Nov
SEO Principles:17 SEO Fundamentals to Help Your Campaign Succeed
Are you new to SEO and do not know where to start? Do not worry, even by following the basic principles of SEO, you can improve your site’s ranking tremendously. In this article, we have introduced the principles of SEO for beginners.
What is SEO and why do we need it?
Let’s start with this question. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and aims to ensure the chances of getting high rankings in search results. Simply put, SEO means optimizing a website and its content so that search engines like Google can understand the website and its content. As a result, the chances of getting ranked in the search for the keywords we want increase.
But why do we need SEO?
Have you ever gone to the second, third or more pages after a Google search? In most cases no. The answer to this question lies here. By increasing the site’s ranking and its content in Google results, the chances of users clicking on it will increase and as a result, your website will earn more revenue and guaranteed ways to increase traffic to your website, Surely this is the result we are all looking for on our website.
In the following, we have introduced and explained the most important principles of SEO.
- Write louder content
According to Google ranking factors, content is still the most important factor in SEO and site ranking, followed by backlinks and ranking factors. It means content that is published in the form of a blog or video and is able to attract its audience.
From a SEO perspective, taller content has more power in ranking, because it contains more keywords and also makes more information available to users. Targetedwebtraffic.com is one of the most well-known SEO experts on the internet, pointed out in his study that content that has a high chance of gaining rank, while having quality, should be at least 2,000 words long. Content quality is very important, because users are attracted to content that is unique and attractive.
Longer posts also increase the Dwell Time parameter. Dwell Time is the amount of time that the user returns to the site after searching through the search results. Higher, higher quality content keeps users on the website and encourages them to read more. Higher this parameter from Google’s point of view means more attractive content and therefore Google uses it in its ranking algorithm.
- Write new content
In addition to longer posts, Google also likes to publish new content on websites. This is because users’ welcome new content and it is also a sign that the website is active.
We all know that producing consistent quality content is hard work. So sometimes you can update existing content instead of generating new content.
Simply generate new content related to the popular and old content of the site and make them available to users again with a new edit date. One good opportunity to do this is to update the posts that mention the year. For example, a post titled The Best SEO Techniques in 2019 from such posts. Such posts can be turned into a post titled Best SEO Techniques in 2020 by adding some new techniques. Don’t forget to republish this post with the new update date.
- Use keywords
Using keywords is essential. Keywords should be chosen in a way that reflects the topic of the content and on the other hand is in line with the wishes and needs of users.
The keywords of the page content should be relevant to the topic so that search engines can index it correctly. Surely you do not want to confuse search engines by choosing keywords that are unrelated to your products or blog.
However, your focus should also be on the keywords that your target users are searching for. A page of your website may rank first in a keyword, but as long as no one searches for it, you will not get any traffic. This is like offering a product that you do not want.
There are a variety of keyword search tools that can help you find out what terms your users and customers use to find the content they are looking for in search engines. Tools like Ubersuggest and Kwfinder can help you with this.
Long keywords are those that refer to a more specific meaning. Using louder keywords in the content increases the chances of getting users who are looking for exactly that content. For example, we can mention the keyword of the best women’s walking backpack. Such phrases usually have more words and accurately reflect the desires of users.
These keywords may have fewer searches, but they are more likely to rank and convert users into customers. So, they are definitely worth a try.
Today, search engines pay more attention to their meaning instead of paying attention to keywords and using LSI keywords can help them in this regard. For example, if your content is about SEO consulting, the natural use of the following keywords can also be helpful:
- SEO and internet marketing consultant
- SEO Marketing Consultant
- SEO Consulting Company
- The best SEO consultants
- SEO Marketing Specialist
- SEO marketing services
These keywords are related to the subject of the main keyword and help Google to extract the meaning of the content. In this way, they gain more confidence in the content. Usually we use these keywords naturally in the content text but paying attention to the missing items is not without merit.
Finally, it is important to note that this should not be exaggerated in any way, because excessive use can mean keyword stuffing from Google’s point of view. In general, there is a lot of disagreement among SEOs on the use of LSI keywords.
- Optimize page title, meta description and header tags
So far you have a long and valuable content and you have used keywords in it. Now it’s time to move on to page titles, header tags and meta descriptions.
- Page Title
Page title is one of the strongest influential factors in internal SEO and ranking. If you are new to the title of the page, you should know that this title is displayed in search results as follows:
To optimize the title of the checklist, follow the following list:
- Must be unique to each page
- It is better not to exceed 60 characters in length
- The page title should contain the target keywords
If you do not use keywords in the page title, you will lose the chance to get a rank. This title should be keywords that are relevant to the page and its content. This title tells search engines what the content of the page is about and according to which keywords it should be indexed.
Google recognizes the content of a page by its title, so make sure its pages. Remember your behavior when working with Google. Clicking the enter or search button will probably limit your focus to the first three search items. Among these three items, the one with a better and more exciting title will have a better chance of being clicked by you.
In addition to keywords, use words that better describe the content. For example, words like how, best, education, review can be added to the page to make it more appealing. Google is also aware of the exact content. You can also use keyword search tools to learn about these patterns.
Keep in mind that keywords are a means of engaging users and describing your content, and there is no need to use keywords indiscriminately. You can use related tools to choose more attractive titles and create creativity.
- Meta description
Meta description is a short paragraph that appears in search results and below the results URL. The meta description should be used in the <head> tag of the page HTML code and its length should be 160 characters.
Writing good meta descriptions is important, as it can motivate the user to click on the site. Of course, Google may not use your meta description and will replace it. In any case, it is one of the places that Google pays attention to and uses in understanding the content of the page.
Using keywords in meta description is also a good idea, because if there are words searched by users in meta description, these words will be more colorful and will attract users.
- Header tags
Header tags (H1 to H6 tags) are titles or page titles.
There should be only one H1 tag on each page and the content of this single should contain the main keyword. Google checks this tag as the title of the page, so do not neglect to optimize it. In most cases, content management systems such as WordPress automatically publish the title of the content with the H1 tag. In such cases, there is no need to enter another separate title.
H2 and H3 subheadings should also include keywords. However, keep in mind that your first priority when writing these tags is users and not search engines.
- Optimize URLs
Although most users do not pay attention to URLs, URLs are still one of the basics of SEO. The best solution is to keep your URLs simple. What Google wants is to keep the structure of URLs simple and readable.
More precisely, this means that instead of using numbers in URLs, it is better to use words that describe the content and keep it as short as possible. simply…!
In addition, URLs are a space to use keywords. Of course, this should not be exaggerated. Remember that just putting the main keyword in the URL is enough and will not cause any problems.
For example, if your article is about the best movies in the history of cinema, your URL could be:
domain.com/best-movies
wait a moment! Do not change your URLs in any way, unless the site’s current URL structure has been severely affected. Because changing URLs confuses Google and users in finding and recognizing content. Therefore, it is better to follow the said tips for new content of the site.
In any case, if you change the URL for any reason, do not forget to create a 301 redirect from the previous address to the new address.
- Backlinks
Another important part of SEO is backlinks. A backlink is a link that a website uses to refer to another website.
While backlinks can be an important factor in increasing a site’s ranking, they should be from reputable websites related to your content.
For example, if your website is about SEO, the best backlinks for it will be from sites with an online marketing theme. Also, the quality and reputation of that site’s domain also affects the power of the backlinks created. Search engines think that the higher the quality of backlinks, the more useful your website content will be to users.
Basically, Google thinks of backlinks as a positive vote for sites. The higher the domain ranking of a website, the higher the value of its backlinks, because such sites have proven to be credible resources on the web.
Getting quality backlinks should be one of your top priorities in SEO, as it will drastically increase your website ranking. Using back link recognition tools, you can start building backlinks on reputable websites.
- Links to other sites
External links (Outbound links) are links from your website to other websites are displayed. Linking to other related content on other websites will help search engines better understand the content of your content. Having a few external links in the content can help make the content appear trustworthy by search engines.
But what points should we pay attention to in making external links?
- Link to related blogs
- Do not create a link farm
- Avoid creating too many external links
If you link to another site, you can inform them in an email that you have linked to one of their contents. If they do, they may link to your site in a future post. This will help both you and your competitor’s site.
Does linking to other sites help SEO?
If you link to relevant content on a reputable site to Google, you understand that your site content is also of great value. In general, this can have a positive effect on SEO.
Also, the owners of those sites may visit your site after being informed of the existence of such a link and as a result, your site traffic will be increased. As mentioned, this may result in reciprocal backlinks. There is nothing impossible!
As long as you do not overdo it, creating external links will not harm your website SEO.
- Linking to other pages
While it is important to get backlinks and link to other related sites, you should not neglect to create internal links.
Internal links are links that are given from page to page in a domain. These links are very useful because they move users between the pages of your site. For example, in this article, wherever necessary, we have linked to other related content from the website.
Internal links promote the content and products of your website. So do not miss this opportunity.
- Optimize website images
Images are one of the most important principles of SEO. We all know that the perception of visual elements is faster. They are more interesting than text paragraphs.
While images on the site’s blog are absolutely essential, search engines may have trouble processing and understanding them. To facilitate this, you can use site image optimization techniques such as alternative text (Alt text) for photos. This text is embedded in the HTML code of the page and provides a description of the image. It is better that all images on your site have such a description.
In addition to its benefits for search engines, it can help people with disabilities who are unable to view images so that special software can read the text to them. If for any reason the image is not loaded on the page, this text is displayed on the page so that the user can understand its content.
The HTML code used for the alternative text is <img src = “photos.png” alt = “polaroid pictures”>, in this example the phrase polaroid pictures is the alternative text.
While writing alternative text is a good technique, be sure to provide an honest description and avoid unnecessary use of keywords.
- Avoid Flash
Adobe Flash is an application on web pages that is used to play multimedia and create interaction with users. There are advantages and disadvantages to using Flash. However, you should be aware that too many flashes can slow down a website. Also, Flash is not available on many mobile phones and Google is not happy about it.
Web experts believe that 99% of websites that use Flash have performance problems and are not well designed. So, it is best not to use Flash. There are many plugins and tools that can check the presence of Flash on a website.
- Social Media
As you probably know, social media can be a powerful tool for your website and having an account on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram is one of the principles of website promotion.
Although social media traffic is not directly related to SEO, it increases your brand visibility and website traffic, which indirectly affects the site ranking.
Therefore, never forget social media in implementing SEO principles. One of the best ways to optimize social media is to publish content on these channels. You can get the most out of social media by taking advantage of the many tips in this work.
For example, you can use the Open graph meta tag and Twitter card to better display site links when sharing.
The Open graph meta tag helps you customize the text, description and image content of the links when sharing. This will make you look more professional.
Also, do not forget to use keywords and hashtags. The same rules for using keywords in page titles and meta descriptions exist here as well and will make your posts on social media appear better and better.
Using a keyword search tool here can be a good help, but do not overuse keywords and use them naturally. One of the good tools in managing social networks is Hootsuite . With this tool you can manage your different social networks from one platform.
- Site speed
Website speed is one of the most important parameters for search engines in ranking. Google has stated that website speed is one of the direct parameters of ranking, and website has also announced from its data analysis that 75% of visitors to a website (with a loading time of more than four seconds) will not return to it.
If you need to be aware of your website can upload speed of the tools Google PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix enjoy. These tools are good tips for optimizing the speed of your site.
- Being mobile friendly
Being mobile friendly means that the pages of a website are displayed well on mobile devices. Sometimes it is seen that websites use a separate mobile version instead of responding to the website. (E.g. m.website.com) In 2015, Google announced that it had begun penalizing websites that were not mobile friendly. Therefore, do not waste time and make the site mobile friendly as soon as possible.
Apart from this, most website traffic today comes from mobile devices. If mobile is not friendly; The website will not have the necessary functionality. Research shows that 52% of website traffic in 2018 was generated through mobile devices, and this amount has been increasing day by day.
- Site Map
There is sitemap website to search engines helps its pages easily and are thus ready to place. Sitemaps let search engines know when the page content was last changed and what pages they have not yet indexed. Existence of sitemap has no harm in SEO and also in order to observe the basics of SEO, it is always recommended to create it.
- robots.txt file
The robots.txt file tells search engines which pages to crawl by following the instructions in it. For example, if you want to prevent the monitoring of pages by a particular robot, just disallow it through this file. This way you can prevent index pages from being indexed and avoid displaying them in search results.
You can configure a robots.txt file yourself from scratch, but there are tools to help you build one if you do not have enough time. Surely there are paths to your site that you are not interested in engaging with search engine monitors.
- Evaluate the results
If you want to know if adhering to SEO principles has helped your website or not, you need to start collecting data. Google Analytics is a great tool for analyzing site data. This tool not only shows the input source of the users, but also tells you what pages they have visited after logging in. This tool also allows you to create custom reports.
Google Analytics allows you to view website traffic data in real time. The displayed traffic can come from various sources including search engines, Google Ads, Social Media, referrals from other sites and direct typing of the site address.
Using Google Analytics or any other analytics tool will help you make better decisions and spend your resources in the right place. As a result, your SEO efforts will lead to better results.
- Attention to users
Paying attention to the needs of users is always the most essential tactic in SEO.
As mentioned, there are many ways to increase traffic: referrals from other sites, email campaigns and social networks. Although SEO has a different story with these options, but always following some SEO principles can help your site a lot. Along with all the issues, you should be careful that the main idea of SEO in today’s world is to prioritize users.
Always pay attention to the needs of users and follow their wishes. When your content is created with the goal of answering users’ questions and meeting their needs, Google realizes this and values your content. This is where your web pages will have a great chance of earning high rankings.
Conclusion
These are just some of the goal setting shareware that you can use. Start optimizing pages and compare before and after. Find out which tips have the most impact on your business. SEO takes time to achieve results and is changing over time. So always keep your site up to date with these changes.
Always keep in mind that Google is always there to show the best results to users. This means that the most relevant and best pages always get the highest ranking.
The points mentioned are the signals that are considered by search engines and they use these signals to rank sites. Therefore, by observing them, you create the highest chance of getting a ranking for your site.
Share your experiences with us and users and if you have a suggestion or question, send it through the comment form below.
View the PDF version of the article: 17 Basic SEO Principles to Increase Your Website Traffic
