Complete and uncomplicated SEO guide
Table of Contents
Much is said about SEO to optimize your website in Google and generate more traffic to your channel. It is a relatively dense and quite extensive subject, and professionals are very dedicated to studying all the elements that involve the SEO for the site to prosper. As it's a complex subject, we're on a mission to explain the topic as uncomplicated as possible, so check out our complete SEO guide and get ready to boost your online presence.
What is SEO
O SEO, abbreviation that means Search Engine Optimization (“Search Engine Optimization”, in free translation), is a strategy used to improve the visibility and positioning of a website in the results of search engines, such as Google and Bing.
In simple terms, the SEO exists to make your site more attractive to search engines, so that it is displayed in the first positions when someone searches for key words related to your content. This is important because most people tend to click on the first results that appear.
But what are these keywords? We are here to explain!
What are keywords?
A keyword, or keyword, is the term or phrase that people type into search engines when looking for something on the internet. It's the text you write on the Google when you do a search.
This is where the techniques of SEO proper. The keywords you use on each of your pages must be relevant to your business and have good search volume (i.e. lots of people search for those terms on Google).
It is important to remember that there is no point in simply putting the keyword many times in the text. This doesn't help your page appear at the top of search results. Instead, use them as a guide to create content that is relevant and useful to your target audience, and that is repeated throughout the text in a natural and non-exaggerated way.
To select a good keyword, you must analyze the following points:
- Search Volume: this is the number of times the keyword is searched in the Google.
- Keyword Ranking Difficulty: it is not always advantageous to use the most used keywords, because with the huge competition, it is possible for your site to be in a position far behind in the pages of the Google. Try to be creative.
- Compare with competitors, but don't copy them: A strategy often used when selecting keywords is simply to analyze competitors and develop a strategy.
To know if the keyword has a good search volume, in addition to other information, it is possible to use keyword research services, such as, for example, Google Trends, Ubersuggest ou SEMrush, among others.
By applying SEO techniques such as optimizing content, using relevant keywords and building quality links, you increase the chances of attracting more visitors to your website and, consequently, improve the reach and organic traffic.
What is organic traffic?
Organic traffic is when people visit a website without paying for ads or promotional campaigns. This happens when people find and click on the site through search engines, social networks, shared links or referrals from other pages.
This type of traffic is valuable by meaning that the content on the site is relevant and interesting enough to be discovered and accessed naturally. Bloggers, entrepreneurs and even large successful companies use SEO to generate organic traffic and increase their online presence.
Now that you know what SEO is, keywords and how valuable organic traffic is, it's time to understand how search engines work.
How do search engines work?
Search engines such as Google and Bing, use complex algorithms that scan and analyze billions of web pages to find the ones that are most relevant to your search. Amazing how they manage to do that so quickly!
When you perform a search, the search engine starts examining all the web pages that it has already indexed, that is, that it has visited before. It then uses its algorithms to determine which pages are most relevant to your search, based on various factors such as keywords, content quality, site relevance and links from other web pages.
Once the search engine determines which pages are most relevant to your search, it ranks them in a specific order, placing the most relevant pages at the top of the search results. It's important to remember that search algorithms are constantly evolving, which is why your search results may change from time to time.
These pages with search results made by search engines are called SERPs, abbreviation in English of Search Engine Result Pages (Search Engine Result Pages). The main function of SEO it is precisely to achieve a prominent place for your website on these results pages.
Currently, the Google holds the first place in the ranking of the most used search engines, so it's time to understand its secrets!
How Google Works
For Google discover the sites and classify the contents, the process is very similar to the one described above; it uses the following three steps:
- Tracking: The Google uses “robots”, also called “spiders”, to explore the internet for new or updated pages. For the Google find a page, it's important that it has links pointing to it, and in general, the more links a page has, the easier it is for the Google find her.
- indexing: After finding the URLs, that is, the pages, the Google analyzes the content, images and other media to understand the subject addressed in each of them. This information is later stored in the Table of Contents Of google.
- Exibição: After evaluating the URLs, the Google determines which pages are most relevant to users' searches and ranks them in search engine results (SERPs). It is worth noting that a typical SERP first displays paid (sponsored) results and then organic results, that is, those that have relevant content, but based on the quality of the page.
These steps are only possible thanks to the powerful algorithm of the Google. Let's take a look at how it works?
Understanding the Google Algorithm
The search algorithm Google It's a complex process that takes into account many factors to determine the order in which pages appear in search results. Although no one outside Google know exactly all your ranking factors, the company offers some suggestions and best practices to help users optimize their sites. See below.
When optimizing your site, it's important to consider the search intent of user. Your content should answer user questions in a clear and relevant way, taking into account factors such as language, timeliness and use of synonyms.
Over the years, the algorithm of the Google has gone through many changes to make it more accurate and efficient, and currently it has been focusing on understanding that user's search intent using language models. For example, the algorithm is able to find relevant results for each of the searches below, even if the same word (“exchange”) is used in different contexts.
- Research Example 1: Do Banks Exchange Foreign Currency? (Convert)
- Research example 2: How to change a fuse? (To replace)
- Research example 3: How to change the resolution of the notebook screen? (Adjust)
Furthermore, relevance is essential to the success of the SEO. After the algorithm Google considers that your content meets the user's search intent, they query it in the Index to understand where that content falls in terms of relevance. If you can provide users with clear and relevant content, your chances of ranking well in the SERPs will be greater.
Finally, the Quality is an important ranking factor considered by the algorithm of the Google. Quality assessment is known as EAT - expertise (specialty), authoritativeness (authority) and trustworthiness (reliability). Therefore, it is important to ensure that your content is accurate, reliable quality that transform.
If your site uses inappropriate practices of SEO, such as suspicious links, excessive use of keywords or any type of spam, the algorithm or a professional Google can penalize your page. be aware of fundamentals of research Google not to fall into the fine mesh!
Now that we know how search engines work, it's time to understand how SEO techniques and strategies can actually be applied.
How does SEO work?
O SEO is divided into two main categories: the optimization techniques that can be done on your website pages, called SEO On Page, and optimization techniques done outside your page, called Off Page SEO.
SEO On Page
O SEO On Page, different from the elements off-page, which we will discuss later, has factors that can be directly controlled by you, and we have already mentioned some here in the guide. They are:
- Search Keyword: considering those that have higher search volume and less difficulty in ranking;
- Relevant Contents: and intended for the user's intent, including images and detailed information about the searched subject;
- page speed: is also an important factor for the user experience. Use the PageSpeed Insight, from Google, to check your website speed and get suggestions for improvement;
- Internal Links: seen as a vote of confidence by the Google. Therefore, create links that point high authority pages to other parts of your site in order to improve the relevance and authority of your content.
Off Page SEO
Off-page SEO are the strategies you can use outside your website to increase your visibility and authority in search results. These strategies include:
- Link building: This technique involves getting quality links to your site from other sites. We will see in detail later;
- Participation in online forums and communities: Can help increase your site's visibility to a wider audience. You can provide useful and relevant information to users, which can help establish your authority and credibility in your niche.
- Influence Marketing: involves collaborating with influencers to promote your website or product;
- Content marketing on other websites: Content marketing involves creating high-quality, relevant content for other websites, which can help increase your online visibility and authority. You can write articles for sites relevant to your niche and include links back to your site;
- Strategic use of social media: can be a powerful tool allowing you to reach a wider audience, promote your site and drive traffic to your page.
Let's talk about Content?
Bill Gates once said that "Content is king”, and this statement is true. This means that, in terms of SEO, the better the content on your site, the better your position in search results.
For your content to “reign” you need to pay attention and understand the main elements that influence your results. SEO.
Titles, subtitles and meta description
Titles are very important for the SEO and many argue that it is the part where digital marketing strategists take the longest time to choose words. There are several subdivisions and all are equally important:
- SEO Title: this is the title that will appear on the page of the Google. For this one, it's recommended to be approximately 55 characters long; the keyword should be at the beginning of the text, and if it's the first word, even better. The headline must be objective, using a journalistic technique known as “CPC” – Conciseness, Precision and Clarity.
- Meta Description: This is the text that appears at the bottom of the page of the Google. According to the search engine giant, this is not a ranking determining factor, but it should not be neglected. This is where the reader will be convinced whether to enter the site or not.
- Internal Title: Unlike the previous one, this is the title that the reader will see when he has already clicked on the site. We recommend that it be same to the title of SEO, for the reader to be even more interested in reading its content.
- Subtitle: Also known as “Heading Tags”, your blog text should have several subheadings. At the Wordpress, for example, these are divided from “H1” (most important) to “H6” (least important). They are crucial to the robot's Google realize that your content has a hierarchy, in addition to improving the reading of the text as a whole.
Size and quality go hand in hand with SEO
For your page to be relevant to the Google, it is advisable that it has a good size of text combined with the quality of the content. according to a research recent prepared by hook agency, the first organic positions in the Google have texts with an average of between 1700 and 2.400 words.
Obviously, this is not a rule, as the target audience also needs to be considered. The idea is to satisfy the will of the reader who consumes that content.
Rich content, style and authorship
To write content that people will enjoy reading, it's important to use simple, easy-to-understand words. Use a short-sentence writing style and organize the content into chunks that make sense and relate to the main theme. This way, people will find it easier to find the answers they are looking for.
If you want to make the content even richer and more interesting, you can include images, audios or videos. It's also important to say who wrote the content. If the person who wrote it is known and has experience in the subject, this can help to give more credibility to what was written.
Remember that content is part of your channel's larger marketing strategy. So it's good to think about how people will find and read what you've written and how this can help you reach more readers.
outgoing links
Os outgoing links, also known as outbound links, are those that direct the user to other sites. They are very important for several reasons.
First, they help to validate the information presented in the content. If you include a link that backs up what is being said, it increases the credibility and trust of readers in your content.
In addition, outgoing links also help to build relationships with other websites and bloggers. If you include a link to someone else's website, they may end up doing the same for you at some point, which can increase your visibility on the internet.
Finally, outbound links are also important for the SEO. When you include a quality link in your content, it can increase your page's relevance to search engines, which can lead to better placement in search engine results.
However, it is important to remember that the Quality of outbound links is critical. It is necessary to include links that are really relevant and that add value to the content. Also, it is recommended to avoid including links in excess, as this can harm the user experience and authority of your site. Ideally, find a balance between including relevant links and maintaining focused, quality content. Keep an eye on it!
Images
Another point quite neglected by users of SEO, images are also important for a good ranking in the Google. As the search engine giant's robots cannot “read” the image, they use its text elements to do so. Therefore, it is important to save the file name with the keyword separated by hyphens, not putting a generic name in it.
Also, the alt text is where you present the Google What is that image about? Therefore, when developing a blog article, fill in the “alt text” of the image with a description of what it is, along with its keyword.
Another issue is that the writer must have common sense when to choose the image, not exaggerating the quality (loading is heavy) and not putting low resolution photos.
anchor text
Anchor text is a highlighted word or phrase in a text that acts as a link to another page on your website or outside your website. It is important to use it strategically on your website, as it directs users to other relevant content, increasing interaction and permanence on your website.
O Google considers the quantity and quality of the links that point to a certain content, therefore, the anchor text is fundamental in the strategy of SEO.
Let's see some examples of anchor texts:
- Exact match: in this case the anchor text is exactly same to the main keyword of the linked content. For example, if your article talks about “best restaurants in São Paulo”, the anchor text could be exactly that expression;
- Partial correspondence: here, there is a slight variance between the highlighted phrase and the indicated page keyword. For example, if your article talks about “weight loss tips”, the anchor text could be “weight loss tips”;
- Brand: You can also use your brand or company name mentioned in the post as anchor text. For example, if you mention the brand XYZ in your text, you can use the name “XYZ” as anchor text.
When creating anchor text, it is important to consider some tips:
- Choose relevant keywords: when linking a link to your text, try to use keywords related to its content as anchor text. This is basic!
- Keep the text short and to the point: There's no point in selecting an entire paragraph to create a link. Be direct and objective, selecting only the words or passages that clearly represent the linked content;
- use synonyms: if the keyword does not fit perfectly in the context of your content, you can use synonyms or related expressions that are present in the text;
- Avoid generic expressions: avoid phrases like “click here” or “learn more”. They do not clearly indicate the content of the link. Instead, be specific and draw the reader's attention to what they will find when they click on the link;
- Do not insert URLs directly into the text: Avoid pasting long URLs into the body of your text. Not only does this make the text less appealing, it also wastes the opportunity to create anchor text that is relevant and improves the user experience.
Anchor text is an important SEO strategy, so when writing your articles, think about how anchor texts can direct users to other relevant content and engage your audience even more, okay?
Content types
Each type of content plays an important role in your marketing and SEO strategy. It's important to use a variety of formats to reach different audiences and goals.
As lists are easy to read and engage readers and search engines alike. You guides are useful for explaining a topic step by step and can be targeted by specific keywords. already the in-depth guides (like this guide!) are more work, but help you understand a subject in more depth.
As tables are easy to understand by Google and are useful when you need to present a lot of data. To the gallery, such as photos and illustrations, have been increasingly highlighted in search results and can generate traffic from the google image search. The infographics are images that contain data and are great for sharing on social media and making link building.
Os youtube e podcast are also gaining more and more space in search results. Videos that teach you how to do something are effective at engaging your audience, and podcasts are a great way to build an audience.
Os webinars (compound word that comes from English, formed by the junction of “website” (internet) and “seminar” (seminar)) are presentations, lectures, workshops or classes broadcast live over the internet, in which the presenter interacts with the public through a videoconferencing platform. The webinar can be recorded and made available later for those unable to attend live, and are effective in building audience.
Os ebooks they are digital books that brands usually distribute for free and are useful for approaching more in-depth content. They can also be used to gather information about the public through forms on your read or download page.
Finally, it is important to remember that posting videos on YouTube can bring more visibility to your content, as it is the second most visited site on the planet!
URL Importance
Another direct factor to have a better position in the ranking, choosing a good URL is essential. At this point, the shorter, more to the point and containing the chosen keyword, the better.
Bad URL example: www.showmetech.com.br/10-formas-de-voce-entender-melhor-o-seo-guia-completo
Good URL example: www.showmetech.com.br/guia-seo-completo-para-iniciantes
Furthermore, after publishing the article, it is highly not recommended update the URL, as this disrupts the search engines. Google. You should also avoid numbers in URLS, dots and subdomains. The more “clean”, the better.
Link Building
This is basically when other channels link to your content. The more channels that link to your content, the better, working almost like “votes” to measure the relevance and popularity of your site on the internet.
There are a few ways to “build links”, let’s see:
- Partnerships and Networking with other channels or websites that have content related to yours. For example, if you have a travel blog, you can reach out to other travel blogs to exchange links or write guest posts. These partnerships benefit both of them websites, increasing visibility and traffic;
- Quality content: the more valuable, relevant, interesting and useful your content is, the more likely other sites will want to link to it. Be an expert in your niche and offer exclusive and reliable information;
- Directories and Lists in your industry are important, include your website in them. These listings can bring visibility and generate links to the site. In addition, some directories are considered reliable sources by search engines, which can increase the relevance of your site in the eyes of the search engines. Google;
- linkbait or “link bait” in free translation, consists of creating attractive and irresistible content that people naturally want to share and link to. It could be a controversial article, an interesting infographic, an exclusive study or a funny video. The idea is to awaken the public's interest to the point that they want to share your content on their own websites and social networks;
- Participation in events and awards: be active in your market niche and participate in events, congresses, webinars and awards relevant to its field of activity. By participating in these events, you have the opportunity to meet influential people and establish contacts that can result in partnerships and links to your site.
Dos link building It's an ongoing process and takes time and effort, but it can bring significant results to your site's visibility and authority. Always remember to look for quality links, relevant to your target audience, and avoid practices such as link purchases, who can to harm your online reputation.
Different SEO Approaches
Did you know that there are different approaches to SEO beyond On-Page e off-page? Just take a look at some:
- Technical SEO: is the optimization of technical structure of the site, including improving loading speed, image optimization, site architecture, among other features;
- Local SEO: focuses on optimizing the site for local searches, such as including contact and address information, creating profiles in local directories, and more;
- International SEO: is optimization for searches in other countries and languages, including content translation and keyword adaptation;
- Affiliate SEO: uses optimization techniques to promotion affiliate products, including creating promotional content and including affiliate links;
- News SEO: focuses on optimizing content for searches in news platforms, including creating relevant titles and descriptions and including appropriate tags.
SEO It's a skill that takes time and constant learning, as search engine rules and guidelines are constantly changing and improving.
If you follow the tips in our SEO, make sure you have more chances to get considerable relevance for your site. If you have any questions about this, leave them in the comments, as we will try to answer them as soon as possible.
See more:
Source: Google, Semrush, Neil Patel, DigitalMarketingInstitute
Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim (19 / 07 / 23)
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