Your 8-step Quickstarter’s Guide To Becoming An SEO Expert
Do you want to become an SEO expert but don't know where to start?
With more demand than ever for SEO practitioners and average hourly fees ranging from $75 to $150, there's a clear financial incentive to learn SEO.
However, because no universities provide degrees in SEO, you must forge your route in the sector.
In 8 simple stages, you'll discover how to break into the profession and begin your road to being an SEO master.
But, first, let’s ask ourselves:
What Really Is An SEO Expert?
The term "expert" is a relative one. You may see us as SEO experts, but someone with more expertise, such as Rand Fishkin, would almost definitely not.
No matter how much you learn about SEO, someone will always know more.
As a result, your ultimate objective should not be to become an SEO master. It should be to learn enough to get consistent outcomes.
Let’s start with the basic foundations:
1. Search Engines, How Do They Work?
Google's index, which is produced mostly through web crawling, has billions of online pages.
When you put a query into Google, it returns all pages that match.
Because there are frequently millions of relevant results, Google's algorithm evaluates them using hundreds of criteria. Nobody knows what these criteria are or how they are weighted, but we do know some of them.
Pro-tip: SEO only has an impact on so-called organic results. It does not affect paid advertisements.
2. What Are The Ranking Factors?
Many individuals become engrossed in optimising for ranking elements that aren't all that significant. So, before you start worrying about page speed or title tags, make sure you're on top of the three major ones:
✧ Relevance
This metric measures how closely your page matches the query.
If someone searches for "how to create an ecommerce page," Google will not return sites regarding vehicles since they are unrelated.
But its importance extends beyond that. Your page should also reflect the sort of material that visitors desire to view.
A user seeking "how to start an ecommerce business," for example, is looking for a guide. They are not looking to purchase already established businesses. As a result, all of the results on the first page are blog entries rather than product sites or realtor sites.
Optimising for search intent is catering to the "why" behind a query.
✧ Authority
This is mostly determined by backlinks.
Google considers links to be votes of confidence. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your chances of ranking.
The finest backlinks have two important characteristics: authority and relevance.
The strength of the connected website and web page is referred to as authority. This is measured using two metrics: Domain Rating and URL Rating. High-UR pages have the most potent links.
The topic of the connected website and web page is relevant. For instance, if an article on ecommerce enterprises has two hyperlinks, one from a business blog and one from a health website, the former is likely to be more relevant. However, page-level relevancy is also important. If the first website's connecting page is about a relevant topic, such as the finest ecommerce platforms, while the one on the health website is about an irrelevant topic, such as bodybuilding, then the link from the business website may be more relevant.
✧ Utility
Google wants to show the best result first. That is, simply matching search intent is insufficient. Your material must be the most deserving of first place.
However, what defines quality and utility is determined by the search query itself. So the best line of action is to examine the existing top-ranking pages and determine what they do well and where they fall short.
For example, this calculator works fine on desktop but is ineffective for mobile users since it is nearly useless on mobile:
3. Four Main Points Of SEO
Consider SEO to be a jigsaw with many components. Understanding how they work together is critical for any industry professional.
The four components are as follows:
✣ Keyword research;
✣ On-page SEO;
✣ Link building;
✣ Technical SEO
Let's go through each of these in detail.
✧ Keyword Research
Finding relevant terms and phrases that people type into search engines like Google is what keyword research entails.
In general, you should aim for keywords such as:
✣ Have "traffic potential" (that is, they are likely to deliver you organic traffic if you rank for them);
✣ Have "business value" (that is, they are likely to attract new consumers);
✣ Are you overly competitive?
Enter a few ideas into tools like Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer or Answer the Public’s Keyword Searcher and check the keyword ideas reports locating keywords that match the bill.
A few essential metrics are displayed for each keyword:
Search Volume: The average number of persons that search for the term each month is referred to as search volume.
Keyword Difficulty (KD): the expected difficulty of ranking on Google's first page on a scale of 0-100.
The best keywords have great traffic potentials, such as a high search volume, a high business value, and a low ranking difficulty.
✧ On-page SEO
On-page SEO is the technique of optimising web pages to help boost search engine results and attract more organic visitors.
Here are several examples:
• Search intent optimization;
• Utilising keyword modifiers in title tags;
• Creating appealing meta titles and descriptions
• Using picture alt tags that are descriptive;
• Internal links to pages you wish to rank.
✧ Link Building
The process of getting fresh backlinks from third-party websites is known as link building. They not only assist to enhance ranks and increase organic traffic, but they may also send referral visitors your way.
✧ Technical SEO
Technical SEO is improving your website so that search engines can efficiently scan and index your material and users have a great user experience.
Here are several examples:
• Increasing page speed;
• Repairing (internal and external) broken connections
• To avoid duplicating material, use canonical tags.
• Multilingual material with hreflang tags;
• Robots.txt optimization for crawl efficiency;
• Thin material is not indexed.
4. Website
No matter how many golf books you read, you'll never win a tournament until you pick up a set of clubs and practice.
The same may be said for SEO. You must understand the theory, but there is no replacement for getting your hands dirty and rating a site.
To begin your project, simply do the following:
✣ Choose a topic that interests you.
✣ Purchase a domain and hosting;
✣ Create a simple website;
✣ Begin producing content.
Then it's time to put your SEO skills to use by optimising your content, creating some links, and ensuring that your site is technically sound in terms of SEO.
Nothing teaches you more about SEO than this.
That being said, this takes time, and nothing takes longer than creating content. So, if you have the budget, there's no reason not to outsource content. Just be sure to offer your writer specific directions so that the work they generate is optimised for search engine rankings.
5. Niche It
Master of none, jack of all crafts
That is what you will be at the start of your SEO adventure since you will need to understand a little bit about everything to have a good foundation in the area.
However, you must gradually overcome this.
Here are two approaches:
• Mastering A Specific Skill Within SEO
You won't have time to become an expert in both link building and technical SEO because SEO is such a large area. Because there is so little overlap between the two, enhancing one does not always enhance the other.
Instead, you should train to be a T-shaped SEO specialist.
Being a T-shaped SEO specialist implies you have wide abilities in all aspects of SEO yet excel in one area.
• Master SEO In One Industry
SEO for realtors takes an entirely different strategy than SEO for ecommerce.
Priorities for the realtor may include creating a Google My Business page and becoming featured in key industry directories. Optimising product and category pages are likely to be more significant for an online business.
Become the go-to SEO specialist for a certain sort of organisation to hone your expertise and client offering. It may also be incredibly profitable.
While you may develop a lucrative business providing SEO services to all types of businesses, focusing on one specialisation allows you to perfect your trade more effectively.
Just make sure your selected speciality is both profitable and appealing to you. For instance, if you're interested in real estate, you may offer SEO services to real estate firms. That's a market where money moves freely and businesses are continually striving for a competitive advantage.
6. Systems & Delegation
The more you study SEO, the more you'll discover that you don't have enough hours in the day to handle it all.
Even if there was, doing so would be inefficient.
Being a "t-shaped SEO specialist" indicates that there are others who can perform most SEO jobs better than you. Delegating such chores to the correct individuals frees up your time to focus on what you're good at and like doing.
For example, if your skill is in keyword research and article creation, you should devote your time to those activities. You may hire someone to help you with activities like link building and technical SEO.
Aside from saving time, your clients will receive better service since they will have highly skilled personnel working on all aspects of their SEO.
More personnel, however, implies more moving components, which can lead to things falling through the gaps.
Developing processes is the most effective approach to keep everyone on the same page. This entails developing SEO checklists (or SOPs) for each project to keep things on track.
7. Don’t Stop Learning
SEO moves quickly. Google acknowledged making over 3,200 algorithm modifications in 2018.
Although many of these modifications were small for consumers, they demonstrate how quickly "best practices" in SEO may change. Keeping up with every minor change Google makes, though, is likely to be a futile effort, so it's preferable to focus on the essentials.
In other words, rather than chasing algorithm updates, pursue what the algorithm is attempting to do: present people with the finest and most relevant information. You won't have to worry as much about updates and penalties this way.
Is this to say you shouldn't network and follow specialists to broaden your prospects and keep on top of vital new strategies? Not. So here are some suggestions:
✣ Attend SEO meetups in your region.
✣ Attend SEO conventions;
✣ Connect with SEO experts on LinkedIn.
✣ Follow SEO professionals on Twitter;
✣ Join Slack channels;
✣ Join groups on Facebook;
✣ Examine SEO blogs;
✣ View videos;
✣ Podcasts should be listened to.
Choose the ones that appeal to you the most, but don't go crazy. Use the Pareto principle and spend 80% of your time doing and 20% of your time studying.
8. Patience
K Anders Ericsson famously stated that mastering a new talent requires 10,000 hours of practice. Is it possible to do less? Possibly. But the point is that being an SEO specialist does not happen quickly.
Don't be discouraged if your material does not appear on the front page within the first few weeks.
According to our study, that is highly improbable.
However, if you generate strong content, optimise your sites, adhere to best practices in keyword research, and establish enough high-quality links, your pages will ultimately begin to rank.
So keep grinding, be patient, and don't give up.
Closing Words
Everyone who works with a website or an online business should become an SEO expert.
Marketing managers, developers, webmasters, web designers, social media managers, PPC gurus, solo entrepreneurs, and eCommerce proprietors are among those on the list.
Why? Because SEO is the foundation of all digital marketing strategies. SEO principles not only ensure optimum visibility in search engines, but they may also aid a website in other ways.
Being an SEO Expert is not simple, but it is also not tough. There is a lot of reading, practice, and testing involved in the process.
If you're just getting started, the easiest approach to get all of the knowledge you need is to take a solid SEO course, utilise the correct SEO tools, and, most importantly, start doing SEO. Learn from your mistakes and give it another shot.
Search engines and SEO will be around for a long time, and it is the finest investment you can make in your business and personal talents.
More articles please read Blog SEO: The Absolute Beginner's Guide YOU Need TODAY!
