The best time to make sure your site is search engine friendly is when you are building a website.
Here are all the steps you should take:
1. Select a domain name
The process of selecting a domain name can easily be overly complicated. However, choosing a short and unforgettable brand domain name is better in most cases than trying to cram certain keywords into your domain name.
So, if you already have one, keep using it. Or, if you are building one for your business, your business name is fine.
When it comes to top-level domain names (TLD), such as .com, Google has said that top-level domains are no different from SEO.
Therefore, we treat all new top-level domain names just like any other generic top-level domain name. — John Mueller, Search Advocate
There is no need to rack your brains over this problem. .com works well in most cases because it is internationally recognized.
Once you have decided on a domain name, go to a domain name registrar, such as Google domain name or Namecheap, and see if it is available. If not, you will need to repeat this process until you find a name that is both available and suitable for your business.
two。 Select website platform
The website platform allows you to easily create and manage a website. There are two types:
- Hosting platform-they host websites, give you off-the-shelf designs, and let you add and edit content without touching the code. For example, Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify.
- Self-hosting platforms-these platforms allow you to add and edit content with or without code. However, you must host and install them yourself. For example, WordPress and Ghost.
Most SEO recommend WordPress- as a self-hosted open source platform. SEO likes it because it’s customizable-you can edit the code as much as you want.
But that doesn’t mean you have to be technical to use WordPress. You can install millions of plug-ins to do all kinds of work for you. These also include the SEO plug-in.
You don’t have to know how to code in order to use WordPress.
Recommended reading: WordPress SEO:60+ tips and best practices
3. Select a host
If you use a self-hosted solution like WordPress.org, you will need a virtual host. We don’t have a special host to recommend. However, when you consider your options, pay attention to the 3s problem:
- Security-the host should provide you with a free SSL/TLS certificate.
- Server location (server location)-it takes time for data to transfer between the server and the visitor. Therefore, it is best to choose a host whose server is in the same country as most of your traffic.
- Support (support)-you will need the support of 24plus 7. Consider viewing their comments on forums such as Reddit, or testing their support before signing up.
4. Do a good job in the important SEO foundation
You now have a basic website that you can configure to be search engine friendly. Here’s what you should do next:
Set up the Google search console and Ahrefs webmaster tools
You need GSC to complete a bunch of important SEO tasks, such as finding technical errors on your site, submitting site maps, etc.
It is very easy to set it up. Log in to GSC with your Google account. You should see this “welcome” screen:
Select the domain name and enter your domain name. Then you will be prompted to verify your domain name. Google has clear step-by-step instructions on how to do this:
Verify domain name ownership through TXT in GSC. You can use the Smart SEO Tool plug-in to quickly verify domain name ownership as required by the webmaster tools of major search engines.
Verify domain name ownership through CNAME in GSC.
If you are stuck or unsure, you can check out Google’s help article.
Once done, you can use GSC and see your search analysis. As it is new, you won’t have any data for the time being.
Although GSC is irreplaceable to anyone who studies SEO seriously, it still has some shortcomings in some aspects. For example, it only provides some data about the keyword rankings of your site and the sites you link to.
To make up for the lack of areas, you should set up the Ahrefs webmaster tool (AWT). It is free and allows you to:
- Audit your site for more than 100 SEO problems (and explain how to solve them).
- Check the link to your website.
- Check your site’s ranking of organic keywords.
- Check the amount of natural traffic your site receives.
There’s more.
To use AWT, create a free account. Then add and verify your site. You can also use your GSC account to verify.
Recommended reading: how to use the Google search console
Create a reasonable website structure
Visitors and search engines should easily find the content on your site. You need to establish a logical level for your content, which you can outline with a mind map:
Each brand on the mind map represents an internal link, that is, a link from one page of one site to another.
Internal links are critical to your site because:
- This is how Google and other search engines find new pages.
- This is also how Google and other search engines know the content of your page. They do this by looking at clickable words (called anchor text) in the link.
- Internal links help pass PageRank, which is an important Google ranking factor.
Recommended reading: build your website structure to get a good SEO and user experience
Using logical URL structures
Our advice is to choose something clear and descriptive, so likewebsite.com/seo-for-new-website/
.
Other technical considerations
A positive user experience is also important for your business and Google. You need to make sure you have these things:
Use HTTPS
No one wants their personal data to be leaked to hackers. You need to encrypt your website with SSL/TLS. Most decent web hosts should be able to provide this service, or you should be able to enable it yourself.
After that, you should see a padlock on your URL.
Here’s what happens in Google browser:
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
Today, most people search on mobile. Your website should be responsive and able to run on all devices.
You can easily check this using the developer tools on Google browser:
- Click “…” in the upper right corner of the browser. “drop-down menu
- Select more tools
- Select developer tools
- Click the mobile button in the upper left corner
From here, you will be able to select the exact equipment you want to test:
Avoid interrupting advertisements
Plug-in ads are full-screen ads that appear before web content is loaded. Nobody likes them. Google doesn’t like it either. If your site doesn’t need such pop-up ads, avoid them.
Make sure your website loads quickly
Web speed is a factor in Google’s ranking. Therefore, it is absolutely important to take some time to make sure your site loads quickly. You can use tools like PageSpeed Insights to check your page performance.
5. Start keyword research
If no one searches for a particular topic, you can’t get organic traffic. That’s why the first step in any SEO strategy is to find out what your target audience is searching for.
This is called keyword research.
The easiest way to start is to use a keyword research tool. The keyword tool is a database of words and phrases with SEO metrics. They will show you a list of ideas based on the seed keyword ideas you enter.
For example, you can start with a free keyword research tool, such as Ahrefs’s Keyword Generator.
Enter a related topic and you will get the results of as many as 100 keywords:
If you are looking for more keywords, you can use professional keyword tools, such as Ahrefs’s Keywords Explorer. You will be able to see all the potential themes, in addition:
- Important keyword indicators to help you make better decisions.
- Filter to narrow your search to the best and most relevant keywords.
For example, using the same seed keyword “coffee” above, Keywords Explorer shows us more than 3 million keywords.
But it’s too much. So let’s focus on the keywords we can really compete with and do in-depth research. We can do this by adding a Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter. We also want to make sure that these keywords generate search traffic, so we need to add a Traffic Potential (TP) filter.
It looks like this:
From here on, you need to flip through the list, pick out the relevant keywords, and add them to the list of keywords you can refer to. This can be a simple Google worksheet.
Recommended Reading: how to do keyword Research on SEO
6. Create a page optimized for search
Just like how product managers design products for their target users, we want to do the same thing for our content. In this case, we want to create content that will attract people who search for our topic.
Here’s how to do this:
Analyze search intention
Search intention is the reason behind a search query. In other words, why are searchers looking for this particular topic?
It is important to understand the search intent because:
- Knowing why searchers search means you can create the right content for them.
- Google also wants to know, so it can provide the most relevant results.
So by aligning your content with your search intentions, you can get a higher ranking on Google.
We can determine the search intention by looking at the top pages of your topic and find three C’s:
- Content type (content type)-are they blog posts, product pages, landing pages, or other content?
- Content format (content form)-are they tutorials, lists, instructions, recipes, free tools, or something else?
- Content angle (content perspective)-is there a dominant selling point, such as low price or how easy it is?
For example, suppose our target keyword is “how to clean the coffee maker (how to clean coffee make)”. If we take a look at the SERP overview in Ahrefs…
… We can see this:
- Content type-they are mostly blog posts.
- Content format-most of them are guides to how to operate.
- Content angle-there are several angles: “use vinegar”, “better coffee”, “any kind” and “only 30 minutes”.
If we want to get a ranking for this keyword, we have to create a guide to cleaning coffee machines from a specific point of view of the unique technology we have.
Recommended reading: what is the search intention? A complete guide for beginners
Covers important subtopics
A product manager may have an idea of what their target users want to see, but they don’t want to assume they know everything.
The same is true of your content, and you don’t want to miss out on the potential subtopics that searchers expect in dealing with the content of the topic. In this case, we can actually find this by looking for the ranking of common keywords in the top pages.
Here are the methods:
- Enter your keywords (for example, “earned media”) in Ahrefs’s Keywords Explorer.
- Scroll down to SERP overview
- Select three to five top articles (make sure they are similar)
- Click Open in and select “Content gap”.
This opens the “Content Gap” report, which shows the ranking of all keywords on these pages. We will select the Intersection drop-down menu and select the two highest targets (in this case, 4 and 5).
As you can see, many of these keywords are also mapped to subtopics. For example, searchers want to know:
- What is winning the media.
- An example of winning the media.
- Win the media strategy.
- Other types, such as paid and own media.
Make it unique.
Although you want to get inspiration from the top web pages, your goal is not to “copy” everything you already have. After all, if your content is exactly the same as that of others, there is no reason to consume your content in particular.
So give your audience a reason to read, share, or link to your content. The best way to do this is to make sure your content is unique.
Here’s how you create something unique:
- Write something about your personal experience
- Interview experts in your field
- Solicit advice, expertise, or ideas from multiple experts
- Conduct original research by running research or investigation
- Provide an opinion to the contrary
Make your content easy to read
Your content should provide your readers with an effortless reading experience. Follow these tips:
- Use descriptive subheadings (H2-H6) to divide levels
- Use bullets to help skim
- Use pictures and GIF (if necessary) to split text
- Use short sentences and paragraphs to avoid “text walls”.
- Use simple words that everyone can understand
- Write like a speech to make the article dialogic.
- Read your manuscript aloud (when editing) to make it smooth.
Add your web page SEO
The focus of the page SEO is to help Google and searchers better understand and digest your content.
Follow these basic principles:
- Use keywords in the title (if possible).
- Write a compelling meta-description and sell your article on SERP
- Add concise and accurate alt text to your picture
7. Share your website with others
Just because you’ve created your website doesn’t mean people will magically find it. You have to tell someone about your new website.
Here are some tips for promoting your site:
- Don’t be shy, tell your friends and family-they’ll be supportive.
- Start creating an email list-this will come in handy when you post new content in the future.
- Contact the person you mentioned in the content-if you link and mention any resources in the article, please let the author know! Find out their contact information and send them an email or DM!
- Join and participate in relevant niche communities-whether in Reddit, Slack, Circle or Discord-become active members of these communities and share your content when relevant (don’t spam! ).
The above tips may seem simple, but they will help spread the information about your site.
Of course, there are more ideas to try, but making sure you are promoting your site is more important than the shiny new tactics you can find.
8. Track the performance of the website
You need to monitor your results so that you can figure out what is right or wrong.
The easiest way is to add your target keywords to Ahrefs’s Rank Tracker.
This tool will track the ranking of your site among all the keywords you add. In this way, you can easily see your performance on multiple keywords and whether you need to make any adjustments to your content.
Summary
Search engine optimization is not a set task, and then you can forget it. However, if you follow the above process, you will begin to get steady natural traffic to your site.