Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doesn’t necessitate the assistance of a professional. By learning SEO best practices and utilizing SEO tools, anyone can optimize their website independently.Indeed, many SEO experts began their careers with DIY SEO. With time, a selection of free SEO tools, and this guide on executing SEO independently, you too can develop into an SEO expert.Thus, if you’re contemplating, “Can I manage SEO independently?” you’ve come to the right place.Continue reading to discover how to execute SEO independently! For those eager to begin sooner, input your website’s URL here, and you’ll receive an immediate SEO assessment with suggestions (and explanations) on enhancing your site’s SEO.Keen to learn how to execute SEO independently? Explore these eight steps to master DIY SEO:
Establish analytics: Integrate essential tools for your site, such as Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, and Google Tag Manager, to monitor your website’s visibility, traffic, and engagement over time.
Utilize a free tool like Screaming Frog to audit your website’s SEO and identify critical issues related to crawling, indexing, on-page optimization, and more. Establish a regular auditing process to optimize and maintain your site’s rankings.
Conduct keyword research: Identify and target long-tail keywords pertinent to your audience that drive conversions. Free tools like SEO.com, Google Search, Google Keyword Planner, and FAQ Fox can assist you in this crucial DIY SEO step.
Optimize website content: Enhance your website content to rank higher in search results with on-page optimizations, including keyword integration, creating new content, crafting compelling title tags, and designing shareable multimedia. SEO.com can also assist with this.
Enhance internal linking: Leverage the benefits of internal linking to boost website crawling, user experiences, and rankings. Strategies such as incorporating three to five internal links to content and using descriptive anchor text can amplify the impact of internal linking.
Attract backlinks: Tackle one of the most challenging aspects of DIY SEO with diverse strategies, such as social media sharing, email outreach, and viral content. Tools like Google Trends, Quora, and FAQ Fox can support you in this stage.
Monitor SEO rankings, conversions, and more: Bridge the gap between marketing and sales using platforms like Marketo and MarketingCloudFX, which will help you measure the true ROI from executing SEO independently.
Continuously learn SEO: Utilize podcasts, blogs, and YouTube channels to expand your SEO knowledge and enhance your outcomes. For those executing SEO independently, committing to learning and evolving with search engine optimization is essential.
Let’s delve deeper into these DIY SEO tips!Rankings. Traffic. Conversions.Analytics tools are necessary to measure these SEO metrics, which is why DIY SEO begins with setting up your analytics platforms. Even if your business already has analytics platforms like Google Analytics in place, a review is advisable before commencing SEO efforts.For optimal results, start with these platforms:
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google Search Console
Google Tag Manager
With Google Analytics 4, you’ll gain access to:
Pageviews
Conversions
Engagement metrics, such as bounce rate
Website events, such as scroll percentage
And more
With Google Search Console, you’ll have access to:
Your average position in search results
Your impressions and click-through rate for queries
Your indexing status
Your Core Web Vitals performance
And more
With Google Tag Manager, you’ll have access to:
Event tracking
Analytics tracking
And more
Review each platform’s installation guide to set up your site:
GA4 setup guide
Google Search Console setup guide
Google Tag Manager setup guide
Should your website already have these platforms set up, review the configurations.For instance, use Google Tag Manager’s preview mode to confirm that your Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration tag fires — this tag is crucial as it powers your Google Analytics 4 account! You’ll also want to check Google Search Console for any errors, particularly those related to indexing.The subsequent step in our DIY SEO checklist will also help you identify issues, so keep reading!The second step in executing SEO independently is to use a free SEO tool like Screaming Frog to audit your website’s SEO and uncover issues such as:
On-page SEO issues, such as missing title tags
Technical SEO issues, such as canonicalized URLs
Branding issues, such as outdated brand mentions
Follow Screaming Frog’s installation guide to conduct your first site crawl. Once your crawl is complete — which can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on your crawl settings — review your audit.Since you’re executing SEO independently, you’ll need to prioritize which SEO issues to address.These questions can help you prioritize:
Is the issue preventing the site or URL(s) from appearing in search results?
Is the issue site-wide or affecting a large number of URLs?
Is the issue affecting a bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) URL?
How much time will the issue require to fix?
Who is needed to fix the issue?
As an example, let’s say you have the following SEO issues:
A new folder on the site is blocked from indexing
A few URLs have title tags over 60 characters
A 404 error is appearing for one of your best-selling products
Based on the earlier questions, you can prioritize the issues as follows:
A 404 error is appearing for one of your best-selling products: This issue is crucial as it impacts your revenue-generating channels. Fixing the 404 error will allow you to re-open the pipeline and resume product sales.
A new folder on the site is blocked from indexing: Since this issue affects multiple URLs, you’ll want to prioritize updating your robots.txt file. Once your update goes live, search engines can start crawling and indexing that folder’s content.
A few URLs have title tags over 60 characters: While important, this update will likely have a lower impact than the changes above. Decreasing your title tag length (in this instance) could help click-through rate (CTR).
The number of issues your audit uncovers will depend on your site. The good news is you don’t have to fix all your SEO issues at once to improve your SEO. Instead, prioritize the most impactful fixes and address leftover issues in the upcoming months.For the best results, audit your site at least once every three months.For more information on DIY SEO audits, check out these related resources:
Best SEO Audit Tools
The 15-Step SEO Audit Checklist
How to Do a Technical SEO Audit
How to Do an Ecommerce SEO Audit
How to Do an SEO Content Audit
Keywords are your entry point to reaching users through search engines.You can begin keyword research by employing these best practices to guide your research:
Focus on long-tail keywords: At three to four words, long-tail keywords attract more qualified traffic to your site. Although long-tail keywords receive fewer searches, they’re less competitive, making them easier to rank than short-tail keywords.
Target relevant keywords: Not all keywords are suitable for targeting. To drive impactful results from SEO, such as generating a new sale, concentrate on keywords pertinent to your audience and business’s offerings.
Target converting keywords: You’ll also want to focus on a keyword’s intent. A keyword can reveal someone’s preferred price range for a product or service, like “cheap plastic cups” or “gourmet coffee.” Use this information to target keywords that will convert for your business.
Use keywords in key places: Whenever you create content for your site, whether on your blog or homepage, you should use keywords naturally throughout that content. This best practice also includes any title tags or meta descriptions you create.
For more information on the basics of keyword research, check out these resources:
Best Keyword Research Tools
How to Do Keyword Research
What Keywords Should I Use? (How to Find the Best Keywords)
How to Find Related Keywords
Now that you know the best practices for keyword research, let’s explore how to conduct your own SEO keyword research.Keyword research isn’t as difficult as it may seem! There are numerous SEO software options, such as SEO.com, that provide keyword suggestions for your content and information about how difficult it is to rank for those keywords.Some tools that can assist you in getting started with keyword research include:
Sales team, which can share common questions and concerns from leads.
Customer support team, which can share common client questions and issues.
Competitor sites, which can highlight relevant topics to discuss.
Google Search, which showcases related searches to a topic.
Google Keywords Planner, which provides search volume data.
SEO.com, which generates keyword ideas from existing rankings (or competitor rankings.
FAQ Fox, which compiles online threads related to your keyword or topic.
Let’s say your business is an automotive shop. From speaking with your colleagues, you know flat tires drive new sales and lead to long-term clients. So, you investigate flat tires as a potential content topic and begin with “fix flat tires.”First, you search “fix flat tire” on Google Search. Here is what you see:
You notice a few things:
The suggested searches relate to fixing a flat tire yourself temporarily
The suggested searches relate to getting a professional to fix the tire
The suggested searches include a branded element with Fix-a-Flat, Pep Boys, and Canadian Tire
If you view the search results, you see the following:
Here, Google provides transactional
