Benjamin Paine
Managing Director at Digital Nomads HQ
What Is SEO?
SEO or Search engine optimisation is the digital marketing practice of increasing one’s website ranking position in SERPs (Search engine ranking pages). As organic search is still one of the most popular ways to which users research and search for both services and products… by increasing your rankings, you increase your website traffic.
So, in a very short summary…
SEO is improving your organic (non-paid) ranking in Google.
Why?
The primary benefit… to increase “free” traffic to your website… every day.
We’ll break down each segment/topic to provide you with a complete guide to SEO;
How Search Engines Work
Starting with the foundation, how does Google work? Or how does any search engine work
Front facing, it’s quite straightforward… you search “what is SEO” and relevant articles show up providing you with the information you are searching for.
How does it do this?
Google, Bing and any other search engine online work on algorithms.
When a user searches a term, Google’s algorithm works in real-time based on the query and search intent to bring you what it would consider the “best” result for you as a user.
How does Google determine the “best” result?
It’s a secret.
Jokes, aside – Google does keep its cards close to its chest on this one.
They do give out “hints” and recommendations to users frequently through Google core algorithm updates, along with these and the insight many experts have tried and tested – we have some key areas that impact the “best” result.
Relevancy
As it sounds… content needs to be relevant.
If you are searching for “best local restaurants”, you don’t want to be given a search result of car servicing centres… Strange as it sounds, this is something Google has to consider.
Content Relevancy is determined by a “measurement of accuracy” based on the search query and the relationship to the page’s relevancy to this term.
(Search Term x Content) = Relevancy
Authority
This is where authority comes in.
Like it sounds
– it’s a measurement to which Google determines if one’s content is trusted and from a deemed authoritative source.
How does Google determine authority?
Google leverage link signals… citations, backlinks & brand mentions.
Links signals are the number of “External” signals online referencing your domain.
Put simply: The more links, citations and brand mentions… the more authority.
The more authority… the higher it will rank (when the content is still relevant, as previously mentioned.)
How important is authority?
Helpful content
Content can have authority and be relevant, but it also needs to be “helpful”.
Google’s goal is to provide the “best” content, the best content has to come with the “best” experience… meaning it needs to help the user.
Helpful content or Useful content.. isn’t just high-quality content, it can equally be how engaging the content may be, or the way in which the content may be structured.
Example: Two websites providing a cake recipe. One with authority and expert content. The second is with expert content but helpful content.
The first site has the cake recipe, but just “put to page” in an un-orderly fashion.
The second site has the cake recipe in a recipe schema markup, with easy navigation to follow through the step-by-step process.
Now while the first site has authority with more links…
Google will leverage its “user experience signals”, by doing this, understanding the ability for users to simply navigate, step by step the second website, ultimately deeming it more useful by analysing user engagement.
Positive user experiences, Impact rankings.
How important is helpful content?
This is a two-part question…
How important is helpful content to your SEO rankings?
And How important is helpful content to your users?
To your SEO rankings
Helpful content isn’t going to be the only factor to get you to the top. I believe it’s the one that keeps you there. It’s about being a valued resource, a thought leader and an experience that users love.
If you are looking short-sighted for “quick wins” in organic traffic… your losses will come as quick as your gains.
Playing the right game, and creating real engagement signals will ensure longevity.
So, How’s it important to your users…
They get the “helpful” content. Quality content.
And will keep coming back for more.
How SEO Works
With now better understanding of how search engines work… let’s look at the SEO (search engine optimisation) itself.
The Goal of SEO
Make sure that search engines (Google) determine your website and your content as the “best” possible result for their query.
Sounds simple, but with over 200 ranking factors in Google’s current algorithm, it can be quite the process.
Why Is SEO Important?
Answer: There is A LOT of search… don’t miss out.
Now each industry is unique and different, but let me put together some examples of how effective SEO can be…
Example 1: You’re a real estate company and people searching in your location for “real estate agent [location]” are 5,000 searches per month. The first result in Google gets between 28.5% of clicks.
28.5% of 5000 = 1425 p/m
With Avg CPC between 1-2$ (USD) per click
1425 x $1.5 = $2137 worth of traffic per month
or $25,644 per year…. For just one keyword.
Example 2: Take us as an example “digital marketing agency” with a similar 3.5k searches per month in Australia. The first result in Google gets between 28.5% of clicks.
28.5% of 5000 = 997 p/m
With Avg CPC between 5-7$ (USD) or $9 (AUD)
997 x $9 = $8973 p/m
or $107,676 per year…. Again, just one keyword.
Keyword Research
A pivotal first step for SEO and any campaign is the understanding of both your audience and the keywords you are looking to target.
By conducting keyword research, gathering insight into what your customers are searching for and the way in which they search (yes.. this can be surprising) before getting into the content development and technical aspect of SEO.
How to find keywords?
This process is to ensure you identify not just keywords within your industry.. but also have relevant intent to your product or service.
There are 4 primary keyword types:
Informational Intent: “How to’s, What is, best time etc.”
These are used when users are looking to learn or gain information surrounding a product or service.
Think about how you can incorporate these into your keyword planner. What do your customers frequently ask you? Common questions they may have surrounding your product or service… these are often great to utilise in blog topics.
Navigational Intent: Users are trying to find a particular website or page
“Facebook, Youtube, Google My Business login etc.”
These are often part of a keyword planner…however, ensuring your website is optimised for your brand equally ensures that if a user is searching for brand-related terms, you will be found.
Commercial Intent: Researching in relation to products or services:
“Best laptop under $1000”, “best marketing agency”, “top gyms in my area”
These can often be used within your campaign – especially with pricing guides, leveraging customer reviews for “best” related terms, listicles for “top-rated” and comparison guides for users looking to compare between products.
Transaction Intent: Ready to buy searches or ready to action: “buy iPhone 15”, “order pizza online”, “yoga classes near me”.
Generally, these are bottom-funnel keywords with high conversion intent. They drive sales and conversions as they often represent users who are ready to make the purchase.
With each intent in mind and understanding your product/service you can start mapping out a keyword planner.
Tools for keyword planning
Google’s Autocomplete is an underrated tool that is accessible to everyone.
You will already have used this tool without releasing it….
The simple process of starting to type within Google will provide you with “recommendations” on your search.
Grab a few of your primary service terms or product-related terms and test the response… you’ll quite quickly have some additional recommendations you can target.
Back with these terms – jump into Google Ads Planner.
Yes, it’s normally utilised for Google Ads campaigns, however, this handy tool will give you search traffic for the keywords (and by location), related terms and exact match volumes.
Key Point in Keyword Research
Focus on long-tail keywords first…
well firstly… What’s a long tail keyword?
Example: “best SEO services for small business” is long tail vs “SEO” being short tail.
So yes, ranking for “real estate agent” looks fantastic …. And I’m sure the volume backs it.
But in SEO, you can’t just walk into the industry with a new website and grab the “biggest” key term and rank for it.
There is something called keyword difficulty or KD.
This is a metric many of the SEO tools utilise to measure how competitive a keyword is to obtain.
The higher the KD, the harder it is.
Equally the opposite… the lower the KD, the easier.
So, how does this affect long-tail keywords?
Generally, the shorter the keyword the higher the KD and again the opposite
The longer the keyword… the easier to obtain.
Focusing your early content towards long tail keywords allows you to “get your foot in the door”. Once you start gaining traction for these it becomes easier to obtain the short-tail keywords.
Read more on “Keyword research for SEO“
Types of SEO
Content Optimisation
SEO is Content and very much why content is always a talking point in SEO.
High-quality content ranks, and poor-quality content or plagiarised content doesn’t…
So, the general rule is to create high-quality (helpful) content.
Creating Content for Services & Product
While the quality of content is key… the way in which it is delivered can change.
Service pages or Product pages are written with the goal of converting a user, so utilising the “feature/benefit” framework for products works better.
It still needs to offer value… be helpful and be informative … but its goal is to convert.
Vs. Blog Content
Blogs are really where content shines.
Useful, informative, engaging copywriting to create a piece that both users and Google LOVES!
Amazing content gets amazing results – so don’t cut corners and put in the time.
Insight: HubSpot found that businesses that published content on a regular basis would generate 350% more traffic in comparison to competitors not engaging in content marketing.
This article is an example: Taking days of research, thought and strategy, along with creative, design and copywriting to create a single piece of content (hope you like it).
Content Depth
High-Quality Content (with depth)
Prior to AI, content could simply answer questions and queries without having to be what we consider “deep” content.
Answering questions that require a step-by-step process… as opposed to content that requires, strategy, thought, expertise etc.
Example: “How do I install office”
Answer: AI can quickly answer with a step-by-step process on how to complete this task.
Example (requiring depth): “How to build a website”
Answer: While AI can still answer this, it can’t answer the process of how an agency may complete the task, the tools, the approval process, the cost etc… this is “depth”.
Here are some examples of “high-quality” content that also provides “depth” and value.
Comprehensive Lists
A comprehensive list or complete list is as it sounds – The compiling of a comprehensive list of “tips and tricks”, “techniques” or “recipes” etc. This is commonly called listicles in the industry.
Step-By-Step Guides
Step-by-step guides have been around almost forever…
BUT yes, they still work!
You just have to once again bring more “Depth”.
It’s easy to get a “5 steps to on-page SEO” from ChatGPT or Gemini (Google’s AI), So this is why you would need to be granular, break down each step with implementation techniques, strategy, do’s and don’ts, data and experience… make it excellent!
Content with Data
It’s hard to gain links… and research shows it’s only become harder.
On a positive note: Content that displays data is working well, Really Well!
Part of Google’s E-E-A-T framework (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust) aligns with content displaying experience, learning into data and case studies.
Complete Guides
Similar to the previously mentioned “complete lists”, rather than just a comprehensive list of outlining tips and tricks, it’s a complete guide on a given subject matter.
While this may still include lists, actionable and step-by-step… the goal is to give the user a complete “guide” on the topic … much like this article is doing.
Visual Content
Infographics, videos, flowcharts, screenshots etc. are all part of “visual” content strategy.
These aren’t only beneficial for SEO ranking, but, are get to improve on-page user signals and are often leveraged as part of a link-building strategy.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO ensures Google can understand your content to display it in search results.
The process involves adding relevant, useful content surrounding the phrases you are trying to rank for.
Google crawls each page and through its language understanding can determine what a page is in relation too.
By having the keyword you are trying to focus on mentioned several times on a website in “key areas”, Google will understand what keywords the page is relevant for.
Pretty straight forward…
So, How to “do” on-page SEO
Use Your Keyword In Your Title Tag & URL
The number 1 rule in on-page SEO:
Use your keyword in your title tag
Pro-Tip: also in your URL (when possible).
Why?
Web pages have a structure, and the title tag is considered a “Very” important part of this.
Title tags are designed to summarise what your page is about…
Having your primary keyword in this title tag clearly defines to Google that this is the keyword/topic you are writing about.
Optimise Your Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are the descriptions underneath the title tag listed in SERPs.
While Google has clearly stated that it doesn’t “NOT” use meta tags in web ranking… there is some “indirect” ranking effect it may have.
By having a compiling meta description, that incentives clicks over your competitors, this will subsequently increase your CTR which can then affect your ranking.
So, with this being said, although it’s not a direct ranking factor….
We don’t want to ignore it.
What makes a compelling Meta description?
Use your main keyword… Google will BOLD your keyword when a user searches the “exact match” which improves the probability of users clicking on your SERP listing as opposed to your competitors.
Keywords In Your Content
Next, you want to make sure to include the primary keyword you are targeting within your page (a few times).
This will enforce to Google the focus of your content and the topic you are writing about.
Pro tip: Don’t saturate your content with the keyword.
The more times you write the keyword it doesn’t improve the likelihood that you will rank or that your position will increase!
This is called “keyword stuffing” in the industry and it can cause your site to be penalised by Google… doing the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.
To summarise: Add the primary keyword onto your page “naturally” a few times and Google will do the rest!
Synonyms and Variations (or Semantics)
What are semantics?
These are terms related to the primary keyword (closely related).
We call these LSI keywords (latent semantic indexing) sounds fancy right?
An example of these would be;
Publishing an article on: “SEO tips”
And the variations or LSI terms could be;
- “On-page SEO tips”
- “Off-page SEO tips”
- “SEO for Beginners”
These are all closely related to the primary topic and would add additional value to the content as a whole.
Image Optimisation
Yes, images need to be optimised too.
It’s difficult for search engines to determine what an image represents or displays… so we have to help it.
There are 3 main areas to optimise within an image…
File Name: Give the image a descriptive file name
Image Title: Similar to the file name be descriptive, but stay relevant to what is being displayed
Alt Text: Alt text is for being descriptive of the image itself, often utilised in screen readers.
Straight forward.
User Experience
We briefly address Google’s user experience metrics earlier…
User experience is a “newer” metric Google has adopted with the goal of improving the overall experience of websites throughout Google.
By measuring how long people stay on a web page, dwell time, clicks etc… they can determine the quality of one’s user experience.
For example; If you land on a website and it looks terrible… you’ll leave.
Google knows this has happened.
The opposite is also true
– A positive experience can generate great on-page signals… returning users and in some cases other websites linking to your content (Improving your authority) and therefore improving your ranking.
Don’t ignore user experience…
Content Quality
The “content is king” gets thrown around a lot in SEO and content marketing.
And well… it is.
As we broke down earlier, expert, high-quality content and content with “depth” is a must in 2024.
You need to have INCREDIBLE content… or AI will just write better content and you won’t get a look in.
PRO TIP: Think outside of just copy. Implement short-form video, infographics, or podcast links to further elevate your content.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO – it’s a lot… and most of it you don’t need to worry about.
Websites in WordPress or Shopify have a lot of the technical SEO aspects addressed or implemented within the structure of the CMS … so you don’t have to do it! We love that.
So, what is technical SEO?
In a nutshell… it’s ensuring that a search engine can find, crawl and index the pages on your website.
While its a lot of things you don’t need to worry about… it’s also some vital elements you HAVE to do… like indexing or having a sitemap.
You can start here;
Verify Your Site: Google Search Console
One of the first steps upon publishing a website is to verify the site ownership in Search Console.
This is verifying to Google that you are the owner of the website (Google calls “Domain Properties”).
Upon completing this, you’ll get access to the Search Console Dashboard… its essentially your “go-to” for your website’s health check and performance. Displaying links obtained, impressions, indexed pages etc…
This is also where you submit your website’s sitemap!
SEO-Friendly URL Structure
Just like your domain… and your title tags… URLs are a key part of your website’s SEO.
What are the do’s and don’ts for URLs?
Keep it consistent
Categorise content and keep URLs consistent, this helps both Google and user navigation.
Use Keywords in your URLs
Make sure your target keyword is within your URL e.g. digitalnomadshq/blog/what-is-seo/
Don’t keyword stuff!
Similar to your content, add the keyword… but don’t go stuffing 10 keywords into your URL.
Make it short…
Shorter URLs rank better in Google – so get to the point and keep it short.
PageSpeed Optimisation
A fast website is a GREAT website.
Slow loading isn’t just annoying for users waiting for your page to load… it can hurt your SEO.
Google includes page speed as a ranking factor and measures load times within its algorithm
(since 2018 algorithm update called “Speed update”).
Assess your page speed by using Google’s own PageSpeed tool here;
You’ll be scored out of 100 and it will also break down each segment of your website and how it’s affecting your loading times.
Now obviously 100 is the goal, but often it’s not achievable… so aiming for the 60+ range would be my recommendation to start with.
NOTE: Google measures both mobile and desktop independently … make sure you audit both. The last thing you want is a great performance on a desktop only to realise mobile is the opposite.
Setup HTTPS
HTTPs is encryption for the data being sent between the user and the website you are visiting.
Keeping it simple… protecting sensitive data.
Why is this important? Other than for security?
It actually gives you a competitive SEO advantage over a standard HTTP protocol…
Will it move you from 10th to 1st… no.
Will you see any movement, possibly…
But Google has been clear that it does affect your ranking, and that is enough for us.
Internal Linking & Site Architecture
Whether you have a new website or an existing website, site architecture & understanding a customer journey is important. While it doesn’t matter to a small 5-6 page website, it does affect it when you decide to scale.
This is why websites with hundreds or thousands of pages – the hierarchy of a website structure is VERY important.
Easy to understand structure … Easy for Google to Crawl.
Easy to Crawl… Easy to rank.. right?
And…Internal linking?
Linking from a page from another within your website. This allows you to pass around “link juice” between pages and also improve user navigation through to relevant content.
The Goal: Link to pages that are important to your website. (that you want to rank).
PRO-Tip: Use keyword-rich internal links – If you are linking to a page talking about home loans, then use the anchor text “home loans”.
EXPERT TIP: Don’t link out on a keyword that your page is trying to rank for itself.
Example: If you have a page trying to rank for home loans.. don’t internal link out to another page using the anchor “home loans” as Google may see this page as being more relevant, causing a negative effect.
Optimise For Mobile
Mobile first…
Yes. Google’s algorithm is Mobile first.
Basically, this means Google sees your mobile version of the website as the main version.
So, with this in mind…
Your website needs to be responsive and mobile-friendly, if it’s not… then this should be your first priority.
Link Building (Off-Page SEO)
“Not all links are equal”…
In 2024 with Google’s recent March algorithm update, this has never been so prevalent.
How do you measure a link's authority?
There are two main metrics that we measure the authority of a link, Domain Authority & Page Authority.
Domain Authority: This is the overall site authority of the complete website.
Page Authority: This as it sounds, is the authority of a specific page on the website.
Now, you’re probably asking why these would be different…
Let me give you an example;
Say you have a website with a high DA of 80… and have 200k pages.
Your DA is distributed across 200k pages, this dilutes the authority as it gets passed out.
Meaning my page authority could be low.
In contrast, if I had a website with a DA of 70 (10 lower) but only 20 pages… the page authority would be high as the domain authority is only being passed to 20 pages.
The Goal: Get links from webpages with a high PA on a website with a high DA. Heads up… it’s not easy.
Backlinks from Relevant Websites
So, understanding that links aren’t equal…
Read more on “what are backlinks“…
Placement isn’t equal either… (depending on who you are).
Let me explain,
What backlinks you obtain to your website and from who is important, and what is equally as important is whether the link is from a relevant source.
Example…
If you’re in the Automotive industry, having a link from a blog on cake recipes doesn’t make sense – and Google knows that.
Websites become NICHE relevant in their own right…
Examples:
Search Engine Journal – Niche: Digital Marketing
Which car – Niche: Automotive
Realestate.com – Niche: you guessed it “Real estate”….
By obtaining links from websites that are “IN” your niche has far more weight than ones that aren’t in your niche.
Now relevant doesn’t mean you can only get links from players in your niche… it’s common for you to obtain links from websites that may be more “general” and that is fine also.
White Hat vs. Black Hat SEO
What is white hat vs black hat… it’s essentially “by the rules” vs “not by the rules”.
Shady SEO tactics have always been a thing and honestly still are! This is one of the reasons why Google has Core algorithm updates… to mitigate the misuse of SERPs or the manipulation of rankings.
Why is Black Hat SEO a thing?
Well… it works… kind of.
Black hat SEO is very short-sighted, and often ends in rankings falling as fast as they are gained… here are a few charts displaying black hat results.
Ultimately, it’s not worth the risk, for short-term gain, you could put your website/business in a situation of being permanently “black listed” … basically, your website won’t rank.. at all.
So, what’s White Hat SEO?
Backlink Gap
By running your website and competitor websites through tools such as Ahrefs’s “link intersect”, you can find links that your competitors may have obtained that currently don’t link to your website.
Not only this, but you can also assess whether they are “niche” relevant & strong in DA prior to trying to obtain the link (as we previously mentioned).
These links may be simple directory listings that you can submit online yourself…
Or comprehensive listicles that outline “the best [service] in [location]”,
to which you can potentially reach out to the author requesting to be added.
It’s a great way to find link opportunities in your industry.
The Skyscraper Technique
I love this technique!
It’s not a straightforward process, don’t get me wrong,
it takes expertise, research and time… a lot of time… to do it well.
Simply, the method is to find the “best” content on the topic you are looking to discuss and make it better. “The tallest skyscraper gets the attention”… make a better piece of content… and get more links… easy!
Guest Posting
Yes, guest posting can be White Hat SEO!
You just have to do it right…
That means not “buying” guest posts, it means manually reaching out to credible publications to write articles for their website in exchange for the link.
Linkable Assets
Creating highly unique, linkable assets still works.
Examples such as;
- Free Tools or Calculators
- Visual Guides or Infographics
- Resources
- Case Study (Industry studies)
This information isn’t easily assessable, nor can it just be created with AI… this is why it’s a commodity that will generate links.
User Signals
We touched on this earlier when we spoke about “user engagement signals”.
Google does monitor how a user interacts with a page if they notice actions such as;
“Pogosticking” (This is when a user clicks on your result and goes straight back to Google to click the next).
Skipping over your content altogether
Or “Short” dwell time on page
Google will consider your content as being less relevant than your competitors, ultimately downranking your position.
SEO Trends in 2024
E-E-A-T
Google’s framework on E-E-A-T (standing for “Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trustworthiness”).
This over the last 2 years has become a HOT topic in SEO…
Why?
It’s Google’s framework to “measure” a website… meaning that if Google considers you with a “high” E-E-A-T rating, you would be considered an expert or thought leader within your space.
This subsequently increases your rankings.
How do you implement the E-E-A-T framework?
High-Quality Content, Insight & Expertise and Authoritative Link Profile
Read more on the E-E-A-T framework.
Deep Content
This is a fresh topic with AI content being in abundance…
Google is looking for content that is interesting, content with experience and expertise.
Shallow Content vs Deep Content.
Shallow Content – It’s boring! Dull “keyword rich” vague content that is batched out by AI tools in the hope to achieve some short-term wins.
Deep Content – Detailed explanations, engaging visuals, interesting thought perspectives… everything a reader wants in a piece of content.
Schema Markup
What is schema markup?
Schema is a code that is added to your website in a structured data format for search engines to understand.
It isn’t necessarily “front-facing” for users to see, it’s about readability and understanding for search engines to better deliver your content.
Now, this doesn’t mean users won’t see the benefit of a website implementing schema…
Here’s an example of a review schema in SERPs.
Those stars underneath the SERP listing are visible due to the review schema implemented on the site… giving Google an understanding of the number of reviews the company has received.
While there is no correlation to this increasing your Google rankings, it does increase user click-through (CTR).
Imagine, you see two listings, one with 200+ 5-star reviews, and another without… which one are you clicking…
This is just one type of schema markup, here are a few others;
- Organisation Schema
- Person Schema
- Local Business
- Product
- Event
and so on….
Understanding how to utilise schema to better increase visibility, CTR and markups in SERPs is a must in 2024.
Backlinks & Link Building
We touched on this earlier in the topic of “authority”.
Google is continuing to address the “black hat” link-building techniques of,
link farms, PBNs (private backlink networks) & expired domain abuse.
In a recent algorithm (March 2024) they have implemented tactics to address some key areas around links…
Content for Link Manipulation
“Creating low-value content primarily for the purposes of manipulating linking and ranking signals.”
While this is a little ambiguous, it looks to be aimed towards the form of “paid links” or the practice of (PBNs).
PBNs – Groups of websites that only exist to provide backlinks to websites and each other to improve Google Rankings.
Outgoing link signals
A second signal focused on the manipulation of outgoing links.
Google has always had a strong standing on websites that “sell outgoing links”. This is one of the first times it has clearly addressed the issue and displayed public action against these tactics.
Google’s statement:
“Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behaviour that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
To summarise this, websites with a high volume of “outlinks” with the goal just to “sell” and increase other websites’ authority in the exchange, could be penalised for this behaviour.
Conclusion
I do hope you got value from this SEO guide!
My goal was to provide you with content that had “depth”, along with insight from my years in owning an SEO agency and the tried and tested implementations we have conducted.
While there is a lot to learn, it’s worth the effort to start… especially now that you should understand the value of how much traffic it can generate.
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