Are you dreaming of ranking on Google? Then you must know the basics of SEO before hitting the publish button on your blog. I find learning SEO and Google indexing as fun. It caught my interest after launching my website.

I spend most of my time learning SEO from YouTube and reading blogs on Pinterest. And finally, I am now gaining a higher amount of views compared to my first month of blogging.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the way of optimizing your content by using keywords that will target your potential readers so your blog will appear on search engines like Google.

It is an organic way to gain traffic to your blog without spending money for paid ads.

“A good SEO strategy is essential for improving the quality and quantity of traffic to your website.” as stated by moz.com.

Why is learning the basics of SEO important?

Having a knowledge about SEO is essential if you want to take blogging seriously so your blogs will appear on search engines and rank on Google.

Being the top on search engines will bring you more readers that could be your leads and customers.

This blog will help you to learn the basics of SEO that will be helpful for your blogging journey.

Keyword

I never thought that blogs from the internet had an exact and specific keyword that would help Google to provide information to the readers.

For example, if you are writing about habit and productivity, you have to choose the right keyword that people will use when they are searching.

If the reader searches for “how to build a habit system” and you used the “habit system” as a keyword, there is a chance that your blog will appear on top of the search engine depending on the competition.

But how can you do that?

You could have the same keyword, so there is also a competition when it comes to blogging. This is why you need to optimize your content.

By adding your keyword in your title and meta tag, you could have a higher chance compared to your competitors who don’t do the same.

So, referring to the first example, if you used “habit system” as the keyword, you must use this in your title and introduction/meta description.

For example, you can use the title “How to Build Your Habit System Effectively” then in your meta description, “Are you one of those people who wants to build their habit system?”

As you will notice, I used the keyword on the title and meta description.

Internal and External Links

I never knew about this until I learned and studied SEO. Most beginner bloggers that I know also don’t know this and you must!

Having internal and external links on your blog helps search engines to crawl on your website. This helps you to rank on SERPs and put your article on top rank.

What is the difference between internal and external links?

Internal links are the links inside your blog, it means it is your blog while external links are the outside links on the internet. 

For example:

• 4 Powerful Platforms That Will Double Your Blog Traffic in 2022. The link attached on this text is an internal link because it is from my website (marklaurence.net)
• How to Get Visitors to a New Website (Even If You Don’t Know Where to Begin) while the link on this text is an external link because it is from shopify (not sponsored).

Search engines are crawling to your website on the internal and external links.

Put Alt Text on Your Images

Maybe you are thinking that putting alt text on your images is just a waste of time, but it actually helps search engines to rank your website.

You see, robots who crawl on your website can’t see, so they depend on alt text.

Here’s the thing that you need to remember. To make it more effective, make sure that you put your keyword in alt text so it also helps the crawlers to “read” your images.

I also read a blog that it is also important to change the file names of your images so they are not random characters because it also helps you to rank on page results.

So, instead of IMG58382.jpg, it is better to put How to Boost Your Blog Traffic Thumbnail.jpg as your image file name.

Adding Keywords to Your Subheadings

In my experience of using Yoast SEO WordPress plugin, I found out that using keywords on your subheadings also help you to rank on search engines.

Although I rarely do this because most of my subheadings are part of my list blog, it is also a good idea to do it if you want to rank on page results.

However don’t exaggerate because in the end, the experience of the readers on your blog is what matters the most.

Bonus information about the basics of SEO

There are also two basic types of SEO which are on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?

On-page SEO is the one that you control on your website like putting keywords, using alt text on your images, adding internal and external links, etc. Meanwhile, Off-page SEO also known as off-site SEO is an action that you do outside your website to rank on page results and build domain authority.

To make it short, on-page seo are the things that we discussed on this blog like having keywords, alt text, etc. Off-page seo is sharing your blog using social media, building backlinks, etc.

Conclusion

Learning the basics of SEO is fun and interesting. It is a long-term process for a long-term result. 

I know that learning this information will help every blogger to build a perfect foundation to top the rank of search engine results pages (SERPs).

Both on-page and off-page SEO helps you to skyrocket your traffic organically and build your domain authority.

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