SEO Tips for Beginners: Rank in Google

SEO Tips for Beginners

We all want to hit number one on Google. But SEO can feel overwhelming! Google tracks hundreds of things when deciding where to rank you on a search engine results page (SERP), so it can be hard to know where to begin to rank high in Google. But luckily, with the right tips, it doesn’t need to be so complicated. If you’re looking for the SEO tips for beginners to rank high in Google, read on my friend!

First off, what is SEO anyway? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it means optimizing your website and posts for search engines – making it easier for search engines like Google to understand what your post is about.

Google wants to find the best answer to users’ queries. Your goal is to help show Google that your post is an excellent fit.

SEO really comes down to figuring out 3 key points below. We’ll chat about each of these and help you figure out SEO so your site can start ranking higher in Google.

1. WHAT to actually write about 

2. HOW to write & structure an article properly 

3. HOW to promote it 

Let’s break down each of these in the key steps to SEO tips for beginners to rank high in Google. 

1. WHAT to Write About: Keyword Research

Picking a great topic is super important.

You’ll want to appeal to your ideal customer, you’ll want the topic to align with the rest of your website, and you’ll aim to answer a question that people are actually searching for. After all, if people aren’t searching for it, it doesn’t matter if you hit number one on Google – nobody will see it.

Let’s go through the ways to pick the best topic to write about. In SEO terms, this is called your keyword or keyword phrase. Read on to learn all about keyword research.

Step 1:  Check Out Your Competitors 

Step one of SEO tips for beginners is to start with your competitors. Imagine if you had easy access to tell you not only which websites are considered your competitors, but also what their top posts are. With the click of a button, you could see which topics and phrases perform best in your niche, how much traffic each post gets, AND how each article ranks in Google.

The great news?  You already have easy access to this info…and it’s free! 

It’s so great that it almost feels a little bit like cheating. But it’s not – the information is available and free to anyone who takes a little time to search for it.

You can start to see trends and untapped topics. You see what topics are most relevant to your audience, and what you can potentially write about that people are interested in. 

The tools are out there, both free and paid, with new ones popping up all the time.  Two that I like are Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest and Moz.com.  Both limit the number of free queries per month, so just plan to be strategic with what you choose to search in advance.

Step 2: Start Searching In Search Engines Themselves 

If you want to rank in Google, you’re going to want to start by going to the source: Google itself.  

You’re essentially looking for topic and a keyword phrase you can write about that has potential, such as “How to Get More Traffic from SEO for beginners”. 

Here are a few ways to start: 

1. Type in the core topic you want to talk about, and see what auto populates. In this example, we use “SEO Tips” as our core keyword. From here, you can see more niched down topics, like “SEO tips for small businesses”, “SEO tips for beginners”, and “SEO tips for wordpress”. The more specific you go, the greater chance you have of ranking higher in the results.

2. Check out “Searches relating to”. Here, you can see “SEO tips for beginners” might have potential, showing up in both searches relating to and in chrome itself. Even better, make it a longer keyword, like SEO tips for beginners to rank high in Google.

3. Check out “People also ask”. This is a great way to frame your post around a question, with lots of “How do I” and “What are” titles populating. 

4. Type your core keyword, then in the Google search field, simply type the first letter, “a” and see what comes up. Try this with every letter until something resonates. You can then take it even further, by seeing what populates when you start with “SEO audit”. 

Step 3: Evaluate if you can rank 

Now that you have a list of 10-20 potential topic ideas, it’s time to start evaluating which one has the best potential to rank you high. Here are a few tips to see if your SEO keyword can rank high. 

1. Be wary of the size of the businesses in the top 10 

When you’re evaluating topic phrases to write about, look at what sources rank in the top 10.  In the example below, you can see there are giant sites that get millions of hits. Simply put, Google is unlikely to rank you higher than giants, so if you see really popular websites in the top 10, you may want to explore more specific keyword phrases. 

2. If they’re giants, narrow down your keyword 

What do you do if the top 10 results come from huge websites?  Plan to niche down to a more specific (instead of general) topic.  

I know, I know, it feels counterintuitive to go after a keyword phrase that has less potential traffic. Shouldn’t you be going for the most amount of traffic possible? 

Yes – and niching down is how you’ll get there. The stats prove that you are way more apt to get SEO traffic when you rank in the top 10 (or ideally top 3) for a low density phrase than in the top 20 for a higher density phrase. 

Take a look at the grid below from Search Engine Watch. Once you get past the top 3 hits, you’re looking at less than a 5% clickthrough rate. The way to get clicks is to create posts that rank as high as possible in the top 10, and that’s what we’re focusing on today. 

In the Hawaii example, instead of creating a post around the “best Hawaii vacation”, you actually have a better chance of ranking higher for a post liek “local tips from maui”, or “best Maui restaurants”.

3. Look for topics that have Pinterest links in the top 10 

We can’t go through SEO tips for beginners without mentioning Pinterest. I highlight this social media platform more below, but another way to rank in the top 10 on Google is to see if there are social media hits in the top 10.  

If there are Pinterest hits on the first page of the Google search engine results page, it’s a good indicator that there’s space for smaller sites (like yours) to rank in its place. 

Try writing about that article and trying to outrank the Pinterest hits.

4. Look for topics that have blogs ranked in the top 10 

Similar to Pinterest, if you see lots of blogs listed in the top 10, as opposed to established publications, you again have a better chance of ranking well in Google.

Not sure if they’re a blog or not? You can usually tell by clicking through and checking out their sites.

Alternatively, you can input them into an SEO tool, like Ubersuggest, which will tell you their approximate traffic.  Another cheer for the free SEO tools! 

5. Look for a lack of exact search phrases coming up 

Another good indicator that your key phrase has potential is in looking at the search results that DO rank and seeing if the exact search phrase doesn’t come up. 

It’s better if it’s not minor differences (e.g., “how to save on home costs” vs. “how to save on house costs”), and instead larger differences.

Look at the example below, and you’ll see that a lot of the top posts do not have a title called “the best mahi mahi in maui”. That shows there’s potential to rank for that topic. If you’re looking to become the expert site on all things Maui, this might be a great article for you to invest time into.

Once they land on that page, the hope is they’ll navigate around to the rest of your website. The goal of SEO is to hook them in.

Now, you won’t want to create a post with zero traffic. Use an SEO tool to see the potential traffic for a keyword phrase, so you know at least some people are searching for it. The free SEO tools can show you keyword traffic. Perfect for beginners! 

There are a lot more ways you can go deep into SEO keyword research. You could spend weeks on the topic. But for the majority of businesses, you’ll be miles ahead of many by using keyword research to help your website rank high in Google.

2. HOW to Write for SEO

Next up in is all about knowing how to write and structure your posts in a way that lets Google know it’s a good article. That’s the key point #2 on SEO basics for beginners trying to rank high in Google.

Step 1: Place keywords in the right spots 

Remember: Google’s goal is to provide the best answers for people’s search intent.  How do they do that? By scanning trillions of web pages and trying to figure out who provides the best answer. 

It evaluates hundreds of factors on each page that goes live on the internet.  And while its algorithm is proprietary, we do know some things that it uses to decide if you’re worth ranking highly. Knowing this will give you an edge when writing your posts. 

There are a few ways you can help Google realize that YOUR site has the best answer.

First up, it’s placing your keywords in the right spots. Google looks at “special text” differently. It pays special attention to any of these types of text, so be sure you’re using your keywords strategically here.

Text Tips: 

Basically, any time a word in your article appears special, in any way, you’re giving Google a hint that it relates to the topic of your article – and therefore that your site is one to watch for your intended topic. 

Background Tips: 

In addition to the text that readers see, there’s also some text behind-the-scenes that is doing some hard work for your SEO efforts. For example:

1. Having the right keywords & length in your Meta Description 
2. Having the right words in your Images: in the “alt tags”, photo name, and photo description
3. Include other internal links in your post (e.g., links that connect to other pages of your website)
4. Include links to other websites that relate to your type of content (Google loves links)

Using an SEO tool, like Yoast, will help significantly with these tips. It will do a scan and tell you if you’ve hit the green light for a number of SEO factors.

That said, simply getting a green light from Yoast does not guarantee your post will rank high.  Let’s see some other tips. 

Step 2: Include secondary keywords 

Think you can pick just one keyword phrase, pop it in a few times, and be done? 

If only it were that easy! 

Many an SEO wannabe has tried that tactic, only to fail to see any sort of meaningful results.

It’s important to include additional SEO keyword phrases throughout your articles.

How do you find them?  Similarly to how you found your initial keyword phrase! 

Simply find a list of ~10 or so secondary key phrases and include them in your post.  Again, don’t overstuff your article with them; around 3-4 times is pretty safe for posts of 1,000 to 1,500 words. 

For example, if your main post is about SEO Tips, you may want to look at some of the following keywords: 

• How to make SEO easier 
• SEO for beginners 
• How to rank high in Google
• SEO tools 
• How to get traffic from Google
• Unique SEO tips 
• Best SEO tips of <year>
• SEO basics 
• Search engine optimization 

Step 3: Don’t keyword stuff 

While it’s important to include keywords, Google has gotten a lot more intelligent in the past few years. 

It can now pick up if a post is simply stuffing keywords in and it can catch if the writing doesn’t sound natural.  In either case, it can ding your website for it and actually decrease the chances of you ranking well. 

Again, a tool like Yoast will help you make sure your main keyword is included the right amount of time, but be cautious of your other keywords. I can’t just stuff “SEO tips for beginners” into this article a dozen times and expect google to love it. I have to make it sound normal, natural.

You know, like a human wrote it. 

Step 4: Include descriptive words 

When you look at the top posts for your key phrase, look at both the title and the meta description. Do you see any common power words or action words?  Make a list of them and see how you can incorporate them into your post.  Just be sure to make them natural and not use them too many times. 

For the below example, here are some articles that rank high for the topic of SEO tips. Do you see any of these power words in the titles or previews for this topic? That’s your goal.

Note I won’t try to compete on the keyword phrase “seo tips” alone, as I know outranking sites like backlinko.com and optinmonster.com (both seo tools), will be tough – especially as my site is not dedicated to SEO alone.

1. Important 
2. Effective
3. Powerful
4. Relevant
5. Higher
6. Quick 
7. Actionable 
8. Expert
9. Relevant 
10. Basics 

Step 5:  Don’t forget to update your old posts 

Think search engine optimization is just for new posts? Think again, my friend! 

You can absolutely update older posts to improve their chances of ranking. Here are a few tips on how to improve SEO for existing posts: 

• Update your post titles to make the headline more enticing
  • What competing titles are beating you out?  Might there be a a better headline? Can you better highlight the emotional benefits someone will receive? Can you make it more enticing? 
• Update your keywords
  • Research the best keywords and key phrases competitors are using and that rank well.  You’ll likely want to keep most of your existing content, simply adding a little more to use the best keywords.
• Add text to improve relevancy
  • For example, adding “Updated for 2024!” can add that extra little boost that draws the eye to your post.
• Create new Pinterest pins for your best (top 5-10) content every ~6mos
  • If your audience is on Pinterest, maintaining a presence there can give you an edge on Google. Pinterest is essentially a visual search engine, so creating fresh pinnacle content there and keep your traffic going strong.

A note to the wise: Whatever you do, don’t change the website link address itself. When updating titles, you may be tempted to also update the web address.  If you do, you risk losing all the traffic you’ve built up already and people encountering 404 errors (“this website address is not available”). 

You could go back and ensure every single referring link is redirected, but that takes a lot of time, slightly increases load time, and means you could miss some.  Do it if it’s critical, but be very wary. 

3. Promote Your Articles

You’re almost done your SEO for beginners masterclass! But before we can wrap, it’s essential you think about promoting your articles.

Because while Google is gold, it’s not the only way to get website traffic. In fact, one of the best ways to signal to Google that your page is worthwhile, is to get people clicking on it from other sites.

In fact, if you want to rank well in Google, you should also have a plan to get traffic from other places on the internet as well.  Not only will this increase your overall traffic, it will also hint to Google that people are interested in your website and it’s worth it for them to include you in their results.  

Again – search engines are trying to give people the most relevant answers to their questions, and high organic traffic tells them that you’re providing quality content. 

This can include: 

Direct Traffic 

Direct traffic is a fancy term that basically means the people who go directly to your site on their own. They’re the ones who type in your website directly, or click to it from their favorites, instead of being referred to it (e.g., from another website, a search engine, social media). The more people who know and like your site, the better chances for organic traffic. 

Pinterest Traffic

Pinterest is basically a visual search engine, somewhere between a search engine and a social media platform. The great thing is that it has strong staying power. Compared to something like Instagram, where people only see your post for a few days after posting (if that), Pinterest can keep showing your posts for months and even years after you post them. 

A few key tips though, to get you started: 

• Make the font big, clear, uncluttered, so visual processors can tell what it says
• Create great headlines. Instead of facts (“Sitting in a chair is bad for you”), write headlines that help people solve problems and offer immediate relief. This shouldn’t be too hard – they’re great article headlines anyway.
  • “How to…”
  • “Top 9 tips to…”
  • “The best/easiest way to…”
  • Etc. 
• Include a call to action. Examples:
  • “Click to find out more”
  • “Tip # 5 saved me hundreds of dollars”
• If Instagram is all about standing out, Pinterest is all about fitting in. Take a scan of posts with your search term. If all pins on your topic are moms holding babies, yours should show a mom holding babies. If they all have spreadsheets with blue borders, use spreadsheet with blue border. 
• Include 2-4 pins as images in your post itself, and include a plugin on your site where people can pin directly from your website. 

Other social media (Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) 

Social media can be an awesome engagement tool and allows people to like and trust you.  It’s not always the best traffic referrer – but it does get you some traffic and definitely awareness.  

Any traffic is good traffic, and it’s always worth letting your audience know that there’s a new post ready for them.  For perspective, for another business I run, my follower count is higher on Instagram – but I actually get 80% of website traffic from Pinterest.

SEO Tips for Beginners to Rank High in Google

There you have it – 2,500 words on SEO tips for beginners to rank high in Google that will help you master the basics of SEO.

Moving onto more advanced SEO tactics, you’ll start to look at paid SEO tools and deeper competitive research.  If you’d like to dive deeper into the subject of SEO, you have two options: 

1st Option: you can look into SEO courses. Many of them are around $2,500, though you can also find some free courses on the topic (usually partnered with a paid SEO service). Moz and HubSpot have some free courses.

2nd Option: you can bring someone on for some temporary SEO strategy and tactical work.  If you’re in this boat and would like an SEO website analysis, send me a note and I can hook you up with a quick SEO audit to see where you should go. Whether it’s a site analysis, a scan for SEO errors that may be holding you back, a competitive review, keyword research, post suggestions, promotion strategy, a backlinks strategy, or more, I can almost guarantee there’s something you’re leaving on the table that’s holding you back from improved traffic. 

There are so, so many more elements of SEO than I mentioned in this post (remember when I said Google tracks hundreds of factors?), but hopefully this post on SEO basics for beginners to rank high in Google should get you off to a great start.  

As with most things in relation to your online business, getting the basics in place can make a vast improvement.

Traffic, let’s get ready to roll!