The Steps to Search engine optimization.

We have already looked at, in part 1 of this SEO article series, what SEO is, and how it works. Now we are going to get more practical. In this step by step SEO guide, we will break down the individual elements of an SEO process.

So without any more delay, let’s jump into a bit of an overview.

As mentioned, SEO can be broken down into different elements. All must be considered both individually and as a joint SEO effort. The way we are setting out these elements is as follows:

1. Keyword research

2. SEO Strategy

3. On Page SEO

4. Technical SEO

5. Link Building

6. Content Writing

So let’s take a look at these individually.

Keyword Research

Conducting keyword research for SEO

In 2024 there are many useful keyword research tools. These have come a long way and can be of real benefit to your SEO campaign. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs & Moz are at the forefront of the industry. All of those softwares have very sophisticated keyword research tools.

You should first consider the intent of your searchers. When people search for your company(they may not know this yet) what are they searching for?

You can then use things like SEMrush’s keyword magic tool to find a keyword list of search terms you are looking for. This will allow you to enter in a base keyword, and from there provide you with all similar keyword ideas. You can pick out relevant content to then put into your keyword list.

Also consider your competitors sites. You can use SEO tools to view the keywords competitors are ranking for. This can be great for pointing you in the right direction and showing you your ideal target audience.

Knowing ho

• Use keyword research tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to find hundreds or thousands of keyword ideas.

• Consider factors like search demand, ranking difficulty, and business potential when prioritizing keywords.

• Targeting the right keywords can improve your website’s visibility and ranking.

Identifying relevant keywords and phrases

So now how do I indentify which keywords are useful and which arent?

There are many factors to consider, however the main ones are relatively simple.

• Search demand: The volume of monthly searches. You want to be sure people are actually looking for that keyword.

• Ranking difficulty: A score provided by keyword tools that will tell you how difficult it is to rank for certain keywords. The lower the difficulty the easier it is to rank.

• Search intent: What is the searcher actually looking for when googling that keyword? Is that what you offer? Then this ticks the search intent box.

• Business potential: How valuable is that keyword searcher to your business? This is important to consider so you are aware which keywords to prioritise.

Using these criteria, you should be able to put together a pretty solid keyword list.

SEO Strategy

An SEO strategy is essential when it comes to search engine marketing. You need to be aware of your goals in your digital marketing campaign. To create a good SEO strategy you must establish what areas of your business you are looking to grow. Also figuring out where your traffic should come from and go to.

Your SEO Strategy will take advantage of your keyword research to know what online demand looks like. Knowing what people are searching for is a very powerful ability. You can use this to tactfully create a strategy to capture the most efficient, in demand services/products your business offers.

You can also strategise how you will capture these keywords. This may be by creating specific landing pages for search terms. E.g If you are a plumber in London, you may create a specific landing page with SEO optimized content. This will capture that search term specifically.

On-Page Optimization

This is the act of optimizing your page titles, structure and content. Another crucial part of your SEO efforts. This helps search engine algorithms figure out which keywords you should rank for.

Improving site architecture and structure

Your website architecture is crucial for two main reasons. It is not only users that have to navigate your site, but search engine crawlers too. By making it as easy to navigate you are making it as easy as possible for the crawlers to index your pages. This is a big benefit for search engine algorithms.

Internal links are another critical part of your on page SEO efforts. It ties in with the site architecture. It essentially means how all your pages interlink. If an article on your plumbing services mentions the term “boiler repair”, you may link that to a blog post on boiler repair.

You pretty much are telling the crawlers more info on the keywords, and which pages hold information on which topics. All the important pages should be linked to plenty of times from other pages.

Optimizing headers, titles and meta descriptions

On top of the architectuer, you also need to optimize your headers, title tags and meta description. Your headers on your pages are contained with relevant HTML tags. Each page should have one main H1 tag, with keyword rich H2 and H3 titles beneath. These allow search engine crawlers to easily detect your topics and keywords.

Your SEO title tag on your page is the title shown on search engine results pages. It is another opportunity to include a keyword or two, but must also be attention grabbing and aligned with search intent.

Your page’s meta description is the page description shown in search results. You should also make this keyword rich, but give a good description of the page. Make readers want to read more and also fine tune this into the searcher’s intent. Make sure they know you hold the answers they are looking for.

The Technical SEO process

Technical SEO is diving into the backend of your site’s performance. Search engines value fast loading, secure sites that also work well on mobile. If you have already established a strong site architecture, this mainly comes down to optimizing site speed, security and mobile optimization.

There are plenty of technical SEO tools out there to help you, but you can do a lot through just cutting out dead weight in your websites code. This should help with site speed. Also establishing security methods like SSL certificates and using a secure hosting provider.

Take a look online for a free tool. Though it is slightly complicated once you get to a certain level of competition, this should be a good base to start from.

Creating High-Quality Content

Writing great content that resonates with your audience

The most difficult thing to balance when writing website content is SEO optimization but also writing for your audience. Combining those two things can be tricky. You don’t want to over optimize such that your content isn’t readable or attractive to your audience. But you also want to rank highly on search results. Finding this balance is the key behind good content writing.

Writing to your audience is not only about the content. But you need to consider the user experience. Your page should look nice, your content well structured and your information should be useful.

Also use SEO optimized meta descriptions for each page to write an appealing advert for what a user can find if they click on your page.

Optimizing content for search intent and user needs

So you have your keyword list. You have your strategy so you know which pages target keywords specifically. Now to write the content optimized for the search intent. Decide what the user is looking for. That is step 1. Make sure that you are filling that demand with useful information.

Look at the top ranking pages for your keywords. See what topics they have covered, their style of writing and how they have structured their pages. This will give you a good idea of what you need to do to rank for those keywords.

Use tools like YOAST real time content analysis to be sure that your writing style is fit for what search engines are looking for. You can write in your text, and have sections highlighted for being written in a non-optimized way.

Building High-Quality Backlinks

As we previously discussed in our how does SEO work article, having authority in your topic is essential for good search engine rankings. This authority is built through links on other websites back to yours. Link building is thus a key part of the SEO process. So now to go into some good strategies for this.

Strategies for building high-quality backlinks

Guest posting is a great way to build links. Some websites will allow you to post your own article on their website. If that website has good authority, you can help to build authority in your own site. These are even more beneficial because writing the whole article allows you to provide more target keyword relevance.

Broken link building is another method to achieve backlinks. Essentially it is the art of analyzing high authority websites in your niche. Seeing if any links are broken(which can be done with SEO audit tools), and then creating the content needed to fill the gap. If you don’t have that content already. Once you do, you can reach out to the site and offer a solution to their broken link problem. By linking to your site.

Outreach and manual link building. This can be one of the most useful methods of link building. Build relationships with high authority websites by reaching out to their contact info. Offer to link back to them and build a network of your own links.

Conclusion

Recap of the importance of SEO for online businesses

SEO is crucial for any online business. Everything is online now, everyone searches the internet. If your online visibility is high, then your business has a great chance at success. In simple terms, the more of your target audience coming to your website, the more conversions you will have.

SEO is not a one and done thing. It is a continuous process over time. Continually building your authority and content strategy will compound the success you find with SEO. Also never forget that any customers you then make repeat customers, add further to the cumulative effect.

Start your SEO Journey

Hopefully this guide will help you to start your SEO process. It may be tough at first but it is absolutely worth it in the long run. If the workload is too much, you can always bring in an SEO agency to carry out the work for you.

Why Choose Accsellera?

At Accsellera we pride ourselves on being client oriented. Our SEO approach is always to fulfil your needs as a business. We are always happy to provide our consulting services or create an SEO package to your business’ requirements. Leave an enquiry here for a free SEO audit & consultation.