Complete SEO Tutorial for Beginners
Video Lesson
Overview
This beginner-friendly tutorial walks you through everything you need to know about SEO. Even if you have no idea what SEO is, you'll walk away with actionable advice to get started today.
What is SEO?
SEO = Search Engine Optimization
The act of optimizing a website to increase its performance on search engines like Google.
What Google wants: Happy users who find exactly what they're looking for.
The Three Pillars of SEO
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| THREE PILLARS OF SEO |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| 1. CONTENT |
| The foundation - you need content to rank |
| |
| 2. LINKS |
| Votes of confidence from other websites |
| |
| 3. TECHNICAL SEO |
| Fast, mobile-friendly, crawlable site |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+Content: Step by Step
1. Understanding Keywords
Keywords = Words people type into Google
| Keyword Type | Example | Competition |
|---|---|---|
| Head term | tennis | Very High |
| Long tail | best tennis racket for beginners | Lower |
2. Finding Keywords
Use AnswerThePublic.com (free):
- Enter your main topic
- Get list of long-tail keyword ideas
- All suggestions are more specific, less competitive
3. Research Search Intent
Before writing, Google your keyword and analyze:
- What format do top results use?
- How long are the articles?
- What subtopics do they cover?
4. Write Your Title
Rules for titles:
- Put main keyword near the front
- Include related keywords
- Use dates and numbers
- Keep to ~60 characters
Example: Best Smart Home Candles of 2024: Top 5 Flameless Lights
5. Write Your Meta Description
Rules for descriptions:
- Include important keywords (they get bolded)
- Use clever copy to encourage clicks
- Limit to 160 characters
- End with a cliffhanger
6. Create Your Outline
Use H tags for structure:
H1: Title (only one)
H2: Subtopic 1
H3: Sub-subtopic
H2: Subtopic 2
H2: Subtopic 3Get subtopics from analyzing top-ranking articles.
7. Write Your Content
Introduction paragraph rules:
- Hook the reader immediately
- No fluff - get to the point
- Build trust quickly
- Don't explain what they already know
Body content rules:
- Use keywords naturally (no stuffing)
- Include related keywords from Google's "Related Searches"
- Match competitor word count
- Use bite-size paragraphs
- Add images and lists
8. Optimize Your URL
- Include keywords
- Use hyphens between words
- Keep it short
Example: /best-smart-home-candles
Links: Building Authority
Internal Links
Connect your own pages together:
- Highlight text you want to link
- Click link button
- Enter destination URL
External Backlinks
Get other websites to link to you:
- Find relevant websites
- Check they get Google traffic
- Find contact information
- Send outreach email
Sample Email:
"Hey [Name], I love your website and I've been a longtime reader. I just wrote an article on [Topic] that would be a great supplement to your content on [Related Topic]. If you wouldn't mind linking to my article, that would make my day."
Technical SEO
Think of it like tuning up your car:
- Content = the car
- Links = the fuel
- Technical SEO = the tune-up
What to Check (Use Screaming Frog - Free)
- [ ] Slow loading pages
- [ ] Mobile usability issues
- [ ] Pages with no internal links
- [ ] Pages Google can't find
- [ ] Broken links
Building Topical Authority
As you write more content on a topic:
- Google starts seeing you as an authority
- New content ranks faster
- Traffic improvements compound
Always interlink related articles together.
View Full Transcript
In this video, I'm gonna show you how to get your website to the first page of Google and get free organic traffic. And the training in this video is gonna be extremely beginner friendly.
My name is Matt Diggity, and I've been getting websites to the top of Google since 2009 through my businesses Diggity Marketing, LeadSpring and the Search Initiative.
Let's take a trip back to 2009 when I created my first website. Back in the day, I was an electrical engineer, working 60 hour weeks in a cubicle, pretty much just hating life.
I read the "4-Hour Workweek" and I was sold on the idea of making money online. So I started applying the generic SEO advice I was reading on the internet. Advice like "Create quality content" and "Write for the reader." What does this stuff even mean?
But at that point, I had an epiphany. Wait a second, I have an engineering background. Let's approach this scientifically. So I started running controlled experiments and then Google's algorithm started revealing itself to me.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's the act of optimizing a website with the goal of increasing its performance on search engines such as Google.
SEO is broken down into three main focus areas. First, we have content. Next, we have links. And lastly, we have technical SEO.
The key is to find keywords that are gonna help grow your business but aren't too difficult. A keyword like "best tennis racket for beginners" is much more reasonable than just "tennis."
Related Content
- 002 - Keyword Research - Deep dive into keyword research
- 003 - Content Creation - Content optimization
- 009 - Technical SEO - Technical SEO checklist
- 010 - Internal Linking - Internal linking strategy