How to become an SEO Expert? Top 10 Steps Guide to be Good at SEO

The idea of setting up a handsome blog, writing extensive content, doing comprehensive SEO, gaining enormous traffic, and earning big bucks itself sounds appealing, as well as, fancy. You might have heard people stressing upon SEO to make their blog a huge success. Sadly, what no one tells you is that it takes an immense amount of practical knowledge and experience to gain expertise in the same. But, hallelujah! Anyone can become an SEO expert, irrespective of their educational background.

Here we bring it out to you, the top 10 step guide to become an expert in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Know How Search Engines Work

Now that you’re planning to start with your SEO journey, the very first step includes an in-depth knowledge on how a search engine works. While there are about 20-30 of them, Google remains to be the most lovable one. With over 92.81% of the total market share, it dominates every other search engine.

To have expertise in SEO, you must know how do search engines crawl, index, and rank your website in the search results. Every search engine may follow its dedicated algorithm but, the basic working remains the same. Hence, start by reading more on how Google works and assesses your website. Work on your basics and slowly crawl your way up to the complicated stuff.

Know The Basics Of Search Engine Marketing

Well, very few of you might know this – digital marketing is a huge umbrella that incorporates online or internet marketing. Moving on, online marketing includes Website, social media marketing, search engine marketing, email marketing, content marketing etc.

To be precise, being an SEO expert doesn’t mean that you can ignore the basics of online marketing. You should be clear of your aim, as well as, the outcome. You can never be a prominent market player without taking help from other related tools and resources.

Understand SEO Well

Search Engine Optimisations is not just about stuffing keywords and getting backlinks. It has a lot more to it than you can ever think of! Your main motive should be to start right from the basics and gaining expertise over the same.

Hitting on right into the complicated stuff is going to land you nowhere. Know the difference and important aspects of On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, and Technical SEO along with various SEO tactics. Remember, you not only need traffic but, you need lead magnets that would help you to build your own tribe.

Choose Wisely

Let us be very clear – there are too many resources available on the Internet regarding SEO. But, who knows which one is authentic and worthy? You might feel satisfied and happier after attending one of those free SEO training sessions but, are they going to help you in long-run? What if you’re just starting off with SEO and, ends up building all the wrong concepts from an unreliable source?

Please, don’t do that! Always go for the ones that are well-established in this field. Moz, Backlinko, Search Engine Journal, Google Webmasters Blog, & Search Engine Land are to name some.

Stay Updated

Google updates its algorithm about 256 times a year and, this is the same for other search engines too. Whenever the search engine’s algorithm is updated, it also brings about a few changes in Search Engine Optimisation. Hence, you should always keep yourself updated with these changes.

The best way to do so is by following a few SEO news websites like Search Engine Roundtable, Google Blog, Search Engine Land, Google Search Blog, Google Webmaster Blog etc. The more you are aware of these updates, the more you can brush up your SEO skills.

Use Right Tools

SEO is much harder without the aid of tools. There are numerous SEO tools available that help you out with keyword research, competitor analysis, content strategy, domain research and so on. While some tools might cost you a few bucks, there are many others which are free.

Always use authentic tools that should give you the right information. Don’t fall prey to misleading cheap tools available on the internet. Google Analytics, Google Search Console, AHREFS, SEMRush, Ubbersuggest, and Moz Keyword Planner are some of them.

Be Practical

Now SEO is not literature that you can master by reading alone. No! It requires hands-on experience so that you can apply various SEO tactics and measure the output results. For instance, how will you know which SEO technique would work when you have no website to practise?

Don’t limit yourself. Create your own website and start working over it. You might fail but, this is how you can be an expert. Another way to learn SEO is by reading case studies. Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko shared a case study blog on how he increased traffic to his website. You can always take help from these resources.

Help Others

Even when you are starting off, you learn something new at every stage, be it as small as knowing the basics of On-Page SEO. There will be other people who are just as new as you are. You can always demonstrate your SEO knowledge so far.

If you’re confident about what you have learnt, then, why not? Maybe, the information provided by you could be completely new to them. Sharing knowledge is one of the greatest things that help you grow and enhance your skills. Hence, don’t refrain from demonstrating whatever you have learnt.

Patience Is Virtue

Now SEO is not something that would give you immediate results. It’s not your cup of instant noodles. Google has over 2 billion websites as of now in 2019. It’s obviously not possible to crawl each one of it every day. Hence, it might take a lot of time for your hard work to show up on the first page of the search engine results.

But, you have to be patient and wait. Don’t give up if something didn’t work for you. Rather, find a way out and figure out how you can get better results.

Follow Established SEO Experts

Well, there are many SEO experts who are into this since ages and, they have set up a million-dollar business for themselves. It’s always good to learn from them and follow what they write or speak. People with immense experience and knowledge often share what mistakes they made as a newbie so that you can avoid them.

You can follow people like Neil Patel, Brian Dean, Eric Enge, Joost De Valk, Rand Fishkin are some of them.

Conclusion

Everyone who has a website or is into digital marketing should have an in-depth knowledge of SEO. While it’s something that you learn while practising, never stop reading and gaining hands-on experience.

It would take some time to be an expert in it but, the wait is worth it. Start now and be well-equipped with SEO as it’s never too late. If you have a business and you want to make your online presence impactful, the best way is to hire a reliable digital marketing agency to work for you. They would have their own SEO expert, content manager, marketing professional, brand manager, and other professionals.