“How can I do SEO on my own?”, “What is the best SEO guide for beginners?” Or “What are the most effective SEO techniques for 2019?”
So if you also belong to those who want to try SEO on their own site without knowing much about it and not trusting an SEO expert, then this 6200+ word SEO article is for you.
What Is SEO?
The term SEO comes from the English word search engine optimization (SEO), which translates to search engine optimization.
That is, all the actions are taken either on-site (off-page SEO) or off-site (off-page SEO) in order to be able to rank our website as high as possible in ranking organic results search engines and take advantage of the free traffic that this entails.
On-Page SEO: In search engine optimization, on-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are controlled by you or by coding on your page. Examples of on-page optimization include actual HTML code, keyword usage, title & description tags, internal linking, image optimization, etc
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Off-Page SEO: In search engine optimization, off-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are off-site in that they are not controlled by you or the coding on your page. Examples of off-page optimization include things like link popularity and page rank.
Selecting a Domain Name (Make it Brandable)
First thing first in this SEO beginner’s domain guide! If we don’t have a domain we can’t have a website so what SEO to talk about.
The domain must express our brand, be short, brandable, and close it for many years upon registration (yes you were suspicious – how many years in advance you are registering a domain is a ranking factor/ranking factor for Google as it is received as an additional indicator of reliability).
Any SEO advantage due to EMD (exact match domain) is nothing at all in the non-existent value of such a brand.
Also, domain selection is not going to take away the organic traffic of your website but it will help in the so-called awareness of your brand over time.
Just don’t do it! The chances of getting better results are significant (at least for the time being) but in the long run, it is not worth believing in me.
IMPORTANT TIP: If you are targeting only the Greek market then your domain must be .gr. Otherwise, you should go to Google Search Console >> Search Traffic >> International Targeting >> Country and choose Greece as the target country.
Choosing a Web Hosting Company
Now that we have the domain it’s time to find where our website will be hosted.
NOW most people also choose the cheapest solution here (see shared hosting for 2-3 dollars/month). Do SEO yourself and save money – so invest in the right hosting package that will provide you with security, reliability, speed, and support.
The hosting package you choose depends on the success or failure of your website. I can’t really stress how important it is to invest in it, especially in the case of online stores.
Cheap = bad choice simply means you will need technical support very soon which will … cost you much more in the long run!
IMPORTANT TIP: In 2019, make sure the server you choose supports http2. What exactly is this and how it will take off your website’s performance/speed you can find out here?
A prerequisite is, of course, to have an SSL security certificate installed, so do not miss the next paragraph.
Google Search Console (GSC)
The reason you do SEO yourself is probably to save money. The Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) is a free Google tool and you simply do not mean to optimize a website without access to the valuable data you find on it.
This is accessed with the same Google account that you use in your Gmail (common to all Google properties). You can find instructions on how to setup it here.
IMPORTANT TIP: Invest time in this tool as its capabilities are huge and most importantly data comes directly from the source, Google itself. Do not hurry to close the browser and do not finish reading the article as in the end you will find a technique that alone can double (even triple) your website traffic within a short time using GSC.