Complete OnSite SEO Newbie Tutorial

Jacob_k

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Hey, I see many questions about SEO on this and basically any other forums.
There was threads in the past that were the "guides" on how to do really good onsite SEO that will spread your linkjuice throughout your site, and make it a "good choice" for google to rank it higher in the results page.

However, I haven't find too much new, "updated" versions lately... so I am giving it to You for free as a gift to this community!

This will be short, juicy and to the point... feel free to ask me any questions you have!

EDIT: This is how I approach Onsite SEO, how I understand it, the details I look at when creating a site... I am not revealing the Algorithm of Google... no one knows what's inside. This is MY way of doing SEO, and it still ranks me and others that I help with this.

You are welcome to try it and use it, and if you find it fishy, you can freely chose not to use it... Simple!

BASICS

1. Onsite SEO is the beginning of everything. Without good Onsite, you are wasting your backlinks and everything else! You build your house from the foundations...
2. Google's mantra is "content is the king" (they use links as a ranking factor, but they want people to produce better content... because if content fades, and links prevail in the mind of average people, then Google dies!)
3. Over-optimization hurts even more than lack of optimization
4. Use LOGIC! - Google tries to use it also... every update is turning algorithm more and more "humane"

GENERAL

-Domain names with up to 8 characters (not counting www. and .com or any other extension) are generally the best (that alone will not rank you, it will not give you linkjuice, it will not make google fall in love with you... but the people will remember it better, and they will maybe sometimes google it, and come to your site thru google search results page... it can happen only once in million times... but why not use that into your advantage)

-exact match domains are not anymore important as they used to be... but it is good to have some match in it. Though marketers usually like to have some match in domains (like SproutSocial, SocialMediaExaminer, CopyBlogger...), some of them are authorities without having any match (like ViperChill, MatthewWoodward...)

-chose the extension based on your market (if you target only Sweden - take .se extension - Local SEO work better with local extension... it won't rank you, it won't make google fall in love with you, it will not bring you linkjuice, but it is advisable to do it)... USA and/or World take .com or .net, please don't use .info or such wild extensions (again, using .info will not penalize you, will not rob you, will not hurt your efforts - but they look spammy, and suspicious to most people... most of them will remember .com or even .net, but will rarely remember wild extensions - and no matter what others say, no one is using them for anything serious... except for testing. Look at the Alexa ranking, look at the top 100 blogs in the world in any niche, and see how many are there wild extensions...)

-number of years your domain is registered and paid for (told by Matt Cutts - though I rarely trust him, this sounds pretty logical to me), and the type of your theme (free or paid) is something Google checks to see how important the site is... I am not saying that you should go now and register it for 5 years, and get the most expensive theme... I am just saying it to have it in mind after you earn some $ off of it (again, having free theme will not hurt your site, will not penalize you, or make google hate you because of that... I have no actual proof for this, since it is hard to test such very small detail, but I would bet this is something google sees, just as domain registration length.)


PLUGINS TO MAKE IT EASIER

All-In-One-Seo (Plugin that makes SEO lot easier... HERE'S the tutorial how to set it up - on my blog!)
Ultimate Google Analytics (adds google analytics to all pages/posts with just one click)
Google XML Sitemaps (Google reads easier Your site)
WP Super Cache (faster site loading...)

CONTENT

I will outline here the general look of the content piece that google likes. Depending on the use of your blog... you'll set it up more or less like this!
If you have niche site, than you want to follow this 100%... if you have your own blog, then general look of the posts should be like this (not necessary every single post).

-Minimum of 500 words of content... more informative... the better! (this doesn't mean that google will throw you off of results page because you have 400 words or less... the bigger chunks of content naturally attract more backlinks, that turns out to be a gift aside of all intentional backlink building.... look at the search results for virtually any query... and you'll see that over 80% of page one results are longer chunks of content)

For example if you are building a local plumber site, then have an article about:

emergency plumbing services,
blocked drains and toilets,
leaking taps and sinks,
geyser installations,
bathroom installations.

(I took this example from somewhere...) As You can see... it is not just KW's and long tails... but are also phrases and synonims. Use it smartly and I usually never make a density more than 1% for keyword... That's why I use synonims and phrases... to stay on the topic, and to give strength and relevancy in google's eyes, but I don't stuff it.


(the density is something people are always raging about... so here's the LINK to small piece where everything is explained... if you think that's nonsense... freely research it and take a look at people's experience with this...)

-Slugs, Main Title and H tags are calculated into keyword density... CALCULATE! (everything explained in the link above)
-Longer titles ranks better
-Don't jump Over H tags (don't use H2 before H1 etc.)

-each of your articles should also include:

1-2 Images which should be hosted on your domain. The filenames for these images should include keywords that you are targeting, e.g. fixing-leaking-taps.jpg. These images should also have their Alt and Title tags set as natural sounding versions of your keywords (i.e. not plumbing services” but rather something like The best plumbing services in town”).

A Youtube embed code of a relevant video. Typically any related video will do, but where possible you want to screen the videos to make sure they are a good fit for your site.

An outbound link to an authority site in your niche. This could be a site like a Wikipedia entry, or simply a government or national organization


ESSENTIAL PAGES
Google is watching this also, and it's ordering sites also according to it...

You want to have:
-About page with at least 200, 300 words
-contact page (either you get it with theme or you download ContactForm 7)
-Privacy Policy page (google: free privacy policy generator... don't worry about duplicate content with this one).

INTERLINKING
Interlinking spreads linkjuice to every part of your site... If you have backlinks from 70 domains pointing to your homepage... that doesn't help any other page besides home page... with interlinking, you link other pages to home page to help that strength juice spreads and helps other pages to rank better.

Here's roughly how that should look like:

From the home page, link to content page 1.
From content page 1 link to content page 2.
From content page 2 link to content page 3.
From content page 3 link to content page 4.
From content page 4 link to content page 5.
From content page 5 link back to the home page.



That's it from the top of my head... I will update it when I feel I need to... and I will answer your questions!

Just take time to read it few times, and start taking action!
 
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kindsvater

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I am newbie on SEO and some points in your articles I don't understand

Without good Onsite, you are wasting your backlinks and everything else!
Why I need a good On page SEO first before creating backlinks and why wasting backlinks if I don't have a good on page seo?

-Domain names with up to 8 characters (not counting www. and .com or any other extension) are generally the best
Please elaborate this, why domain name should be in 8 characters, it can be more than that?
 

Jacob_k

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Why I need a good On page SEO first before creating backlinks and why wasting backlinks if I don't have a good on page seo?
Backlinks are giving strength to your site (called linkjuice). Naturally most of the links will point to homepage. Home page will have strength to rank well, but that strength is kept only on home page, and your other pages are not benefiting from it. That's why it's important to interlink your site!

Onsite SEO, explained in metaphor works like this: You have a gallon of water (representing linkjuice) that you need to use as best as you can, and you have thirsty mouth (representing your website)... are you going to spill that water all over your mouth, or you are going to put it in a glass (representing onsite SEO) and drink it without spilling.

Maybe I could use better metaphor, but this was first that came on my mind... if you don't understand well, try to be more specific with question, and I'll answer...

Please elaborate this, why domain name should be in 8 characters, it can be more than that?
This is not a must... it is generally accepted in SEO community... That doesn't mean that your site will rank badly just because there's 2 or 3 more characters in URL... however that's the part of Google algorithm (at least it is considered to be), but I doubt it carries too much strength.

I did not listed this because it is something you should follow no matter what... it was an FYI :)

Hope this helped!
 

Tshepo

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-Longer titles ranks better
-Don't jump Over H tags (don't use H2 before H1 etc.)
How many words in the title should be ranked better?

Don't use H2 before H1 etc?

what do you mean?

If so, I should not use h5 before h4 and h3 before h2?
 

Jacob_k

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How many words in the title should be ranked better?
There's no rule like this... there are rarely exact rules in SEO. Look at the best blogs and sites, and You'll see big main titles all the time. Google something, and you'll usually find bigger headlines ranking better.

Additionally, it is good to have long title to "water" (can't think of a better word for this) a keyword.

If so, I should not use h5 before h4 and h3 before h2?
Exactly... there's no need to use H5 first, then H1 after, than H3... keep the order in your text ;)
 

SEOPub

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It's a good attempt, but there is definitely some things wrong in here. Just so people do not get led astray...

2. Google's mantra is "content is the king"
No, it really is not. Links are king in Google's algorithm. This has been proven again and again. Now they might say don't worry about links and focus on your content, but that is only because they do not want people creating links.

-Domain names with up to 8 characters (not counting www. and .com or any other extension) are generally the best
Please share evidence of this. Pretty sure you or someone else just made that up.

-chose the extension based on your market (if you target only Sweden - take .se extension)... USA and/or World take .com or .net, please don't use .info or such wild extensions. Extensions are not crucial, but the two mentioned above are better and stronger then others... mainly because other extensions looks spammy to visitors... so google included it to their algorithm
While the extension might impact click through rates, it really is not an SEO factor outside of geo-specific ones. There are plenty of .info's ranking just fine. I wouldn't use them because of the perception some might hold for them. I also would rarely use anything where someone else owns the .com version. People are used to typing in .com a lot at the end of domain names. You might inadvertently send someone else a lot of direct traffic.

-number of years your domain is registered and paid for, and the type of your theme (free or paid) is something Google checks to see how important the site is... I am not saying that you should go now and register it for 5 years, and get the most expensive theme... I am just saying it to have it in mind after you earn some $ off of it
Google is not checking if your Wordpress theme is bought or free. That you just made up. There was a theory a long time ago about registration length being a factor. It shows someone is in for the long haul I suppose. I have never seen anyone post any actual evidence of it being true though.

Google Author Link (puts that small pic of you in search engine)
Now you are showing your inexperience and make me question if you actually follow anything you are preaching here. Google got rid of this about 18 months ago.

-Minimum of 500 words of content... more informative... the better!
Content length is not a ranking factor. If it was why stop at 500? Write 1,000? 5,000 words? 10,000? Just keep going. Much like your girlfriend told you, size doesn't matter. It's how you use it.



I stopped reading at this point.
 

Jacob_k

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Jacob_k
Maybe you shouldn't read it at all... everyone is criticizing any effort, but no one is making any contribution to put something together for newbies... can you answer a question, pls...

Is it better for a newbie to follow this... or to start journey without any tips?
Until you write something better than this, I think newbies will be doing just fine following this.

Are those things going to deindex them? NO! The trivial things might be wrong, but they won't be hurt by google... the rest is their job to figure out.

I really don't want to get deeper in this with you... I am pretty sure you know more than me, and that you are a lot smarter than me...

I have been member of many forums for very long time to know a thing or two about members that have 300+ posts and just 12 thank you's...
Now since you are moderator, it's your turn now... be sure to enjoy it ;)
 

SEOPub

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SEOPub

As if thanks matter, which they don't, I have 150 of them, not 12. Twelve is how many I have given out.

I have a pretty solid onsite SEO guide in my members area along with a ton of other SEO training. So yes, I have written about these topics fairly extensively.

I mean, come on. You are talking about Google Author links, which Google got rid of over a year ago.

Are these tips going to deindex them? No. These tips are also probably not going to help them rank either.

Sorry you felt the need to take it personal, but there is just a lot of misinformation in here. Should everyone just hold their tongue when they see things that are wrong? That certainly does not benefit anyone, newbies or not.
 

Jacob_k

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As if thanks matter, which they don't, I have 150 of them, not 12. Twelve is how many I have given out.
That's what I aimed... you only gave 12 of them... that says a lot.

I have a pretty solid onsite SEO guide in my members area along with a ton of other SEO training. So yes, I have written about these topics fairly extensively.
Why not share it here then...?

I mean, come on. You are talking about Google Author links, which Google got rid of over a year ago.
Yes... I missed that one... I copied and pasted it from the txt of plugins... I have there also botguard, clicky analytics, wp database backup I copied and pasted long time ago... This info is wrong... yes... it turned out noobish..

Are these tips going to deindex them? No. These tips are also probably not going to help them rank either.
The things you caught on are so trivial that are neither going to help them or hurt them... but the rest of the things are going to help them rank better... or you don't think so?

Sorry you felt the need to take it personal, but there is just a lot of misinformation in here. Should everyone just hold their tongue when they see things that are wrong? That certainly does not benefit anyone, newbies or not.
No... it's not personal, it's just that I saw you on other forums... always the same. When you see some piece of info you hurry up to trash it, and if the info is good, you just pass around it. Rarely give any positive comments and any likes or thank you's.

Of course you can, and should say if something is wrong... but you can also get down from the cloud... there are newbies here that are going to read this, and they'll say that this is not worth anything... especially after you wrote: "I stopped reading after this...".

As you can see in title, this is for newbies, so they don't ask all the time same questions... this is not for experts and business owners... I'm not in a worry for them, they'll pay for the info.
 

SEOPub

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So because I do not give out more thanks that means something negative about me? That is just silly.

I have shared tons of SEO info here and on other forums, so please do not act like I don't.

The things you caught on are so trivial that are neither going to help them or hurt them... but the rest of the things are going to help them rank better... or you don't think so?
Well, if something is not going to help them, then why encourage it?

And no, I do not think most of what you wrote will actually help anyone to rank a webpage. Look at some of the stuff. Like where did you pull the junk about having domains with 8 characters or less? Where is your proof that doing so impacts anything at all related to SEO?

Now, one could argue that a shorter domain is a benefit because it is easier for people to remember. But you did say that, and that has nothing to do with SEO anyhow.

-Slugs, Main Title and H tags are calculated into keyword density... CALCULATE!
Google has never said this. In fact, if you are paying attention to keyword density, you are wasting your time. However, if you are going to pay attention to keyword density, we really do not know what Google does factor or does not factor. It might be only the text on the page or they might include every single occurrence of a keyword in the code, including image names, alt text, meta keywords, etc. Nobody outside of Google honestly knows unless I have missed some announcement they made about that.

Most of what you put in your post is just the same basic rehashed and incorrect info you find everywhere else.
 

Jacob_k

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So because I do not give out more thanks that means something negative about me? That is just silly.
Actually, it tells a lot more about you than you think... but yeah... I believe you are laughing how silly that is :)

I have shared tons of SEO info here and on other forums, so please do not act like I don't.
So then it won't be a problem to share that guide you mentioned also... right?



Well, if something is not going to help them, then why encourage it?
You got to understand that most people think differently than you do. When people see your "moderator" button, then everything you write has more value and are more heavier than what anyone other does. So when you trash everything, and make some comment "from heights", then people are following you... they see negatives you mentioned and famous "I stop reading after this" - because I do not want to waste my precious time on this load of BS... and sooner or later they pollute forum with questions that are 99% answered in this thread.

Can't you see that mostly people ask same questions over and over again?

And no, I do not think most of what you wrote will actually help anyone to rank a webpage. Look at some of the stuff. Like where did you pull the junk about having domains with 8 characters or less? Where is your proof that doing so impacts anything at all related to SEO?

Now, one could argue that a shorter domain is a benefit because it is easier for people to remember. But you did say that, and that has nothing to do with SEO anyhow.
I said in post that having url 2, 3 letters longer will do anything bad to their SEO... but it's better to have shorter... people remember shorter names, and they will google it, and get to your page thru page results... yes, in very rare cases... but why not put that to your advantage

Google has never said this. In fact, if you are paying attention to keyword density, you are wasting your time. However, if you are going to pay attention to keyword density, we really do not know what Google does factor or does not factor. It might be only the text on the page or they might include every single occurrence of a keyword in the code, including image names, alt text, meta keywords, etc. Nobody outside of Google honestly knows unless I have missed some announcement they made about that.
Google and Matt Cutts said many things, and many things they said turned out to be deliberately incorrect, just to see shifts in SEO world to gain bigger benefit from it - I believe you know this...

Test kw density, and you'll find out that they count every single occurrence of KW... including slug, H tags, title, even categories, excerpts... everything... but I doubt you'll take this into consideration.

We don't know anything about google algorithm, yet we discover many things by testing...

Next time your ranking drops... instead of pumping the links into it, try lowering your overall KW density... You might be surprised how it impacts rankings.

Most of what you put in your post is just the same basic rehashed and incorrect info you find everywhere else.
So can you put the correct info on one place please?
I tried to do this here... but it seems that info are incorrect (according to you).

My wish was to put the info in one place, so that NEWBIES coming here can take action immediately, and stop asking same old questions over and over again. and can concentrate on other areas, and ask questions that are not motivated by insecurity and fear, but with action!
 

SEOPub

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Actually, it tells a lot more about you than you think... but yeah... I believe you are laughing how silly that is :)
Yeah, it means that either I don't care about the thanks button or that I'm selective and when I hit that button I really mean it. Either way, it really is not something that is at all important.

So then it won't be a problem to share that guide you mentioned also... right?
It is shared in the private member area of my site.

You got to understand that most people think differently than you do. When people see your "moderator" button, then everything you write has more value and are more heavier than what anyone other does. So when you trash everything, and make some comment "from heights", then people are following you... they see negatives you mentioned and famous "I stop reading after this" - because I do not want to waste my precious time on this load of BS... and sooner or later they pollute forum with questions that are 99% answered in this thread.

Can't you see that mostly people ask same questions over and over again?
So it is just important that you gave an answer, it's not important if the answer is correct or not. Just that there is an answer in your thread so people stop asking those same questions.

I said in post that having url 2, 3 letters longer will do anything bad to their SEO... but it's better to have shorter... people remember shorter names, and they will google it, and get to your page thru page results... yes, in very rare cases... but why not put that to your advantage
That is not at all what you said. You have gone back and changed your post now. What it originally said was...

-Domain names with up to 8 characters (not counting www. and .com or any other extension) are generally the best
and that was it. Your added explanation really is not much better. Your grasping at straws now to make that have some SEO value.

Google and Matt Cutts said many things, and many things they said turned out to be deliberately incorrect, just to see shifts in SEO world to gain bigger benefit from it - I believe you know this...

Test kw density, and you'll find out that they count every single occurrence of KW... including slug, H tags, title, even categories, excerpts... everything... but I doubt you'll take this into consideration.

We don't know anything about google algorithm, yet we discover many things by testing...

Next time your ranking drops... instead of pumping the links into it, try lowering your overall KW density... You might be surprised how it impacts rankings.
There is no way to test what Google uses in a calculation of keyword density, if they are even calculating it. So you are just guessing that they include the URL, H tags, title, etc.

And yes, I have tested this. But you do not even need to test it. You will find pages ranking with over 10% keyword density. I have ranked pages in excess of 14% keyword density.

So can you put the correct info on one place please?
I tried to do this here... but it seems that info are incorrect (according to you).

My wish was to put the info in one place, so that NEWBIES coming here can take action immediately, and stop asking same old questions over and over again. and can concentrate on other areas, and ask questions that are not motivated by insecurity and fear, but with action!
Your intent was noble, I just know from experience that not all the information you presented was correct.

Anyhow, I've had enough of this thread. I've pointed out what I wanted to. Good night.
 

lkovnih226

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From the home page, link to content page 1.
From content page 1 link to content page 2.
From content page 2 link to content page 3.
From content page 3 link to content page 4.
From content page 4 link to content page 5.
From content page 5 link back to the home page.
What is the link building method are you applying here? Is it link wheel or something else?
 

Jacob_k

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Yeah, it means that either I don't care about the thanks button or that I'm selective and when I hit that button I really mean it. Either way, it really is not something that is at all important.
No... actually it makes you more of a person that believes no one is near good enough for your level of knowledge... And I am not speaking just about this forum...
We both know why You do this (HINT... look one row under)

It is shared in the private member area of my site.
So then, people which aren't part of your private member's area are doomed to never learn the correct SEO...? Or they have to become members to learn it? This makes much more sense why are you bashing this guide...



So it is just important that you gave an answer, it's not important if the answer is correct or not. Just that there is an answer in your thread so people stop asking those same questions.
Answer is up to 80% correct, and you know that... the debatable things are just trivialities (8 letters in URL, length of article, H1, slug, title...), and differences in opinion. If you look at the guide as a whole, you would understand the value... if you look at it piece by piece, then you do this on a thread you know would help direct newbies and make some grounds to research it further... and as I said, you are a moderator, people look differently to your posts than mine.

The rest of 20% will quickly be filled with questions and answers people would make after taking action... you know that very well... So rather think about others for a second, and do not play with words.

That is not at all what you said. You have gone back and changed your post now. What it originally said was...



and that was it. Your added explanation really is not much better. Your grasping at straws now to make that have some SEO value.
If you took your precious time to read 2nd or 3rd reply on a thread, you would see that I told to someone who asked about the domain length, and I answered that additional 2, 3 or whatever letters won't do any harm...


There is no way to test what Google uses in a calculation of keyword density, if they are even calculating it. So you are just guessing that they include the URL, H tags, title, etc.
Pretty much everything is guessing when it comes to SEO... by testing you guess what is in that over 200 factors in google algo. You know that, but are just acting smart. By the way this guide is about how I do SEO... revealing Google's algorithm (I will add it now so maybe such confusions can be avoided).

Try to rewrite articles that looses rankings... lower kw density and you'll see it appearing highly again... there are ton of people who did this, and succeeded.

Is it good to have 30% KW density in the text? NO!
Is it good to have 0% kw density in the text? Again NO!

So do the maths if this is important or not...

And yes, I have tested this. But you do not even need to test it. You will find pages ranking with over 10% keyword density. I have ranked pages in excess of 14% keyword density.
Thought you just said that there's not way to test that... strange...



Your intent was noble, I just know from experience that not all the information you presented was correct.

Anyhow, I've had enough of this thread. I've pointed out what I wanted to. Good night.
Yes... "NOT ALL INFORMATINS YOU PRESENT ARE CORRECT" that can be true, and very probably is... yet you came as Almighty stating that after all this nonsenses You do not wish to read anymore...

You know, there's a huge difference between constructive criticism, and destructive criticism... Look at all your posts... there's nothing constructive from You in any of this... You quickley pointed the first few things you saw as utter nonsenses, and showed you really have no time to spend on things like this... You haven't directed anyone in any direction, just made everyone more confused and insecure. Guess only valuable things are in your members area.

You haven't said one positive thing... and again, I emphasize... I do not need your or anyone's approval... but Newbies starting this need to have approval of moderator... Constructive critic is more than welcome... and if you did it, this conversation would go in a much better direction, and people seeing this would learn even more... but this way, they only see... well, nothing...

Yes... I hope this is a good night and that I won't see you on this thread... but I am sure you'll come on some other thread as soon as I mentions letter S.

Clap, clap...

Now, you can knock yourself out with reply... I won't be spending any additional time on this.
 
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