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'SEO for Dummies' ?

by Danyelle
14 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi All,

I'm new to the forum, but am reading all the great posts and learning a lot. Thanks for being such a wealth of info.

Is there a site you know of or a place I can look for step by step or easy to understand SEO info?

Thx,
Dani
#dummies
  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Hi Dani,

    SEO is a subject that you can take 2 ways.

    1 - Simple and easy

    2 - Complicated and intensive


    Unless you're running an seo business or you're in a massively competitive market where it's extremely difficult to get any visibility - I would go with simple.

    The simple version:

    No-one really knows what the search engines care about (it changes regularly), so just stick with the basics.

    The basics:

    Getting seen in the search engines comes down to 1 thing.......

    Keywords

    There are 2 sides to this.

    1 - Content

    2 - Links

    In order for surfers to find your site you need to have one of those 2 things - both is ideal.

    So, this means you should have the words that you want to be found for on the pages of your website, and also used in the links that point to your pages from other peoples websites.

    Then it's just a matter of time. If you keep adding content and links, you'll eventually be found. You can get into the search engine index within a few minutes, but for consistent search engine visibility you want fresh unqiue content and links from web pages that already have lots of links to them.

    Ultimately the end result you want is traffic, so don't waste your time trying to get low quality links just for the sake of it and just do some research on other websites that get the sort of traffic you want.

    You can use Googles Page Rank value (look it up on google, and download their toolbar) in order to get a feel for if a website/web page has been given a lot of value (Page Rank) by Google. This isn't definitive so just use it as a quick guide to get started on high PR sites.

    That's it.

    The more keywords and phrases people use to search for things in your market, the more opportunities you have to be found. More content and more links = more visibility and more traffic.

    Top sources for links are:

    1 - Finding high PR websites that link to you because you have good relevant content.
    2 - High PR sites where you can post information and include a link (Amazon, Blogs, website directories, article directories, press release sites etc..)
    3 - Internal pages of your own site that point to other relevant pages of your site using keywords.


    That should be more than enough to get most businesses great visibility.

    If you go for looking into advanced SEO strategies you can end up chasing your tail doing things which are speculative and may or may not help and may even have an adverse effect or get you de-indexed, so I would advise not to go there.

    You almost certainly do not need to spend any money on a product if you're just starting. There's so many simple things you can do.

    Andy
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    nothing to see here.

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    • Profile picture of the author Danyelle
      Wow Andy! Thanks for the speedy response. I really appreciate it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bingo123
        I think Andy hit it on the head. Don't overcomplicated it. Just chose your keywords, and then start building links to your site. Ideally you want to get links from pages which have a high page rank. This counts for a lot more in Googles eyes. Put simply, that's really all there is to it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Anup Mahajan
      Hi Dani,

      Andy has really given all that you need to know about SEO. Focus of posting good content and building high quality backlinks to your site.

      One resource that I found useful for SEO was
      Search Engine Optimization - How it is Done

      You'll learn a lot from it.

      Cheers,
      Anup
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    • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
      Andy... that was greatly explained!
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      WARNING EXPLICIT: This is ugly... and this is the distilled truth


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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayhew
        Here's a couple great free resources.
        SEO and SEM Kurt Melvin's Big Page of Search Engine Optimization Strategies.
        15 Minute SEO List - Learn how to SEO
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        IMO Partnership. A National Insurance Marketing Alliance.
        http://www.imopartnership.com/

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        • Profile picture of the author Danyelle
          Thank you both for the links!
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          • Profile picture of the author xmx
            I have listed some SEO resources in this section of my site:

            Earn With Google

            Perhaps in your case the best resource could be Brad Callen's
            SEO Mindset.

            He offered it with a big discount in the WSO forum some
            months ago, and I bought it at that time, very complete.


            Gian
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        • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
          Originally Posted by Michael Mayhew View Post

          Good call Michael - however Kurts page should come with a warning - "information overload warning, you could lose the next few hours checking it all out" and Kurt is one of the only guys I'll listen to seo advice from.
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          nothing to see here.

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          • Profile picture of the author Simon_Sezs
            The dumbed down version of SEO that works....

            A good place to start is your internal linking structure. Most people who build sites focus mainly on getting backlinks from other sources and completely ignore the fact that internal structure is a form of a "back link" as well.

            Google is just trying to determine what your site is really about. You can help them along the way by giving them internal links pointing to a page within your site. BTW, this is known as keyword sniping and works in low competition keywords.

            Most people try to overthink SEO. If you are new, I suggest you go after a low competition keyword first (like lasik surgery in Kansas City)....you know, google the keyword and see what comes up...if it is less than 500,000, give it a go.

            1. Find a low competition keyword.
            2. Name your domain the keyword.
            3. Write 5-6 pages (posts) using your keyword or a LSI expression in the title tag.
            4. Anchor text your keyword in the first paragraph and embolden it. Do this for all of your pages and point it to just one page on your site.
            5. Now, everyday, submit your website to a directory, write an ezine article...whatever....but use the keyword itself or a similar keyword.
            Chances are good that you will be in the top 10 within a couple months for your keyword.

            That is the simplest path to getting there and a good place to start b/c it helps you understand SEO a little better WHILE you are actually seeing results. P

            As you get better, you will be able to compete more and more with higher competition keywords.

            Good luck.
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            • Profile picture of the author johnmaikke
              Can anyone recommend a good seo person or company that i can outsource to.
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              • Profile picture of the author amadoalano
                SEO or search engine optimization is a technique used to make your Web pages more useful for your customers while making them more transparent and understandable to search engines. SEO is an inexpensive way to help your Web site get more page views by creating Web pages that rank highly in search engine results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Genesis1
    Andy gave a great explanation on how to start SEO, But it is easy how it sounds and very hard when you start it
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    High Quality Backpage, Kijiji, Gumtree Classified Ads Posting Services. Service that brings Value. Get Traffic & Increase SEO at the same time! Prices are starting from 0.09$ per AD. PM Me for more info
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  • Profile picture of the author warriorspirit786
    Excellent post Andy,thanks for enlightening us newbies.

    Terry
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