SEO Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2024

When it comes to SEO, keeping it simple is best. I will walk you through SEO Made Simple in a super easy-to-follow step-by-step guide in this training. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is one of the most misunderstood marketing channels. It represents a huge opportunity for your business, but people often shy away because they’re afraid it’s techy, complicated, or above their pay grade. I’m here to help you see how easy SEO can be and teach you how to use it to boost your website traffic.

What is SEO? 

At its core, SEO (search engine optimization) is a series of steps we need to take on our websites to help Google understand what they are about.

How does SEO work? 

SEO works by helping Google better understand your website. When Google better understands your website, it’s easier to show it to people searching for relevant information.

How does SEO help Google? 

Google crawls the websites it finds on the internet. It goes from link to link across websites. The way SEO works is that we add elements to our websites that Google is looking for. When Google comes to a site that’s optimized, it can gather LOTS of information about our business. When they crawl a website that’s not optimized, they don’t get much information. Google needs the information to add to its index and share with searchers when they need info in the future.

Why is SEO important to my website? 

When you optimize your website and help Google understand what it’s about, they’re more likely to show it to people searching for the information you have on your site. Conversely, if you haven’t optimized your website, it will be a lot harder for Google to know when to show it to potential customers, and because of that, you won’t get much traffic from them. 

What’s most important to my SEO? 

The most critical piece of your SEO is the keyword you choose for your page. You want to choose a keyword that you can rank for (more on that in a minute) that your Ideal Customer is searching for.

Why does choosing the right keyword matter? 

When we optimize a page for Google, we choose a keyword that will be used in all of our optimization elements. I’ll explain what these elements are in a minute. But first, we want to show Google what this page is about in as many ways as possible.

Choosing the right keyword is critical because you have to select a keyword your website can rank for. Otherwise, all of the optimization work you do won’t help because your website still won’t rank high enough to get traffic.

How does Google decide which pages rank for a keyword? 

Google wants to return the best search results possible for users so they continue to use its search engine. It determines the best websites to be the ones that are the most authoritative and most closely related to the keyword someone has searched.

What makes a website authoritative? 

In general, larger, more established websites are considered more authoritative. New websites or websites for smaller businesses will be viewed as less of an authority on a subject than a bigger or more established one. This doesn’t mean that you need to create hundreds of pages of content for your website. It means you must look for keywords you can rank for now and work your way up as your authority grows. 

How do you know if you can rank for a keyword? 

I teach a LOT about this in my Simple SEO Content course because it’s critical to your overall SEO success. There’s an entire module on how to choose the right keyword. While I can’t get into it in depth here, I can tell you to look at the keyword you’re considering using in your optimization and go to Google and see who’s currently ranking at the top of Page 1 on Google.

Are the websites ranking at the top of Page 1 for that keyword similar to yours? Are they competitors you’re familiar with, or are they national brands you know from the mall or their ads on TV? 

If they’re competitors, you know well you are probably on the right track. If they’re national brands, you need to look for a different keyword because you won’t rank for this one, and there’s no point in wasting your time and energy trying. So, let’s find a word you can rank for so you get some traffic!

Ok! I’ve got a keyword I can rank for; now what? 

Congratulations, you’ve gotten through the longest part of your SEO work – the research and refinement process. Now, it’s time to get to work on your SEO.

You’re going to use your keyword in 5 places on your page

1. Title Tag
2. Meta Description
3. Copy
4. Header Tag
5. Image Filename

Your Title Tag is up to 60 characters, including spaces, and includes your keyword.

Your Meta Description is up to 160 characters, including spaces, and includes your keyword.

Your copy should be a minimum of 300 words, but focus on providing value for your customer, not the word count or how many times you use your keyword.

Your Header tags should include your keyword. Use them to break up the sections of your copy.

Your Image Filename should include your keyword separated by – not _ for Google.

 Want me to walk you through EXACTLY how to do this, including the keyword research process? Check out Simple SEO Content today! That's what it does. ☺️

That’s it, my friend, that’s how to optimize your website. SEO made simple, a step-by-step guide. If you’re ready to learn more about SEO and get your website found on Google, check out my free and paid training programs. I’ve got lots of resources to help you get your website optimized quickly and easily.