SEO cheat sheet

Today, every business with a website must be familiar with Search Engine Optimisation. It increases your web traffic, makes your company look authoritative and renowned, and provides more conversions and revenue. However, many people think SEO is too complicated and not worth the effort. And that is not true. As long as you know SEO basics, you will undoubtedly help you succeed in optimising your website. It just requires effort and planning. To help you with that, here are our SEO Cheat Sheet and 13 beginner tips on Search engine optimization. What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)? Search engine optimisation or SEO is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results—often referred to as “natural,” “organic,” or “earned” results. It is an umbrella term for the technical and creative processes used to make a website appealing to search engines. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic research, and news searches. Similarly, it can include the technical and creative components of designing, coding, and submitting websites to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). The main goal of SEO is to ensure that each page is as relevant as possible to specific keywords or phrases. 13 SEO Tips for Beginners SEO is a powerful tool today that, when properly used, can make your organisation more viable and popular on the internet and produce more sales or conversions. It is an integral part of companies’ digital strategy. Many businesses are now optimizing their website and content for SERPs. To help you begin your SEO journey, here are 13 SEO tips for beginners: 1. Define your targets clearly One of the most essential SEO tips for beginners that you should remember is defining your main goal. Before diving into creating a strategy, it is necessary to know your target to maximize your Return on Investment (ROI). You should also know how to track the success of your campaign. To define your targets, try asking yourself what you are doing your SEO for? Brand awareness? For new leads? Engagements. Then, determine the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Sales acquired after implementing the campaign Number of downloads/views Contact Form Submissions Number of phone calls received Email Subscribers acquired 2. Research and assess your competitors The following SEO tips and trick is assessing your competitor. Knowing your competitors is essential for SEO as it gives you a panoramic view of what you are against. It also gives you an idea of what you can focus on, what you could do better, and what is working and what is not. Take a deep dive into your competitor’s SEO activities and evaluate their top ranking pages and what they are ranking for. Then, identify the following aspects: Competitors’ weaknesses and how you can take advantage of them Gaps in the market Competitors’ strengths and how you can apply them on your website By identifying these matters, you will have a more vital idea of what you need to achieve for your SEO. 3. Understand User Intent Search intent is probably one of the most critical elements of SEO. It directly impacts how your target audience will search and how your website will appear on their search page result. Likewise, another SEO Tip for Beginners is to understand these intents. It will help you know which keyword you should be using. For example, if your business sells cupcakes, your target audience would be searching for keywords such as “best cupcakes in your area” or “best cupcake flavors.” To understand this further, here are three search intents such as Informational – User looking for information about a product or service Transactional – Someone looking to buy the product or service Navigational – User who wants to go to a website. Always try to think about the intent of your target user and what they want and needs. So when you write content, you are fulfilling what they are looking for, and you have the best chance for Google to think that your content is valuable. Just make sure your content can help searchers and is reliable. 4. Do keyword research As mentioned, keywords are one of the most critical parts of SEO. Suppose you want people to find your website or rank in SERPs. In that case, you need to find keywords relevant to the user’s intent and incorporate them into your website and content. However, before researching keywords for your website, you first need to understand the difference between Long-tail and Short-tail keywords. Basically, short-tail keywords are much more general queries of users consisting of a maximum of two words. Short tail keywords, while they come with a lot of traffic, are more complex to rank due to the high volume of people using them and increased competition. On the other hand, long-tail keywords are longer keywords, consisting of more than three words. These are a bit dormant in terms of search but easier to rank. Looking for your keywords is harder manually. You can try using FREE SEO Keyword Tools such as Ahrefs, SEMRush, or Keywords everywhere. These tools come with much-needed metrics such as Keyword Difficulty that will tell you how much effort you need to put into your content. It can also tell you other keywords that will be more accessible than rank for but still relevant to the keyword you are aiming for. 5. Create a logical site structure The following SEO Tips for Beginners is creating a logical site structure. Having an easy-to-navigate and user-friendly website is vital to SEO. It helps you create a logical hierarchy for your content. It also makes it easier for visitors to find and navigate content that can improve traffic and conversions to your website. Likewise, the easiest way for you to build a logical website structure is by sketching out a mind map. Check out this article to learn more about website structure. 6. Make the