Search engine optimization has changed a lot throughout these last few years. What worked then might not be working in 2020. However, there are a few SEO tips that beginners can keep in mind. Below are six 2020 SEO tips for beginners:
1. Choose The Main Keyword & A Related Keyword For Every Page
Your website should contain the main keyword on every single page, as well as one related keyword. For example, if one of your pages is about “get bigger biceps,” then the main keyword will be “get bigger biceps.” A good secondary keyword could be “build bigger biceps in 4 weeks”. Do the same for articles you post to your site. Every single article should have one core keyword and at least one related keyword.
The reason you want to do this is because it’ll increase your page’s chances of ranking for several keywords, or at least one keyword.
2. Keyword Research: Long Tailed Keywords
Speaking of choosing keywords, when you create content for your website you’ll want to research keywords. More specifically, you want to find long tailed keywords. These are keywords that consist of three or more words. For example, “how do I lose weight in 4 weeks” would be considered a long tailed keyword.
The reason you want to target long-tailed keywords is that as a complete beginner to SEO and if it’s a brand new website you’re optimizing, then you probably won’t rank for competitive keywords. Long tailed keywords tend to have less competition and not a lot of search volume. However, the more long tailed keywords you rank for, the more overall traffic you’ll get to your site.
3. Implement Videos Into Your SEO Strategy
Videos can do wonder for an SEO strategy, and more and more people are tuning into videos. Don’t worry though because you don’t have to appear on camera, as you can create text-based videos. Whatever type of videos you create, they need to be relevant to your website. You should upload new videos at least twice per week to YouTube and Facebook.
Each video should contain keywords in the headline and description. Another tip is to keep your videos relatively short, to the point and ensure they are informative, as well as somewhat entertaining.
4. Optimize Meta Description
The meta description is the snippet of info that appears directly underneath the URL in the search engine results pages. What you should create a description that is enticing because it’s one of the first things search engine users see. Also, use at least one long tailed keyword within the description.
Here’s another tip, as your site begins to gain popularity and trust among Google and search engine users, you can start including a competitive keyword in your meta description.
5. Mobile Friendly Website
One of the best things you can do for your website is to make sure it is optimized for mobile devices. This means your website should be capable of being viewed on all mobile devices, regardless of their screen size. Your site should be easy to navigate and pages should not take too long to load. Google and other search engines tend to favor sites that are mobile friendly over sites that aren’t. It isn’t the most important ranking factor, but nonetheless it is still very important.
As for how to check if your site’s mobile-friendly, this is easy. There are plenty of free tools you can use to make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices.
6. Build Links The Easy Way
As a beginner, it’s too easy to be tempted to copy and paste your website’s link everywhere and anywhere. What you want to do is build links the easy way. A good method to get a free backlink is to use the following sites to link back to your website:
- YouTube
- A blog
The way this works is you create a few YouTube videos per month. Each video should relate to your website, and a link back to your site should be included in the description. For Facebook and Twitter, make a few posts on a weekly basis and link back to your site.
On Pinterest, you want to follow other accounts and “Pin” other people’s content. Include your own sites in your “pins” and eventually people will find your link. For blogging, set up a blog that is completely separate from your website and post content to it at least 2-3 times per week. Each post should contain a link to your website.
If you’re serious about SEO in 2020 and you’re a beginner, then make sure you keep the above tips in mind. The sooner you implement them, the sooner you’ll get results.
