{"id":9670,"date":"2023-10-25T10:16:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T10:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/?p=9670"},"modified":"2023-10-25T10:16:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T10:16:57","slug":"the-new-website-owners-guide-to-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/the-new-website-owners-guide-to-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Website Owner\u2019s Guide to SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Did you recently publish your first website? Congratulations! The next step is to get people to see your content. But to achieve this, people need to find your website first. And you don\u2019t want just any visitors. You want to drive the right audience to your content. But how do you accomplish this? By having a good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy<\/span>, so people can find your site in the search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is SEO?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to understand the concept of search engine optimization before you start putting it to practice. The simple explanation: you optimize your content for search engines, so your site becomes easier to find. Of course, there\u2019s more to SEO than that. Yoast’s definition of SEO<\/a> is \u201cthe practice of optimizing your web pages to make them reach a high position in the search results of Google and other search engines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moz defines the concept even further<\/a>: \u201cSEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To summarize: SEO helps your website to rank higher for relevant queries. Which in turn will bring interested users to your website.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind, however, that these tactics do not include using paid advertisements on search engines. This is known as pay-per-click advertising, and is an entirely different segment of search engine marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does SEO matter?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that approximately 8.5 billion (and counting) Google searches are conducted a day?<\/a> And content that\u2019s in the first position on Google receives 33% of the total search traffic<\/a> for that particular query. That\u2019s a lot of visitors who can land on your page. For free! That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to have a good SEO strategy. Because if your website does not appear in the search results, your audience will click on a competitor’s website, and you could lose potential customers!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To have your new website appear in the search results, you must begin with a few key steps.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Keyword research<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before you can implement any SEO tactics, you need to know what your audience is searching for. Their search terms are your keywords. After all, your audience might use different words when searching for your product. Ideally, you should perform your keyword research<\/a> before you write your website copy and content. However, content can be altered and optimized anytime, so don\u2019t worry! It\u2019s never too late to start.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To rank for a keyword, it needs to be fairly distributed throughout your content. Think of headers, title tags, meta descriptions, URLs and many more. But don\u2019t let the keyword take over your content! You still want your content to be easy and enjoyable to read. After all, you write for your audience and not for Google. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyword research tools<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To determine which keywords are ideal<\/a> for your efforts, you\u2019ll need to do a bit of research. Keyword research tools provide a wealth of information, including top search phrases, search volume, and similar keywords and phrases. And that\u2019s only scratching the surface. To find the right keyword for a page, take advantage of these keyword tools:
– Google Keyword Planner<\/span><\/a>
– Free Keyword Tool from WordStream<\/span><\/a>
– KWFinder<\/span><\/a>
– Moz\u2019s Keyword Explorer<\/span><\/a>
– SEMRush<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Internal links<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a previous article, we discussed the importance of a website\u2019s internal linking structure<\/a>. To quickly recap: an internal link is any link from one page on your website to another. Both your visitors and search engines use these internal links to find content on your website. So if you want to rank higher on search engines (and you do), a solid internal linking strategy is imperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n