Google SEO 2023: Complete SEO Beginner’s Guide

And make that meta description something that will make Google searchers want to click on your result. An eye-catching meta description CAN boost your organic click-through-rate. And from my own testing, I’ve found that a higher CTR usually results in higher rankings. Because I use WordPress, my blog post title automatically gets wrapped in an H1 tag.

Q1. What is SEO and why is it important for businesses in 2025?

Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines or involve deception. One black hat technique uses hidden text, either as text colored similar to the background, in an invisible div, or positioned off-screen. Another method gives a different page depending on whether the page is being requested by a human visitor or a search engine, a technique known as cloaking.

To conduct keyword research, use a free SEO tool like Ahrefs or Ubersuggest. These platforms reveal a keyword’s popularity and how easy it is to rank for that term. Tools can also suggest keywords relevant to your niche and analyze your website to determine which keywords you already rank for. Leverage this data to decide which existing keywords are most important to your website and which new keywords you should pursue. Search engines cater to these users by directing them to sites that offer an enjoyable mobile browsing experience. This includes responsive design, which is when content automatically resizes based on users’ screen size, touch-friendly design, and simplified navigation.

Search Engine Basics (And How to Think About SEO)

The history of SEO dates back to the 90s when search engines emerged for the first time. Nowadays, it is an essential marketing strategy and an ever-growing industry. Avoid adding keywords left and right in the hopes of boosting your rankings, also known as keyword stuffing (it’s against Google’s spam policies). Keyword difficulty varies dramatically based on several factors. One of the most important factors is the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to competing pages. This is why we add the number of linking domains for each of the top 3 positions.

• One of the effective ways to create great content is to spend more time on research and create in-depth content.
• It means you’ll notice your page organic rankings going up if your page loads faster and rankings going down if they take too much time to load.
• You can experiment with buying search ads for your own business if you have the budget.
• Unlike paid advertising, this traffic is sustainable and grows when you maintain optimization efforts.
• Step #3 is to publish a piece of content around the keyword you just picked.
• Content that is engaging, informative, and tailored to user intent helps improve rankings and builds trust with the audience.

Higher-level positions in the field, such as senior content manager, make an average of $89,619 2. Earning a certification can help SEO experts grow within the industry. Certification increases your chances of getting hired because it shows potential employers you’re serious about your work.

Click “Why and how to fix it” for more SEO Anomaly information about each one. Use the “Send to…” buttons to create tasks for your team in your project management tool or CRM. Therefore, image SEO provides a significant opportunity to drive traffic to your website. Use Semrush’s Site Audit tool to check your site for over 140 on-page and technical SEO issues.

The ‘trick’ back then was making sure the keyword was being used enough times throughout your page and in your meta tags. SEO plays a key role in your marketing strategy because it helps increase the quality and quantity of traffic to your website, thereby increasing conversions. SEO is important to create brand awareness and reach target audiences. It helps search engines align your website with potential customer needs so that visitors look specifically for what you offer. For many companies, SEO is critical to a successful digital marketing strategy. Crafting a great SEO strategy requires a strong understanding of a website’s core audience, offerings and goals.

In the 2nd chapter of this SEO guide, you will learn what are search engines, how they work and what are the most important SEO ranking factors in Google. SEO content is online content designed to rank in search engines (like Google). Also, content written for SEO is typically optimized around a specific keyword.