SEO For Beginners: A Basic Search Engine Optimization Tutorial for Higher Google Rankings

New to SEO? This tutorial shows you the basics of doing search engine optimization for your website to rank high in Google.

First, what is SEO and how does it work?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. By definition, it is the process of optimizing your website and webpages to get “free”, “organic” traffic from search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

As a business owner, blogger, or website owner, your job is two-fold:

First, you need to make it easy for search engines to understand what your page is about and create content that matches what we call, the “searcher’s intent.”

Second, you need to show Google and other search engines that your pages are ‘worthy’ of ranking.

In this video, Sam Oh teaches the a 101 into the world of search engine optimization.

There are plenty of clear examples and some basic (yet powerful) SEO tips to optimize a brand new website to rank #1 on Google (step-by-step).

The techniques that are taught in this SEO training include:

1. Keyword research
By doing keyword research, you can see the average number of times someone searches for a specific keyword phrase in Google each month.

Often times, the query that you think will be the most popular is often far from the truth.

You’ll also learn what not to do (ie. keyword stuffing).

Keyword research gives you clues on the language you should use to let both Google and potential customers know what our page is about.

There are a few vivid examples in here to illustrate the best practices on how to do keyword research. If you want to sharpen your keyword research skills, I highly recommend watching this series on doing keyword research in 2018 and beyond.

2. On-page SEO
On-page SEO is the process of optimizing web pages with the intention to rank high in Google. If you want to rank #1 on Google, then your on-page SEO will need to be right on.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn 4 simple, yet highly effective tips to ensure you are following Google SEO best practices. Having optimized web pages will set the foundation for your success in search engine optimization.

It will help Google understand what your content is about and help your customers find you.

A few of the basic tips include:

- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Heading tags (or H1 tags)
- keyword usage
- content creation
- competitor analysis

Learn more about our top 10 on-page SEO tips that actually work in 2018 and beyond.

3. Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO is often referred to as link building.

Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to your web pages.

Basically, links act as “votes” or other people vouching for your website.

Backlinks work in a similar way that you would refer your friend to buy a product from your favorite store because you’ve tried it, used it, and loved it.

In general, the more quality backlinks you can get from relevant pages, the higher you’ll rank in Google.

Sam will show you how to find backlink opportunities and the key technique that SEOs use to build links, which is through email outreach.

I highly recommend watching our video series on competitor backlink analysis and link building here:

We also have another playlist on more "advanced" link building.

There’s a lot to learn with SEO marketing and we're constantly adding new tutorials to help you learn and execute SEO in effective ways.

Contents:

0:00 Intro
1:18 What is SEO?
2:43 Find keywords that are relevant to your niche
5:56 Optimize title tags and meta-descriptions
11:00 Do Off-page SEO
12:12 Use outreach and guest-posting to build links
15:44 Start a blog and create useful content
18:30 Pick topics that provide value to your business

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[willfitness]

15 years old trying to learn everything I can about digital marketing. Thank you for this vid

[firstnamelastname-cctl]

The fact that you tackle a lot of subtopics in a span of 19 minutes and 39 seconds and putting it into somewhat layman's words without boring me is *definitely* worthy of a sub. 👏👍

[sarahsli]

I’m a graphic designer who’s brand new to the web design and marketing world. This video just helped me so much, and I have confidence it’ll help boost my client’s search rankings! I can’t thank you enough!

[phillia]

This has got to be one of the best and most thorough SEO video I've come across for Beginners. Nice!

[yonicute]

Can’t believe these tutorials are for free?! Thank you so much!

[micmakeitclear]

I manage more than 10 business at the age of 16 years and this type of videos are only reason i am able to do so. keep making great content

[viewercjg]

Thank you so much. This is the first YouTube video I've watched on SEO -- and I'm impressed with your presentation for its clarity, directness and efficiency in laying out the key factors a newbie needs for a basic understanding of the topic. Heretofore I have only read books/articles on SEO -- I immediately subscribed to your series. Quite useful!

[carolinele]

the most well-explained guide on SEO for beginners I have stumbled upon so far! All the basic SEO concepts are explained simply enough and broken down to the core for anyone with no prior knowledge on SEO. Brilliant work, thank you!

[gilesgordon-smith]

This is brilliant - my first foray into the potentially mind-boggling word of SEO and much to my delight, I feel far more inspired than boggled! Thank you Sam and Ahrefs - well deserving of every credit

[janogte]

I have been using internet since the good old RDSI days and this must be the best video tutorial I have watched. 20 minutes full of tips, useful and quality content. It is sometimes overwhelming to find useful information in this "guru" world where there is so much empty talking for free views.

Thank you very much for showing practical cases. Everything in this video is excellent. You have a new subscriber ready to wolf down all your content related to SEO.

I'm sure it will be useful for me to create a succesful website with full reviews aiming at helping people and building my own affiliate marketing business.

[lotuslingua]

I'm so new to this SEO and marketing of my site that I'm watching this video more than a year later. Thank you for such a clear explanation! Loved it!!! :D

[heinandwilson]

Wow. Your channel is amazing. The little edits like the zooms and click sounds on your screenshare and images beside your head when you talk about a new topic is gold. Little memes every now and then keep it human and the constant visual display of strategies is gold. You give actionable advice and actually take us through a hypotheoretical business to show how actionable it really is - this also shows vulnerability and openness. The clear speech and minimalistic setting you sit in ensure attention is locked on you and viewed arn’t distracted. Even the end of the video is optimised so cleverly to lead viewers on to the next video with perfectly placed arrows and order. The attention to detail and upfront value in your videos really places your company on a reputable and respectable peak, and truely applaud you for your work. I’ll definitely be checking out your other videos and blogs. I feel like I could trust y’all and learn all the relevant skills I need to be a digital marketer purely from these videos!

Well done 👍

[dafnenavarro]

Honestly I love how well explained this video is. Gracias!.

[kelly_browning]

This is BY FAR one if the best Ahrefs videos, hands down. The newer videos seem too "salesman-y", as if they're trying to really sell the Ahrefs platform, whereas this video really provides value and allows the viewer to make the decision about whether Ahrefs is the right one for them. Great integration of basic SEO skills with how the platform can be used to execute on the tips that are given. Well done.

[rhelforda]

I love this guy the way he explains SEO process

[LC-fqcv]

I’m a Mass Communication graduate who is seeking a career for the Digital Marketing industry. I’m 23 and been working 2 years in the field of Engineering, which ain’t my thing at all so I’m thinking of a career switch, hopefully to pursue my own field and I literally know nothing about the Digital marketing industry let alone the SEO thing that they’re mentioning on every requirements so this is a great start to learn some basics. And wow, the explanations are so clear and very easy to understand for a beginner and slow-learner like me. Thankyou for this, Sam.

[Hamid_gdb]

The best SEO Video I have ever seen on YouTube 👍

[codishaa]

Thank you for CLEARLY explaining this topic. Great video

[zzxjoanw]

Thanks, Sam! I recently interviewed for a web dev job that would involve some SEO work, and your video helped me make it through the interview.

[southerncalsolar]

I watched this for the first time and as a beginner I am excited about learning and utilizing this information to get more traffic to my website!