Learning SEO is not that hard!

In a fit of panic induced by the current economic instability of the world, I set out to learn new skills that will ensure financial security of my future. Now, I am aware that today’s economic arena is heavily reliant on the internet. I see so many YouTube videos and Instagram reels on how much people earn online and how easy it is to do so. To test my luck, I jumped into the online market to make an honest living with my skills. But the online market is immensely saturated (Obviously… the whole world is on it). However, I learnt that to stand out in such a market I need to learn Search Engine Optimization. I had been putting off learning SEO as I thought that it was a highly technical skill that I simply did not have the mind to acquire. Nonetheless, I decided to try my hand at it and realized that it wasn’t that hard. It wasn’t that much of a technical enigma that everyone made it out to be.

I’ll explain.

In this article I’ll try to explain SEO in a way that the most technically illiterate of us can understand. In the end I’ll even give links of the sources from which any of us can learn SEO with ease. So, let’s begin!!

To get started with SEO, first you need to understand how google works and how it determines what webpages rank higher in search results.

How google works?

Google uses programs called spiders that crawl the internet. They go from page to another to create a virtual map of all the content that is present on the internet. They start their search from pages that contain the keywords that you type into the search bar. They traverse through the content of those pages and then all the pages they are linked to. As a result, it determines all the pages that contain the information the user is looking for, rank them according to their relevance and credibility, and present them to the user in the search results.

Now that you have an idea of how google works, we can start understanding SEO.

What exactly is Search Engine Optimization?

It is an art through which you put out your content, products, services or websites in a manner that will attract more traffic to it and appear higher in the list of results for any google query related to your domain. As a result, your content will be more visible in the search results which will hopefully translate into more business for you.

The fundamentals of SEO.

These are the main areas of focus in SEO. You will find your journey revolving around them.

1. Keywords

Keywords are simply the words that are entered in the search bar. These form the foundation of SEO. The more keywords you choose in accordance with the searcher’s intent, content relevance, and traffic potential (The ability to bring users to your page) the better.

2. Backlinks

These are simply links from and to your page. The more links from and to your page the better. But remember, too many links or links from less credible sources can damage the ranking of your page.

3. Page Authority

This is the metric through which a page’s relevance and credibility is measured. It depends on the precision of keywords, credibility and volume of backlinks and quality of content.

The core practices of Search Engine Optimization

These are the things you need to do to optimize your content for better rankings in search engine results.

1. Understand the searcher’s intent and shape your content accordingly.

The entire purpose of SEO is to provide the user with what they expect. So, a general rule of thumb you need to keep in mind is that you have to design your content, provide titles and embed links as accurately aligned to the intentions of your audience as possible. This is the first rule of SEO, which then goes on to provide a strategy for your content, keywords and links.

2. Choose keywords wisely.

Keywords are the foundation of your optimization. To determine the best keywords for your content you need to ask these questions from yourself:

• How much does this keyword get searched around the world?

• Will this keyword prompt the user to open my page?

• Will this keyword push the user to make a purchase?

• Is this keyword aligning with the searcher’s intent?

• Do the top-rankers in my niche also use this keyword? If so, what results are they getting? If not, is this a potential traffic driver they are missing?

3. Focus on your content.

All the optimizing you are doing is to sell your content. It may be blogs, products, services etc. So, what your content actually is matters a lot. Here are somethings you need to keep in mind regarding your content:

• It should be relevant to what the user has searched.

• It should be formatted in a neat and readable manner.

• It should follow a proper hierarchy of headings, sub-headings and bullet-points.

• It should be in accordance with the latest trends.

• Don’t stuff it with keywords or backlinks.

• Write in short paragraphs and short sentences.

4. Build an online presence through backlinks.

Backlinks improve your ranking by providing proof of relevance and credibility to Google’s search algorithms. Be sure to link credible and high traffic driving pages to your page. To get other pages to link to your webpage, try contacting the authors of other pages related to your niche and pitch them solid reasons to link you on their pages. Also, you can link your page on your social media to direct traffic from there.

5. Analyze your competitors.

You need to understand that there are many others more skilled and experienced in SEO than you are. There are many in your niche that rank higher than you. Analyze the types of keywords they use, which pages backlink to them and who they link to, and how they design their content. Learn from them. Find loopholes in their strategies and capitalize on those opportunities.

So, this was my guide to learning SEO or at least getting accustomed to it. Obviously, SEO is much more nuanced than what I have made it out to be. It is an art that needs to be refined through careful analysis and extensive practice. But the purpose of this article was just to ease off the air of elusiveness around it and to provide an easy introduction to it. There are also many technical aspects which I have purposefully left out to not scare away first timers. With the explanation I have provided for the topic, I think anyone can get started on learning and practicing Search Engine Optimization.

For further help I’ll provide links to the YouTube channel and website of an amazing source from where I learn SEO. Enjoy!

*ahrefs YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AhrefsCom*

*ahrefs website: https://ahrefs.com/ *