SEO Guidance: How to setup SEO

Ejaz Ahmed

Ejaz Ahmed

Illustration depicting the structure of a URL and its role in search engine indexing.

SEO Guide

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), might be or not a familiar term to you. But the fact is that it is life blood for any website. Either you run a blog, business or e-commerce you cannot achieve the desired goals without SEO. The information available around at times confuses us and keeps us thinking “Where to start”. SEO is full of puzzles. The most interesting thing is that for all the puzzles, strategy remains the same. Whether we talk of on-page, off-page or technical SEO. To make life easier for any SEO beginner, we have tried to hit the best SEO strategy. It is based on our years and years of experience.

Few Advices for Beginners

Without wasting any moment, let us start.

SEO Setup

To start your SEO journey, first of all, you need to set up a few tools and techniques. Setup Google Search Console (GSC)

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool Google provides. It helps website owners monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot their websites.

Google Search Console Setup

Its powerful features help you in:

Go ahead and setup an account on Google Search Console (GSC).

Install Bing Webmaster Tools

You might be asking why Bing? Is it better than Google? The answer is no, but we still need it.
We understand that Google is no match when it comes to search engines. However, for the reasons mentioned below, Bing Webmaster Tools will give us added advantages.

Go ahead and create your account on Bing Webmaster Tools without wasting any time.

Setup Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics is a powerful tool designed to give comprehensive insight of your website and its performance. It further helps you to:

The easiest way to set up Google Analytics 4 is just to follow GA4 setup assistance.

Google Analytics Backlink

Create and Submit Sitemap

Your website would have many pages, images, videos and other files. All this content must also be having a relationship with each other. All these relationships can be explained to anyone with the help of web structure. But how are you going to share your web structure to Google?
The answer is through creating a sitemap and submitting it. Sitemap is an XML file created to explain the web structure to Google. It enables Google to crawl your website and index it (if it’s new) or identify any changes done in the existing website.
Here is an example of how a sitemap looks like.

Sitemap Format

Create a robots.txt file

Now it’s time to create a robots.txt file. What does this file do and why is it important? Actually, through this file you give commands regarding GO and NOGO areas to Google & other crawlers on your website. At times, you have pages which you do not want the search engines to crawl and index. It may include:

It makes sure that your site is indexable.

On-Page SEO

Finalize your KPIs for On Page SEO

To start off with On Page SEO you need to identify your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Identification of these KPIs will enable you to decide whether your efforts are in the right direction or not. SEO efforts take time to show results. Efforts done in the wrong direction waste a lot of your time and create frustrations. Some known KPIs are:

On Page SEO

Organic Traffic

Driving visitors to your website through search engines. It shows how much your content attracts visitors without monetizing.

Keyword Rankings

Where do you stand with your target keywords in search engine results?

Page Load Speed

How much time does the website take to fully load?

Mobile Usability

How well does your website perform on mobile devices?

Internal Linking Structure

A strong internal linking structure helps in improving navigation, indexing and distributes link equity across your site.

These are a few examples of KPIs. You may decide KPIs according to your requirements. You may add bounce rate, Average Time on Page, Click Through Rate (CTR) also.

Identify your target market

Before you start your keyword research you should identify your target market. We need to answer the following questions.

Keyword Strategy

How to select the best keywords to rank in Google? This is one of the trickiest questions in SEO. If you hit the right keyword strategy from the start, things are going to be quite simple. You need to select keywords having following metrics:

  1. Sufficient search traffic
  2. Relevant to your audience
  3. Long tail (word count should be above 4)

While deciding the primary keywords we need to keep an eye on your secondary keywords also.
Secondary keywords are words that relate to your primary keywords. When you use them in content, they can get it in front of a broader audience and help bolster your website rankings.

Tools to find Keywords

There are many ways to find keywords. Some are mentioned below. Suit yourself accordingly.

Google Suggest

One of the easiest ways to find relevant keywords is through Google Search. You can find long-tail keywords quite easily through this approach.
Just type a keyword in the search bar and do not click the search button. The scroll-down results in the search bar will give you an idea about what people search quite often.
You can search many keywords through this approach.

Google Suggest

SEMrush

SEMrush is one of the best tools for keyword research. Its Keyword Magic Tool will provide you numerous options. Its free account will allow you 10 searches per day.
When you type a keyword in the search it provides you following metrics:

SEMrush

Find Question Keywords

If you want to write a blog or article, Question keywords would be very helpful. Questions like “Is SEO easy to learn?” are at times more relevant than simple long tail keywords.
You may find these keywords through SEMrush or Google Search.

Learn what it takes to rank for your chosen keywords

Your success depends on how intelligently you are using your keywords. You need to do the following for it.

Educate Yourself

Have a better understanding of Organic traffic, search volume, Cost per Click (CPC), search difficulty.

Use Keywords in Your URL

Google understands you through URLs also. If you are using your keyword in URL, google will surely give you weightage on that keyword.
Like on this page my target keyword is “SEO checklist”. I have included it in my URL https://indexplease.com/seo-checklist

Use Keyword in Prominent Places

First priority must be to prepare a valuable content keeping in view your target keywords. You must always keep one thing in mind that if you are providing value to your customers, for sure Google is going to pay back. Your job is to place your keywords in appropriate places. First of all, place your keywords at the start of the topic so that the audience is engaged with that keyword. Moreover, keyword must be used in:

  1. Title Tags
  2. Meta Description
  3. Heading Tags
  4. Anchor Text

Research Your Competitors Keyword Profile

Another important aspect of On-Page SEO is to analyse your competitors. You need to analyse the strategy your competitor is using to rank on Google. There will be some positives and negatives of your competitor. Your strategy should be to compete in positives and avoid the negatives.
A competitor strategy would help you identifying:

  1. Target Audience
  2. Keywords to Target
  3. Type of Content
  4. Relevant Terms and Phrases

You may perform keyword analysis through Semrush tool Keyword Gap or Ubersuggest

See Relevant Search Intent for Your Primary Audience

Before preparing the content for the audience, we require the intent with which your audience is searching. This is very important. If your audience is interested in information, then your content should be knowledge-based. They might not be interested in reading the commercial aspect of your niche. Keyword intent is of four types:

  1. Informational
  2. Commercial
  3. Transactional
  4. Navigational

Content Preparation

How should you prepare your content? A critical and relevant question in SEO. Here are few tips for preparing content:

Unique Content

Content writing is not just stuffing the keywords. In fact, it is an art to engage your audience through creating unique content utilizing the target keywords. No one is interested in reading AI-generated or forged content. You must ask yourself “Am I interested in reading this article?”. If the answer is yes, then go ahead.
The content must be practical in nature. The reader must be clear about what to do after reading the article. Actionable or practical content generates traffic organically. Here are few tips for making your content practical:

Suitable Headings

Suitable headings and subheadings (H1, H2 etc) are always a source of attraction for the readers. Moreover, it also helps Google to understand your content.

Avoid Keyword Cannibalization

Google may penalise you for using the same keyword again and again on different pages. It also becomes a hurdle for Google to decide which page is to be ranked higher than others. Such a phenomenon is known as Keyword Cannibalization. Your pages will be given a mean ranking and all your efforts will be graded as average.

Use Synonyms and LSI Keywords

Instead of using the same keywords again and again, you should use synonyms and LSI keywords. Suppose your keyword is “How to Write an SEO Checklist?”. Synonyms for this keyword can be:

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords are the keywords related to your target keywords and your audience is expecting them in your content. For same example, LSI keywords will be:

This strategy is not going to rank you in Google. In fact, it will help Google to understand your content.

To show Google that your content is trustworthy and reliable, you need to refer your content through external linking to high domain websites.
For example if you want to explain any historical fact or terminology https://www.wikipedia.org/ would always be the best option for linking.
Or if you want to talk about the best practices in SEO, an external link to www.google.com would be extremely useful.
This strategy does not improve your ranking, but it provides a better user experience.

Optimize the Images

Google does not have the capability to recognize the quality and relevance of an image. Google recognizes the image from its file name and alt tag.
For example, first of all, select an image relevant to your content. Suppose the image is of a laptop placed on a table. First step after downloading the image will be to change its filename like laptop_table.png. Secondly, when you are adding the image to your content write a descriptive Alt tag for it. In this case it may be “Laptop placed on a custom-designed table”.
You need to check the size of your image file also. Larger files will make the website slow. Specially, the response to large images is quite slow on mobiles. This strategy will help you rank in Google.

A very easy and fruitful strategy is to link your content internally. Your article must be having 2 to 5 internal links of your website.This indicate that the website as a whole supports the content and the users queries are also being resolved on the same website.

Technical SEO

While you are working hard on your keyword research and content preparation, an eye on technical SEO is also essential. Resolving issues related to technical SEO is not very hard. However, technical issues of the website annoy Google and hence you are penalised in ranking. A comprehensive checklist is prepared for you to help in this regard.

Identify Crawling and Indexing Errors

If you are getting crawl errors, it means that search engine bots are facing difficulty to visit your content. Google is going to know your website only when its bots are able to crawl your complete website. Until and unless the website is crawled google cannot index the website or its pages.

reasons for pages not get indexed

Hence, you are not going to rank for nothing.
An indexing error means that Google is able to crawl the website but has not been able to index it. It can be easily seen on Google Search Console “Indexing” report.

Check How Google View Your Page

At times, you and your audience may view your website content, but Google is not able to. Therefore, we recommend you inspect your URL on the Google Search Console “Inspect URL” tool. It will inform you regarding your URL status.

Check Your Page Loading Speeds

Loading speed of a Page: is it a ranking factor in the eyes of Google?
Yes, Page Loading Speed is also a ranking factor. Google wants its users to have a better user experience and page loading speed. Slow loading speed may increase the bounce rate and will have a negative impact on engagement.
The difference between ranking of high loading speed pages and low loading speed pages is quite evident. You may check the Page loading speed on PageSpeed Insights.

PageSpeed Insights

Make Sure Your Pages Meet Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals (CWV) is yet another ranking factor which is crucial for any website. CWV are a set of metrics that measure Website performance including:

For further study, you may visit https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9205520?hl=en

Core Web Vitals Report

Use Schema Markup to Target Rich Snippets

Schema markup enables the search engines to understand your content in a better way. Google improves your indexing and rankings. It allows for rich snippets, like ratings and images, making your search listings stand out and boosting click-through rates.
Local businesses benefit from improved local SEO, while e-commerce sites can showcase product details more effectively. Schema markup also aids voice search optimization by providing concise, relevant answers. Overall, it enhances visibility and user engagement in search results.

Test Your Schema Markup with Google Rich Text Snippets

Look for 404 Errors

Broken links corresponding to 404 error in google search console

Broken links are not suitable for any website. These may have an adverse effect on your ranking. Moreover, it also creates a poor user experience.
Critically keep an eye on broken links and try to timely fix them before they impact your website. When you find a broken link, you’ve a few options:

Secure Your Site with HTTPs

Ensure that you are using HTTPS protocol. If you are still using HTTP then it’s time to switch to HTTPS.

Secure Your Site with HTTPS

Off-Page SEO Checklist

Off-Page SEO Checklist

Once we are through with On-Page and technical SEO, now it means the tasks required to be done on the website are complete. It’s time to start linking your website with external sources.
Off-Page SEO is a must to rank your website. One of the ranking factors in the eyes of Google is link building with popular websites. Though it is a tough task, reputable websites do not easily link with new websites. However, we will discuss how we can formulate a successful Off-Page SEO strategy.

Where Do You Presently Stand?

After executing your On-Page and Technical SEO plans, it’s time to conduct an internal audit. To know where all of your efforts have made you stand, we need to keep monitoring the:

Site Audit

Before preparing the link building strategy for your website, first of all analyze your competitors. This would save time and you would not be required to invent the wheel. In fact, just copy the links that made your competitors rank and start applying them to your website.
Obviously, not all links will be relevant to you, and at times links are established based on personal contacts, which again will be difficult to get. But still you may find many opportunities.
SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics can help you in this regard.

SEMrush Backlink for Reverse Engineering

Guest Post with Appropriate Publisher

Some high domain rating websites give us the opportunity to post our content on their websites. This is known as guest posting.

Become a Podcast Guest

An interesting opportunity of getting backlinks is going as a Guest on any podcast or inviting someone. Your guest or host will surely link back to you and will also share the podcast with his audience. This would eventually increase your traffic.

Mention Influencers in Your Blog

One way to get backlink from a reputable influencer is by mentioning them in your content.
Next step will be to inform the influencer that you have mentioned him or his product in your content.
Well it’s not that easy to convince an influencer and make him agree to provide you backlinks. But if you succeed, this strategy will boost your website in terms of quality backlinks.

Local SEO Checklist

Build a Google Business Profile Page

Creating a Google Business Profile (GBP) gives you an added advantage in local SEO. It is a great way to make it easy for your local visitors to approach you. It appears both on Google Search and Google Maps.
In order to create GBP, follow the following steps:

J-Freaks

Once you are through with the process of creating a business profile, now it’s time to optimize it. For further reading, go through 7 Steps to optimize business profile.

Submit Your Site to Online Business Directories

Submitting your website to online business directories, further increases your visibility. These directories generally have high domain authorities, therefore creating profiles on these directories have a positive impact on the Google ranking.
Popular business directories which may boost your website are:

Make Sure the Relevant Business Info is Available Across All Your Pages

All the relevant information related to your business must be available both online and offline.
It means you need to ensure that your crucial details are updated which include:

Last Steps

Delete pages

Just keep one thing in mind, Google wants quality content for its users. A website with tons of pages but of low quality cannot compare with websites with lesser pages but of high quality. Content on the website not generating any traffic is simply a liability. Try to get rid of it.
These dead pages may be:

Update and Relaunch Outdated Content

Revisiting your old content is never a bad idea. At times, your old content is outdated or it requires a new look.
Just updating the information or giving it a fresh look will make it a new page for Google which may grasp the attention of your audience and help in improving the page ranking.

Ensure Your Content is Fresh

Search engines always prefer fresh content. The more you upload fresh content on your website, the more your visibility is likely to increase. The key to get ranked in Google is how frequently Google visits your website. If your content is genuine, on every visit Google is going to reward.