SEO is essential for marketing your website via search engines like Google. SEO is also a complicated, time-consuming process. Fortunately, this guide is here to provide a brief overview of how to perform SEO successfully.

Get technical

This is perhaps the last thing you want to read if you’re a newcomer to SEO. However, experts at ALT Agency note that technical SEO is the foundation to any SEO process, do not do SEO without it because there’s no chance of hitting the first page of Google otherwise.

Fortunately, technical SEO isn’t quite as daunting as it sounds. It consists of the following:

• Page speed
• Meta tags
• Page content
• Internal linking
• User experience

While elements like maximizing page speed and producing high-quality content can take time, others – such as meta tags and the implementation of internal links – can be done relatively quickly. Yet even if certain aspects take minimal effort, it can go a long way to boosting your SEO campaign.

Keywords

In SEO, keywords are essentially the bridge between your website and your target audience. The more keywords you target effectively, the more your site’s content will show up in relevant search queries.

This makes keyword research an integral element in any SEO strategy. While it would be nice to target the most common keywords in your chosen industry, you’re unlikely to gain enough ground on the big boys when starting out. Yet if you use the right mix of short and long-tail keywords, your content has a great chance of showing up in less competitive – but still tasty – search results.

Backlinks

Another important SEO component is the use of backlinks. When there are backlinks placed on external websites that point back to your site, it tells Google your resource is valuable enough to be shared by others. Thus, more backlinks mean the search engines view your content as more valuable for their audience, increasing its SERP ranking as a result.

At least, that’s if the backlinks are featured on high authoritative websites. You can target such sites by offering to write a guest post or providing a financial donation.

Don’t rest on your laurels

SEO is not something you can work on for a couple of months, sit back, and expect continued success for years to come. It’s a continual process that you have to stay on top of to ensure your site remains a favorite with the search engines.

One aspect to be aware of is that Google frequently updates its search algorithm. While some updates might actually benefit your cause, others can result in your site plummeting down the search rankings – plenty of sites have gone from the first page to obscurity overnight. Due to this, you must stay in the know about the latest changes and react if needed.

In addition, you should keep your site regularly updated with fresh, original content. For example, if you utilize blog posts, a steady upload schedule can be a big benefit for your SEO efforts. Also, make sure all internal/external links and visible pages are functioning as expected.