Learn How to SEO a Website for Free

So, you have your website up and running, but it’s not going to do you much good if nobody can find it! (If you don’t have a website yet, follow along with me here as I show you how to set one up for free!)

Learning how to properly Search Engine Optimize your site is very important as it will be a huge source of your traffic. The traffic your site receives is your potential for customers, and customers = money!  You can learn how to SEO a website for free, without hiring an SEO “expert” or paying for expensive back-link packages. Such techniques will only get you into trouble.

SEO is constantly evolving, but there seems to be a trending favor towards unique, quality content and social engagement. This means article spinning and extensive back-linking is out. Focusing on writing helpful content is in. There are a few steps to follow to certainly help the process along, but none of them requiring hiring an “expert” to get the job done!

 

Follow these 10 steps to help get your website to the top of Google!

 

#1. Find easily ranked keywords

Knowing how to find keywords that will rank easily in Google will help drive a lot of traffic to your site. Many search terms are nearly impossible to rank for as there is just so much competition, but knowing the terms people are actually searching for that give you a chance to be seen within the search engines is pure gold knowledge for you.

 

#2. Don’t over-do it with the keywords

Placing your keyword within the title and first paragraph is enough to get ranked. Don’t worry about keyword density, writing naturally is always the best option. Re-read your content, and if it seems awkward or unnatural it’s probably the result of keyword stuffing, and that will have a negative impact on SEO.

 

#3. Write quality, engaging content

Writing something of quality is a sure way to get ahead in this era of online marketing. Don’t use article spinning software, and don’t plagiarize someone else’s work. They’ll only get you into trouble, and you’ll never stand a chance of long term success. Write something of your own, make it useful and interesting, and write a lot. The more articles you write, the more traffic you’ll receive.

 

#4. Take advantage of article marketing

Submitting articles to external article directories can give you a better chance to be seen within the search engines when you’re first starting out with a website. These are places such as Yahoo Voices, Hub pages, Squidoo and Street Articles. These directories can easily rank your content, since they allow you to link back to your own site, it’ll open more doors for people to see your content. Just make sure you’re not using spun articles, submitting identical articles to multiple directories, or posting the same article in an external directory that is already on your website. You want them to be unique. (Note: I would focus writing content for your own website once you start getting decent traffic to your website, but in the beginning it can help give it an extra boost.)

 

#5. Create a sitemap for your website

Creating a sitemap is very important as it helps the search engine crawlers find your website pages and posts. Without a map, it may be difficult for crawler bots to find new content and read your entire website as a whole. This will help with faster indexing and ranking. You can easily create a sitemap by installing a plugin within WordPress, such as sitemap generator, or you can go to xml-sitemaps.com and enter in your URL and they’ll create a sitemap path for you. There are other ways of course, but however you decide to go about the process, just make sure you create it and update it when new content is added.

 

#6. Set up a Google Webmaster Tools account, and make sure you submit your sitemap!

Google actually has handy tools that help you get ranked better, all you have to do is set up an account and verify your site. You can submit your sitemap within Google Webmaster Tools and now they’ll be able to read your sitemap as quickly as possible. You can also get your content indexed a lot more quickly this way, which will speed up your rankings.

It also helps your site in a lot of other ways, too. You can become aware of and fix crawl errors which can make your site unhealthy if you have too many. You can also find out what search terms people are actually finding your site under, knowing such information can help you readjust your efforts and know how to better accommodate your audience.

 

#7. Internally link your pages and posts

This is actually really important for not only SEO, but the user experience as well. Helping people find their way around your site will make it more likely for them to navigate multiple pages to see what your website can offer them. Google likes internal linking as well because it helps identify how your pages are connecting to each other.

 

 #8. Add pictures and videos to your content, and take advantage of Youtube!

It’s easy to get lost trying to read massive blocks of text. Incorporating images helps the reader connect with what you’re telling them, and adding videos gives them an even more in depth experience (not to mention it helps your search engine rankings as well). Youtube is huge and dominating search engine rankings, when you have a video it’s easier to get on the first page. Creating videos in addition to your content is going to help you bring in lots more traffic!

 

#9. Share your content with social networks

After you write, share it with networks such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter, and Pinterest. This will create more engagement for your content. More engagement leads to better SEO rankings in the long run.

 

#10. Set up Google + Authorship

If you don’t have a Google + account, set one up right now, it’s free. Setting up authorship within your website will make your name and picture appear by your search engine results, making it more likely for someone to click on your website. It also makes your website appear more trustworthy and will help it rank better overall.

 

These are all things you can do on your own, for free. If you get stuck along the way, have a peak at Wealthy Affiliate–a place always willing to help you out!

 

You don’t need tons of low quality linking to be seen in Google anymore!

 

Any questions or comments please leave them down below!