Welcome to SEO 101!

Every digital marketer worth their salt swears by the efficacy of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you’re uninitiated to the field, allow us to establish that SEO is indeed not all that complicated. The fundamentals are relatively easy to grasp, and they are all you need to begin ranking your content on search engines.

Let us begin by defining what Search Engine Optimization means and why your organization can't thrive without it in today's scenario.

Defining SEO


How often do you hit the "next" button on the bottom of a Google search page? Not that often right! Guess what, you are not the only one wanting everything you need on the very first page. Even though you know that pages 2, 3, and so on will likely bear reliable results, you consciously give in to inertia at the cost of limiting your options.

This is the starting point of understanding SEO. The websites you see on the first page of a search engine have crawled up there through optimization, which brings us to our definition.

Optimizing a website so that it ranks in the top 5 or 10 organic search results happens due to SEO. The better your site's ranking, the higher the non-paid web traffic it attracts.

Search engine optimization requires you to understand the following:

  • A primary knowledge of how search engines work
  • What are your target audiences searching for?
  • Why and how are they searching?

Know that successful SEO sites appeal to both prospects as well as search engines. And how do you do that? Let's find out.

How to Start Your SEO Journey?


Are you wondering how you can make search engines put your website on a pedestal?

Before we list out the steps, know that you don’t need to learn exacting algorithms that search engines use to rank your website. However, you must be aware of the following steps critical to making the SEO soup.

Step 1 – Figure Out What Your Audiences Are Looking For and How


It's safe to say that you cannot optimize your website without knowing what your potentials are looking for. So, how do you figure out what it is that prospects want? By discovering the keywords, they are searching with! (Check out how a Virtual Marketing Assistant can help you up your keyword game in no time)

For instance, say you run a Seattle-based restaurant that needs to reach out to more people. Here you don't need to be an SEO genius to know that your prospects are likely searching for stuff like:

  • 'Top places to dine in Seattle'
  • ‘Best restaurants in Seattle’

Now type 'top places to dine in Seattle' on a search engine and look at the meta-descriptions of the top 10 results.

Believe it or not, you will likely come across long-tail phrases that were never in your list of notes. Along with the keywords you already have, you will find many more like 'restaurants in Seattle,' 'fine-dine restaurants located in Seattle,' etc.

These phrases show that the top search results have the title 'restaurants in Seattle' in common. Scouting and including user-ranked keywords on your website this way will help you optimize it.

Expand your keyword vocabulary by looking at other sources as well. These include searching through portals like:

  • Social media platforms
  • Quora
  • Blogs and forums
  • Online keyword search tools

Enriching your website's content with correct keywords is critical for SEO ranking as search engines use them to assess your page's relevance.

Step 2 – Create Optimized Pages that Sit Well with Search Intent


Sure, your web pages need to engage the person on the other side of the screen with excellent UX design. Optimization efforts can go in vain if you make it challenging to consume content by overstuffing landing pages with too many pop-ups, keywords, opt-ins, etc.

But that's not it!

On-page optimization becomes even more potent when your content aligns with search intent. Remember the three primary intent types -

  • Transactional – The customer is looking to make a purchase
  • Navigational – The prospect is looking for a specific website
  • Informational – The prospect is scouting for a particular type of service

However, the search intent is not often clear from a top-ranked search query itself. For instance, let's take the key phrase 'best restaurant in Seattle' again. Now, you may think this phrase ranks on top for prospects searching the web with transactional intent. How do you know for sure?

To know the real intent behind any key phrase, it is essential to search the pages that already rank for it. For all you know, the term 'best restaurant in Seattle' ranks best for informational or transactional search intent.

Further, you can optimize your website by:

  • Creating short yet descriptive URLs – Google Search likes a concise and descriptive URL that tells the engine what your page is all about.

  • Creating compelling meta-descriptions and titles – Search engines use both these elements when building a results page.

  • Create a proper structure – Use the standard HTML structure headers H1 to H6 to help search engines comprehend your page's logical structure. Is your website built on WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace or any other platform? Check out how a Digital Marketing expert can help you optimize your website built on any framework and help it align with your SEO goals.

Step 3 – Build Quality Backlinks from other Websites


Backlinks are a way to attract traffic from ideally a high domain authority website to yours. Sounds easy enough? Not always! Unless you are willing to spend resources on producing high-quality content worthy of publication on guest sites. And this is where guest blogging becomes crucial.

If you plan to go down this route, hire a guest blogger capable of creating premium quality content tailored to the guest site's readership. You can exploit the true potential of guest blogging only by publishing on high domain authority websites. While doing so, make sure the backlinks your guest posts carry lead to either a relevant topic that further expands a reader's knowledge or to a noteworthy solution.

Remember that backlinks strongly influence a search engine's ranking algorithm. Even Google assures that backlinks are one of the top 3 parameters for ranking websites.

Ready, Set, Go!


While it’s true that effective search engine optimization is a long-term commitment with pretty cut-throat competition, it is also the most effective way to increase web traffic that eventually leads to higher conversions. Much like other skill sets, you can acquire SEO skills with time. So, don't be overwhelmed and remember this three-point recap to begin your SEO journey:

  • Figure Out What Your Audiences Are Looking for and How
  • Create Optimized Pages that Sit Well with Search Intent
  • Build Quality Backlinks from other Websites

You can acquire more knowledge of SEO by consulting SEO agencies near to you just for example If you are in Paris you can search "SEO agency in Paris" and you'll get the result of agencies providing SEO services, you can visit them and can clear your many consequences regarding SEO

Remember that with time, these steps will enhance your website's domain authority and help it climb up search engine rankings!

Last but not the least, it’s essential to understand and embrace the present-day trends, markets, technology and consumer behaviour to stay at the top of your game. Here are the 5 hottest business trends to look out for in 2020.


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Author Bio:

Ishika Jain is a business student at UBC Canada and a writer at Wishup. She’s had a zest for writing since the very start and enjoys penning her thoughts about round-the clock social issues. With an intriguing mind and curiosity towards the magic of the digital world, she relishes to learn about the perpetual trends, technologies and entrepreneurial affairs.