Order of Operations for SEO?

Hey everyone,

I'm very new to SEO and I have found it very difficult to learn the ropes. On the one hand, there are many resources. On the other hand...there are too many resources, with everyone calling themselves an SEO expert and it becomes a bit overwhelming.

2 months ago, I put up a landing page for a software product I am building, registered a domain, added a google analytics script to the page, did and passed the basic google search console optimizations (added sitemap, robots.txt, <title>, <meta>, made it mobile friendly, page is indexed, served over https, loading times are okay).

Yesterday was the first time I discovered and tried SEMRush (free version). Cool service! I did a site audit and it seems okay...pages that I don't care for being indexed (like login page, terms, etc) had some minor issues (no title/viewport/h1/meta tags, 1 broken internal link, 1 404 page, etc).

This is all good and well, it gives me a place to start fixing some site issues...but what do I do after this? Is there an order of operations for doing 'SEO things' that are the most impactful for ranking high on search engines first?

I looked at some competitor sites and they have 7-30k backlinks (20% ********) whereas I have none, they have a ton of organic keywords whereas I have none.

I guess my question is what is the pareto analysis on 'SEO things' to do? What are the enumerable 'SEO things' to do? Because right now I'm probably just going to fix those minor SEMRush Site Audit bugs, then focus on figuring out why I have no organic keywords, then trying to build backlinks...and just pray?

Sorry if this was hard to follow and thanks for your time!

My friend chatGPT never lied.

Welcome to the world of SEO! It's great that you've already taken some foundational steps to optimize your website. Based on your current situation, here's a suggested order of operations for your SEO efforts:

1. Content Quality and Relevance:
   • Ensure your content is high-quality, relevant, and provides value to your target audience.
   • Identify and use relevant keywords naturally within your content.
2. Keyword Research:
   • Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the terms your audience is likely to search for.
   • Optimize your on-page elements (title, meta description, headers) with these keywords.
3. Backlink Building:
   • Focus on building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. This could involve outreach, guest posting, or creating shareable content.
   • Monitor and disavow any harmful backlinks.
4. Technical SEO:
   • Address any technical issues flagged by tools like SEMRush. This includes fixing broken links, ensuring proper redirects, and optimizing your site structure.
   • Regularly update your XML sitemap and robots.txt file.
5. User Experience (UX):
   • Improve user experience on your website, making it easy to navigate and engaging.
   • Ensure fast loading times, especially on mobile devices.
6. Local SEO (if applicable):
   • If your software product has a local audience, optimize for local search by claiming your Google My Business listing and getting reviews.
7. Analytics and Monitoring:
   • Keep a close eye on your analytics data to understand user behavior and identify areas for improvement.
   • Set up Google Analytics goals and track conversions.
8. Social Media Presence:
   • Leverage social media platforms to promote your content and engage with your audience.
9. Mobile Optimization:
   • Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, as Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing.
10. Competitor Analysis:
    • Continuously monitor your competitors for new strategies and keywords.

Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, and results may take time. Prioritize tasks based on your specific goals and the needs of your website. If you have any specific questions about each step or need more detailed explanations, feel free to ask!

Note: For more detailed and up-to-date information on SEO best practices, you might want to check reliable SEO blogs and resources.

1SEOWarrior said:

My friend chatGPT never lied.

Welcome to the world of SEO! It's great that you've already taken some foundational steps to optimize your website. Based on your current situation, here's a suggested order of operations for your SEO efforts:

1. Content Quality and Relevance:
   • Ensure your content is high-quality, relevant, and provides value to your target audience.
   • Identify and use relevant keywords naturally within your content.
2. Keyword Research:
   • Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the terms your audience is likely to search for.
   • Optimize your on-page elements (title, meta description, headers) with these keywords.
3. Backlink Building:
   • Focus on building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. This could involve outreach, guest posting, or creating shareable content.
   • Monitor and disavow any harmful backlinks.
4. Technical SEO:
   • Address any technical issues flagged by tools like SEMRush. This includes fixing broken links, ensuring proper redirects, and optimizing your site structure.
   • Regularly update your XML sitemap and robots.txt file.
5. User Experience (UX):
   • Improve user experience on your website, making it easy to navigate and engaging.
   • Ensure fast loading times, especially on mobile devices.
6. Local SEO (if applicable):
   • If your software product has a local audience, optimize for local search by claiming your Google My Business listing and getting reviews.
7. Analytics and Monitoring:
   • Keep a close eye on your analytics data to understand user behavior and identify areas for improvement.
   • Set up Google Analytics goals and track conversions.
8. Social Media Presence:
   • Leverage social media platforms to promote your content and engage with your audience.
9. Mobile Optimization:
   • Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, as Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing.
10. Competitor Analysis:
    • Continuously monitor your competitors for new strategies and keywords.

Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, and results may take time. Prioritize tasks based on your specific goals and the needs of your website. If you have any specific questions about each step or need more detailed explanations, feel free to ask!

Note: For more detailed and up-to-date information on SEO best practices, you might want to check reliable SEO blogs and resources.

Click to expand...

LOL, this is pretty much what I got when I asked ChatGPT!! I was skeptical, but it is super reassuring that an SEO expert (I'm assuming you know your SEO more than me cause your username is 1SEOWarrior) believes this ranking to be accurate.

For keyword research, what does the process usually look like? As a non-expert, I would have approached this by thinking of synonyms or alternate phrasings for a specific keyword I have, but I don't know if this is how it is actually done.

I noticed SEMRush has a thing that tells you how often keywords are searched but also how difficult they are...I suspect that the ones that are searched more often are more difficult, so what is the strategy searching for keywords using SEMRush?

openwallet said:

LOL, this is pretty much what I got when I asked ChatGPT!! I was skeptical, but it is super reassuring that an SEO expert (I'm assuming you know your SEO more than me cause your username is 1SEOWarrior) believes this ranking to be accurate.

For keyword research, what does the process usually look like? As a non-expert, I would have approached this by thinking of synonyms or alternate phrasings for a specific keyword I have, but I don't know if this is how it is actually done.

I noticed SEMRush has a thing that tells you how often keywords are searched but also how difficult they are...I suspect that the ones that are searched more often are more difficult, so what is the strategy searching for keywords using SEMRush?

Click to expand...

Don't misunderstand my friend, I have mentioned already that this is chatGPT generated.

As you are a newbie, you should always look for keywords that have KD below 30 and have a significant amount of search volume. Don't go for high DA and high SV in the first place. It will dishearten you in the first place.