As an SEO in an ever-changing search engine landscape, we often get lost in all the new and improved tactics that are seemingly always around the corner. We write blog post after blog post highlighting news and advances in algorithms and strategies. However, if you don’t spend your time toiling around the deep, dark depths of organic search traffic, you may be wondering where you should start. I’ve decided to take the lead and bring you all back to school. Here’s a super simple SEO tutorial!

Step 1: First Thing’s First.

Before we get started, let’s dive into the holy trinity of SEO terms: Page titles, H1 tags, and meta descriptions. These three things should be used as an introduction to both web crawlers and users to explain exactly what any given page is about.

• Page titles- This element is meant to be a very brief assessment of the exact information that page is pertaining to. Crawlers will only read a maximum of 70 characters in title tags, so make sure you keep it short.
• H1 tags- An H1 tag is emphasized text that appears directly on the page. This will usually be in the form of a title of a post or a section heading that appears on the page. The H1 tag is used to further break down information on the page. H1s follow the same rules as the Page title in terms of length.
• Meta Descriptions- A meta description is a short explanation of the contents of a page. These are commonly shown on search engine results pages (SERPs) after a searches for something. Unlike a page title, this should be looked at more as an advertisement for the page. You want it to explain what the page contains, but also be interesting so users will want to choose your information over others. These will not directly affect the SEO of your page, but is still very important. A meta description should not be longer than 160 characters.

Step 2: Now what?

Now that you know the 3 most important SEO elements, allow me to show you how to use them. This is where a very important aspect of SEO comes into play: keyword research. In short, keyword research involves learning how users search for whatever you offer. To do this, we use the Google AdWords: Keyword Planner.

To use this tool, you simply input any relevant term(s) into the tool and it will spit out 800 more keywords along with how often they are searched and how much competition there is for that keyword. For instance, if you sell office supplies, you may input keywords like “office supplies online” and “online office supplies.” You will then receive 800 of the most relevant keywords. Your findings will show that there are possibly hundreds of different ways to say the same thing, which is why we do this research.

Choosing the right combination is key and to prove this, I ran those two keywords in the tool. “Office supplies online” is directly searched 2,900 times vs. only 880 direct searches for “online office supplies.” Same three words, different order, 2,000 more searches. While both may be great keywords, it goes to show that the tool can give you insight on different ways of saying the same thing. From there, you want to search through the 800 results to see if there are any other keywords that fit your page better.

Once you figure out the keywords that you want to use for a page, you must create the SEO elements. Incorporate the keywords into the page title, the H1 tag, and the meta description. The key is to focus on explaining EXACTLY what that page contains. You want people to know what they are clicking on before visiting your site.

Step 3: Know what you can control and own it.

Perhaps the greatest asset for your business’ website is you. You know your business inside and out. This will help you in creating what matters: quality content. As much as SEOs wish we could, we cannot control how Google ranks us. We can only put the right pieces in place to make the site successful.

In the end, content still reigns supreme. The greatest SEO strategy will mean nothing if your content is junk. Google’s page rank (how they rank certain pages for any search) has an algorithm that incorporates factors that can tell how much users enjoy the content you have. The more informative and interesting your content is, the more likely people are going to hang around and read it. The longer people stay on site and continue through to other pages, the better your site will perform.

In fact, I would say the most important thing in all of SEO is solid content. Once the content is created, you can then build the SEO elements to reflect what that content states. SEOs are not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just want to make sure search engines know all the good things you have to say.

When writing content, keep SEO in mind. Do some keyword research before and try to utilize those keywords in the content organically. Do not force the issue, but if the keyword pertains to what you are talking about, add it into the text.

Congrats!

I hope you enjoyed this SEO tutorial. You now are a level 1 SEO. Do not, by any means, think that you are ready to go work for Google. There are hundreds of intricacies and tactics that keeps us SEOs in business. However, be confident in knowing that you can help your site become more search engine friendly.

Just remember this: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your site will not automatically jump from the 50^th ranked page to the 1^st. These things take time. However, as I’ve said time and time again, Google’s main goal is to be right as often as possible. If you can make it so your SEO finds the sweet spot between relevance and search volume, search engines will be more confident when ranking your pages.

So go ahead and get your SEO on. When you need help, just come back here for more SEO tips.