, Google Analytics also checks traffic from sources other than organic searches. This allows us to identify who the users coming to our site are. It displays information about their location, the type of devices they use or even the type of browser. Its implementation is also relatively simple. Most CMSs have built-in integration with this analytical tool.

The Dedicated SEO Dashboard



It is one of the best on-site SEO analysis tools. It is available in a free or paid version (annual subscription without any restrictions). Since most often people who want to position a website without the help of an agency are the owners of small websites, the free version of the software is enough.

The extensive tool scans our entire website and in several tabs, we will find, among others:

Website speed

The loading speed of our website affects its position. It is worth knowing that mobile devices are gaining more and more share among search engine users from month to month. For the algorithm to place your website higher in search results, it is worth taking care of the website loading time.

There are many tools available to check the loading speed of any website. Free tools are provided by both Google and third parties.

A clear page speed report can be obtained by entering the website address in the tool available here.

The report is available for mobile and desktop devices, and performing tasks in accordance with the audit guidelines will positively affect the loading time of your website. However, it will be difficult to do it yourself, so it is worth turning to people who deal with creating websites on a daily basis.

Another tool that I recommend using is Semalt's Dedicated SEO Dashboard. Remember that the tool is available in both free and paid versions. It allows for a thorough analysis of the factors affecting the speed of loading the website.

It is worth being aware that not every element on the website can be easily and, most importantly, cheaply improved. This may be related to the CMS we use. In addition, even templates within the same CMS may differ in terms of their ability to implement recommendations from external tools.

Summary

Positioning will allow you to develop your website and reach new users. Improving the technical elements of the website, creating content or obtaining links is hard work you need to devote the right amount of time. Use analytical tools like The Dedicated SEO Dashboard and study the effects of your changes on the website. However, if you expect more, I recommend using the website positioning service offered by a professional agency.