SEO Basics for Beginners: How to Get Found on Google

You do not need a computer degree and thousands of dollars to get your site listed on Google. All you have to learn are some fundamental guidelines that Google uses to determine which sites will be presented to people. After learning the ropes, you can have real people visit your site without paying to advertise.

What is SEO and Why It Matters

SEO is a short term that is used to describe Search Engine Optimization. It ensures that Google knows your location, what your site is about, and presents it to anyone who searches for what you are selling.

The majority of the population searches and finds websites via Google, not by social networks or advertisements. When your site does not appear in search engines, you do not exist to the potential clients. Consider your personal behavior. You Google everything you need, and you click the first few results.

When you are found on Google, you are getting free traffic. No paying per click, as is the case with advertisements. After ranking highly, you will find people approaching you month after month. In cases of constructing a site on websites such as WePage, knowing the basics of SEO will assist you in establishing your site in the first place.

The Google Decision Process for Which Websites to Display

Google would like to present the most useful and relevant results. It examines hundreds of variables, although the following are the most significant:

• ● Relevance: Your site contains the information that one has searched for. When one types in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and your site is on car repair, Google will not display you.
• ● Authority: You have several other websites that refer to you, and people have confidence in what you say. Other site links represent votes of confidence.
• ● User experience: The speed at which your site loads, whether it is mobile-friendly, and whether people spend a significant amount of time on it, or exit immediately.
• ● Quality of the content: On the one hand, unique and useful information works better than that which repeats what other people write.

You don't need perfection. You simply have to be good enough that Google considers your site to be useful in some of these searches.

Finding What People Really Search

You have to know what people put in Google before you can rank. The search words are referred to as keywords.

The first step is to write down in plain English what your business is. Assuming that you are a wedding photographer in Austin, then the subjects of your conversation are wedding photography and Austin.

However, people have different search terms: "Austin wedding photographer," "wedding photography Austin Texas," and the best wedding photographer near me.

Such tools as the Keyword Planner of Google, Ubersuggest, or AnswerThePublic demonstrate to you what people really search for and the frequency.

Look for keywords with:

• ● Adequate search volume: 100-500 searches a month
• ● Manageable competition: Wood-fired pizza delivery in Brooklyn is better than simple pizza
• ● Commercial purpose: "Oil change service near me" attracts customers, and "how to change oil" does not

List 10-20 keywords of what you do, where you are, and what problems you solve.

Placement of Keywords in Your Website

With your keywords known, you can place them where Google can see them:

• ➔ Page titles are of the utmost importance. Place your keyword term towards the top. Sample: Wedding Photography Austin Jane Smith Photography.
• ➔ Headings and subheadings should have keywords used naturally. Modify "Our Services" to Wedding Photography Services in Austin.
• ➔ The first paragraph should mention your main keyword at the beginning. Google is even more concerned about the first part.
• ➔ Throughout the content, sprinkle your keyword and variations naturally.
• ➔ Image file names matter. Don't use "IMG_1234.jpg." Label: austin-wedding-ceremony-photo.jpg.

Write for humans first. When you are cramming the keywords in every sentence, you are making it wrong.

Knowing the Meta Tags and Descriptions

The meta tags inform Google about your page. The majority of site constructors, such as WePage, allow populating these with formatted ones.

• ➔ Meta title refers to the search Google result headline that is clickable. Leave it at 50-60 characters and add your keyword.
• ➔ Meta description: Write 140–160 characters about what people will find, and naturally include your keyword.
• ➔ Good example: Fresh hand-baked bread and pastries made daily in downtown Portland. Wedding and special occasion cakes. Visit us or order online."
• ➔ Alt text for images is useful for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers and helps Google understand what an image shows. All the images require descriptive alt text. Do not use “image1” if it’s a chocolate wedding cake with buttercream frosting.

Creating Content That Ranks

Content is what Google ranks. It is not hard to create the content, which Google is fond of:

• ● Provide real answers to queries from your customers. What do people desire to know about your product or service? As a plumber, you can write about how to know that you need a new water heater or what to do with a leaky faucet.
• ● Make it thorough and helpful. Google rewards in-depth content. A page dedicated to a topic with 1,500 words is much better than a page with 300 words, which does little to nothing.
• ● Use simple language. Write as though you were talking to a friend. Short sentences and explanations are better than jargon.
• ● Update regularly. Add new information every week or month. This will display Google if your site is active.
• ● Include images and videos. Pictorials retain people on your page longer, which is good in the eyes of Google.

The highest ranking websites generate really useful materials that people desire to read and share.

Technical SEO Basics

Technical SEO may sound intimidating, yet the fundamentals are easy, particularly when using the website builders, which do most of it automatically.

• ● Your site must be mobile-friendly. More than half of the traffic on the web is through phones. Currently, web-building tools such as WePage allow building mobile-responsive sites automatically.
• ● Site speed influences rankings and experience. Make pictures as small as possible, use as few add-ons as possible, and select a trustworthy web host. This is done by most site builders.
• ● A secure connection (HTTPS) is necessary for good rankings. Your address in the website must begin with https:// rather than with http. Most hosting providers offer free SSL certificates
• ● Clean site structure entails logical organization. Make straightforward menus, put them in categories, and ensure that all pages are easily accessible with just a few clicks of your home page.

Fix broken links regularly. Look at your site after a period of a few months to identify the links that are not working.

Local SEO for Small Business

In case you serve a local market, one of the major things that you should consider is local SEO. Local ranking is more convenient than national ranking.

• ● Create a Google Business Profile (also known as Google My Business). This free listing will cause you to appear on Google Maps and local search results. Saturate all the sections.
• ● Insert location-based keywords naturally throughout your site. Not only do we offer plumbing services in Denver,… Naturally insert the names of the cities and neighborhoods in page titles, headings, and content.
• ● Get reviews on Google. Companies that have greater positive reviews are ranked higher locally. Request happy clients to leave reviews and provide them with a direct link.
• ● List in local directories. Be listed on Yelp, the Yellow Pages, industry directories, and your chamber of commerce website. Ensure that your name, address, and phone number are the same everywhere.
• ● Develop geographical content. Write about local events, neighborhood guides, or location-specific issues that your services are solving.

Creating Connections Between Websites

Links from other websites act as votes of confidence. The more quality links, the more authority in the search engine Google can see.

• ● Produce content that people desire to share. Exhaustive guides, newly created research, or helpful tools are all naturally appealing to links.
• ● Get listed in directories. In addition to local directories, locate industry-specific directories that are pertinent to your business.
• ● Cooperate with complementary businesses. Wedding photographers collaborate with florists, venues, and planners. Connect with the resources pages of one another.
• ● Guest post on other websites. Guest post on other blogs within your industry. The majority of them allow you to provide a backlink to your site.
• ● Take advantage of existing relationships. The suppliers, partners, trade associations, and happy customers could put links on their websites.

Do not purchase links or automated link-building software. Google figures out such tricks and punishes your site.

Measuring Your SEO Results

Monitor your improvement to know what is working. There are free basic tracking tools.

• ● Google Search Console will display the search results that land on your site, the pages that are performing well, the technical issues detected by Google, and the number of pages searched by Google.
• ● Google Analytics demonstrates what people do after visiting your site. The number of visitors, their locations, the pages that they visit, and their duration of stay.
• ● Track keyword rankings. Select your 10-20 keywords that you consider the most important and verify your monthly position. This can be automatically monitored using tools such as Ubersuggest.
• ● Monitor traffic trends. SEO takes weeks or months. Traffic should continue to increase month to month once you begin ranking.

Reserve one hour per month to evaluate these measures. Find trends and determine areas that require improvement.

How WePage Helps with SEO

With a web page maker such as WePage, a lot of the basics of SEO are provided.

Technical SEO is automatically managed on the platform. Sites are mobile-friendly by default, load fast, come with an inbuilt security using an SSL, and clean URL structure.

The addition of meta titles and descriptions by WePage is made easy using simple forms. No code needed. Same with image alt text when uploading images

The WePage templates are SEO friendly. They follow good headings and are constructed in a way that Google can find it very easy to crawl.

The websites that take care of the technical aspect automatically are great time-savers for small business owners who do not aspire to be experts in SEO.

Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

• ★ Keyword stuffing: Overusing your keyword instead of using it naturally.
• ★ Reproduction of content: The content of each page should be specific and concentrate on a particular subject.
• ★ Neglecting internet mobile users: Test your site on real phones. Should it be difficult to navigate or read, correct them.
• ★ Assuming immediate gains: SEO requires months before it can bring substantial gains. Anyone who offers to have first page ranking within two weeks is a liar.
• ★ Ignoring local SEO: In the case you’re a local business, it’s far easier to rank locally than on a national scale.
• ★ Keywords fraud: It is pointless to be ranked in searches that do not attract customers. Select commercially oriented keywords.

The majority of errors are due to excessively thinking over search optimization or shortcuts. Pay attention to the development of a truly useful site, and SEO will come.

Simple SEO Action Plan

Step-by-step breakdown of SEO:

Week 1: Foundations

• ● Open the Google Search Console and analytics
• ● Connect them to your website
• ● Local: set up Google Business Profile

Week 2: Keywords

• ● List what your business does
• ● Search for what people are searching for using keyword tools
• ● Pick 10-20 keywords to target

Week 3: Optimize the existing pages

• ● Insert keywords in headings, titles, and content
• ● Write meta descriptions
• ● Add image alt text

Week 4: Create content

• ● Create a single page with one keyword
• ● Make it thorough and helpful
• ● Add images with alt text

Ongoing monthly:

• ● Produce one piece of original, high-quality content.
• ● Problem Check Search Console
• ● Build 1-2 quality backlinks
• ● Review rankings and traffic

An hour or two a week of simple SEO leads to results in the long term.

Free SEO Tools to Use

• ➔ Google Search Console: The Search engine will reveal the visibility of the site to Google and the number of searches that bring in traffic. Essential.
• ➔ Google Analytics: Monitors the traffic and analyzes visitor behavior on the website.
• ➔ Google Keyword Planner: Search volumes and keywords. Needs free Google Ads.
• ➔ Ubersuggest: Free site analysis and limited keyword research.
• ➔ AnswerThePublic: Displays questions that people have about your topic. Great for blog post ideas.
• ➔ PageSpeed Insights: Measures page load speed and makes recommendations.

Search Console and Analytics are where to start and go through the rest as you get familiar with the basics of SEO.

FAQs

Summary

Basic knowledge of SEO as a beginner is knowing the fundamental rules of the process of optimizing websites and being able to use them regularly. Target useful content, the use of natural keywords, solving technical issues, and authority accumulation, and time.

Successful businesses with SEO do not rely on high-tech tricks. They know the fundamentals, bring them into practice, and remain consistent. The tips in this guide on the basics of Google ranking will turn you into a results producer in a few months.

Need to create an SEO-friendly site? Get acquainted with the aspects of WePage and understand how the site simplifies the optimization of websites for small business owners. The platform has an integrated SEO functionality and mobile-responsive templates so that you can concentrate on expanding your business, and the platform takes care of the technical aspects.