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Search engines are full of content, so how do you compete with other sites to reach the users that you want to reach? SEO is the answer.

Digital marketers need to understand Google’s ranking factors, and how you can make sure your website shows up at the right place to the right people. SEO is powerful when used well.

Here are the top SEO tips for beginners.

Define Your Clear Objectives

Before you get into your SEO strategy, it’s important to understand your website’s goals. Every website is different, so targeting the right audience is very important not only for your SEO, but also for tracking conversions, successes, and benchmarks. The Beginner’s Guide will guide you in how to do this.

Do you want to increase some brand awareness? Do you want to get a set number of leads? Do you need to increase revenue? Set your KPIs (key performance indicators) based on these goals. These could be:

• Sales
• Downloads
• Email subscribers
• Contact form submissions
• Phone calls

Rankings and traffic are not on the list. SEO should be used to support your business goals, not vanity metrics. For example, is it better to have:

• 3000 website visits and 3 sales, or
• 200 website visits and 30 sales?

This is where it is important to understand your business goals so you can direct your strategy.

Assess Your Competitors

Who are your competitors and what do they do well? Take a thorough look at your competitors’ online activity and see who is ranking highest, and what for?

This will give you a clear view of what you’re going up against, what you should concentrate on, and where you could do better.

Your traditional competitors might not be who you are competing with online. Start by searching for your product or service keywords to see who they are.

Do Your Keyword Research

SEO optimization relies on keywords that are relevant to your website, popular with users, but have a low competition rate.

A good way to start is to find a keyword research tool online, such as Google AdWords’ own Keyword Planner. Use these tools to find some data about keywords that are relevant to your brand, and then use them in your own-page SEO strategy.

Build keywords into your content with blog posts and landing pages on the topic, and in your meta tags, such as title tags and meta descriptions.

Understand User Intent

Keyword research isn’t just about finding keywords with high search volumes. You also need to consider the searchers intent to define the right keywords. The three search intents are:

• Traditional: a user who wants to buy a product or service
• Informational: a user who wants information on a product or service
• Navigational: a user who wants to go to a specific website

Understanding these different intents will help you to understand which keywords to target. For example, a blog post would need informational keywords, like ‘how to make the perfect cup of coffee’, whereas a product page should target a transactional keyword, like ‘coffee makers’.

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