SEO for beginners

[Andy Black]

Help someone, and learn along the way. I think I should try doing that instead of focusing on being perfect before I start something.

Exactly.

1) Learn by doing.

2) You’re doing people a disservice by needing to feel like you’re an expert before you help them.

Focus on helping people and you get out of your own way.

You might like this:

• HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped?

 

[BizyDad]

I don't normally take issue with Andy Black advice but encouraging someone to take on SEO clients after only doing one course sounds a bit like sending in a plumber who only just learned what a wrench is for. What's the worst that can happen?

Unlike Google Ads, where the downside is wasted money, an inexperienced SEO can quickly tank a website leading to months of repair work for even an experienced SEO. Even if the site wasn't ranking, you can still be making a situation much worse.

There is a plague of "pay me and I'll learn how to do a good job" types in this industry already. We don't need any more.

I think SEOguy's and other's suggestion that you build and rank some of your own properties is a much more responsible way of approaching/entering into this business.

 

[Unknown M.F]

Here's a FREE course for you in SEO:

The bulk work of SEO is found in doing keywords research. Yup. Not in building links.

Once you've figured out how to do keywords research well, then move over to mastering how to do searchers intent well.

When starting out in keywords research, focus on getting KD 0 keywords. Not KD 1, 2... 60 but KD 0. Why? Because you'll rank faster to be able to kick in your feedback loop.

For your first 6 months, write up to 50 - 150 blog posts on all those KD 0 keywords. On ahrefs, your organic traffic will be in the range of 1K - 10K monthly traffic (using ahrefs metrics). The best way to monetize your site in this period of 6 months is through Google AdSense.

After your 6months, you can decide to do whatever you want. If you want to build backlinks, you can. If you want to go into affiliate marketing, you can as well.

For a new website, the fastest ways to build links are:
1. Directory submissions.
2. Forum/blog comments(don't spam though).
3. Profile links.
4. Guest posting (you will need to learn how to scale this to save you time and frustration).

If you have made friends in your niche, you can also do link exchanges with them.

The summary of the whole "SEO" stuff is:

Step 1: Keywords research
Step 2: Check the DA/PA of the top ranking sites to judge if you can compete. If they are too high, go back to step 1.
Step 3: work on search intent.
Step 4: Give a damn good m*therf*cking article that will cause confusion to Google bots.
Step 5: Step 5 should be to build backlinks to those existing pages but since our strategy is to Target KD 0 keywords in bulk, F it.
Step 6: Let your internal linking game be so golden that sites like Wikipedia will learn from your own site..lol.
Step 7: Chill.

If you don't rank then the problem will always be from keywords research or failing to fulfil searchers intent.

I got everything I know now from reading ahrefs blog. Everything out there won't tell you the complete truth except from ahrefs. I also watched all their videos on their YouTube channel.

What I am trying to say is that if you want to learn SEO, go to ahrefs blog posts/videos.

My advice is for you to also learn to master how to use their tools perfectly. If you know how to use ahrefs well, your results will be shown on the Google SERPs.

 

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[Unknown M.F]

I have decided to go all in on SEO, if I want to help someone with any SEO problems, how should I find them? Is there a reddit thread for that too?

Go to targeted facebook groups about SEO or digital marketing and help one person at a time for the next 30days... You will surely land 1-3 clients this way.

The key is to be seen helping people publicly and adding value to them with zero expectations of them contacting you.

P.S: I learnt this strategy from @Andy Black

 

[SEBASTlAN]

The subreddit /r/seo is where most newbies hang out.

In my opinion, the best way to learn more is to register a few domains and build some sites of your own; conduct experiments and utilize free tools when needed. You don't need to pay for any unless you've got clients or are looking to invest heavily in your online business.

 

[KushShah9492]

Why don’t you help someone, this week?

• HOT TOPIC - You don't need to be an expert

Help someone, and learn along the way. I think I should try doing that instead of focusing on being perfect before I start something.

 

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[Andy Black]

What @Madame Peccato said. Send them a 5 minute Loom video and ask what they’re thoughts are.

Alternately, ask them to ask in public so you can answer in public.

 

[KushShah9492]

I just completed a course on UDEMY for SEO beginners and it has peaked my interest in that field. Are there any sources where I could go deeper in SEO,SEM, copywriting and digital marketing? Also, if I get better at these skills, is it beneficial to me as a freelancer or as a business? Would it land any jobs in the future? Just curious.

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

I have little knowledge about building a web design. Is there any other way I can experiment with those skills? Or should I learn web design as well?

It's best to pick one skill and go all in on that. If you're still unsure on your final path and want to try learning web design too, I'm no expert and wouldn't know where to start there; maybe a designer here can point you in the right direction.

Most SEOs do fine by using WordPress as a CMS and installing a pre-made theme.

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

You should've checked the subreddit, every other thread is someone needing help. But more importantly, how can you help them when you have no first-hand knowledge?

 

[Andy Black]

What is the difference between them? Are they correlated? Does learning one of them help me with the other?

Maybe don’t make it your goal to “learn” and instead make it your goal to help? Find someone who needs more online leads or sales and offer to help them?

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks Andy, I'm 15 minutes into the conversation, and it's already insightful. Although, I have to ask this. Do I pick a specific niche to help people with? Or just start helping with anything they need help with? Taking your advice, I've already started replying to threads on reddit, would soon join quora as well.

Business is simple:

1. Help people.
2. Get paid.

If you’re not used to helping people (and I do include entertaining people in here), then start anywhere, even just holding doors open etc.

If you want to get better at XYZ and be positioned as an “XYZ Guy” in a community:

1. Talk about XYZ (not all the time!)
2. Help people with XYX.
3. Be SEEN to help people with XYZ.

 

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[Madame Peccato]

I just wanna help people, and get good at solving problems of a particular niche..thus polishing my skills in that field. Is that a viable thing to do?
Recently I got a DM from someone on reddit asking me to look into why his site isn’t getting much traffic. I’m thinking to this for a while for free, and get noticed solving their problems.

Make a SEO audit on video. Go over everything that's wrong, explain how you'd fix it, and how it is helpful. Do a great job. Then send it to the person, and if they think you've been helpful ask them if you can share it with other people who might find it helpful.

 

[KushShah9492]

What @Madame Peccato said. Send them a 5 minute Loom video and ask what they’re thoughts are.

Alternately, ask them to ask in public so you can answer in public.

Thanks Andy and Madame Peccato, that's been really helpful. I'm planning(not sure yet) to move to a new country, maybe this skill(of helping someone rather than learning something new) might help me there.

 

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[Danny01]

SEO is a very broad field and you will need to turn your bullshit meter on. 90% of what you read will be crap and won't move a needle in SERPS. The 10% that works will come from trying out things yourself and finding what actually works. You can net thousands of dollars in affiliate or AdSense revenues if you get your SEO game right.

Visit blackhatworld.com, mathewwoodward.co.uk and get the real knowledge of what SEO is at the moment. Try a lot of things out. Better than knowledge is applied Knowledge. I did it and you can do it too.

 

[Unknown M.F]

Damn, that’s a unique look at how SEO works.

Thanks. I've spent a lot of time following wrong advices until I started digging in on what works or doesn't.

The truth about SEO is that if you really want to learn how SEO works, don't learn from SEO professionals. Instead learn from those that created the tools SEO experts are using e.g Ahrefs or Semrush. The guys behind these tools actually want people to use them and so, they'll teach you how to use them perfectly if you invest enough time in learning it.

Besides, these are the same tools SEO experts use when they want to do SEO.

 

[KushShah9492]

It's best to pick one skill and go all in on that. If you're still unsure on your final path and want to try learning web design too, I'm no expert and wouldn't know where to start there; maybe a designer here can point you in the right direction.

Most SEOs do fine by using WordPress as a CMS and installing a pre-made theme.

I have decided to go all in on SEO, if I want to help someone with any SEO problems, how should I find them? Is there a reddit thread for that too?

 

[Beerbread]

@SEOguy is right. I finished making my own website and doing my own SEO and it really is trial and error. Yoast SEO is super helpful and if you don't want to deal with coding, finding a theme with a page builder for WordPress is super helpful!

 

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[KushShah9492]

You should've checked the subreddit, every other thread is someone needing help. But more importantly, how can you help them when you have no first-hand knowledge?

I mean, once I am done researching and studying SEO and digital marketing, I’ll start helping them, I just wanted to know where should I be looking for them. I’m still in the process of learning, I’ve just completed one course..and still have a long way to go. Giving myself at least 6 months before I start looking for clients.

 

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[Andy Black]

Giving myself at least 6 months before I start looking for clients.

Why don’t you help someone, this week?

• HOT TOPIC - You don't need to be an expert

 

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[KushShah9492]

Exactly.

1) Learn by doing.

2) You’re doing people a disservice by needing to feel like you’re an expert before you help them.

Focus on helping people and you get out of your own way.

You might like this:

• HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped?

Thanks Andy, I'm 15 minutes into the conversation, and it's already insightful. Although, I have to ask this. Do I pick a specific niche to help people with? Or just start helping with anything they need help with? Taking your advice, I've already started replying to threads on reddit, would soon join quora as well.

 

[Andy Black]

And also, keep learning something new about xyz everyday.

Maybe. I don’t try to learn something new everyday. I help someone, somehow, every day though.

 

[KushShah9492]

Maybe. I don’t try to learn something new everyday. I help someone, somehow, every day though.

I just wanna help people, and get good at solving problems of a particular niche..thus polishing my skills in that field. Is that a viable thing to do?
Recently I got a DM from someone on reddit asking me to look into why his site isn’t getting much traffic. I’m thinking to this for a while for free, and get noticed solving their problems.

 

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[throttleforward]

FWIW, I had great SEO success through earned media - that is, getting legitimate media coverage for my startup, thus earning quality backlinks. That, coupled with key words both on my site and in the articles linking back to my site, were very powerful in launching me to the top of SERPs. Don't discount the power of legit media in SEO.

 

[KushShah9492]

Here's a FREE course for you in SEO:

The bulk work of SEO is found in doing keywords research. Yup. Not in building links.

Once you've figured out how to do keywords research well, then move over to mastering how to do searchers intent well.

When starting out in keywords research, focus on getting KD 0 keywords. Not KD 1, 2... 60 but KD 0. Why? Because you'll rank faster to be able to kick in your feedback loop.

For your first 6 months, write up to 50 - 150 blog posts on all those KD 0 keywords. On ahrefs, your organic traffic will be in the range of 1K - 10K monthly traffic (using ahrefs metrics). The best way to monetize your site in this period of 6 months is through Google AdSense.

After your 6months, you can decide to do whatever you want. If you want to build backlinks, you can. If you want to go into affiliate marketing, you can as well.

For a new website, the fastest ways to build links are:
1. Directory submissions.
2. Forum/blog comments(don't spam though).
3. Profile links.
4. Guest posting (you will need to learn how to scale this to save you time and frustration).

If you have made friends in your niche, you can also do link exchanges with them.

The summary of the whole "SEO" stuff is:

Step 1: Keywords research
Step 2: Check the DA/PA of the top ranking sites to judge if you can compete. If they are too high, go back to step 1.
Step 3: work on search intent.
Step 4: Give a damn good m*therf*cking article that will cause confusion to Google bots.
Step 5: Step 5 should be to build backlinks to those existing pages but since our strategy is to Target KD 0 keywords in bulk, F it.
Step 6: Let your internal linking game be so golden that sites like Wikipedia will learn from your own site..lol.
Step 7: Chill.

If you don't rank then the problem will always be from keywords research or failing to fulfil searchers intent.

I got everything I know now from reading ahrefs blog. Everything out there won't tell you the complete truth except from ahrefs. I also watched all their videos on their YouTube channel.

What I am trying to say is that if you want to learn SEO, go to ahrefs blog posts/videos.

My advice is for you to also learn to master how to use their tools perfectly. If you know how to use ahrefs well, your results will be shown on the Google SERPs.

Damn, that’s a unique look at how SEO works.

 

[Olov]

I don't normally take issue with Andy Black advice but encouraging someone to take on SEO clients after only doing one course sounds a bit like sending in a plumber who only just learned what a wrench is for. What's the worst that can happen?

Unlike Google Ads, where the downside is wasted money, an inexperienced SEO can quickly tank a website leading to months of repair work for even an experienced SEO. Even if the site wasn't ranking, you can still be making a situation much worse.

There is a plague of "pay me and I'll learn how to do a good job" types in this industry already. We don't need any more.

I think SEOguy's and other's suggestion that you build and rank some of your own properties is a much more responsible way of approaching/entering into this business.

I completely agree with this. I'm surprised anyone would advice him to "help people" with SEO - when he knows basically nothing about it. I assume the people giving this advice doesn't know SEO either.

If a person doesn't know SEO, it can potentially ruin someone's business. I've seen several people getting their websites slaughtered by Google, just because the "SEO guy" knew F-all what he was doing. Resulting in people losing a lot of money and time. It's very dangerous to play with people's businesses like that.

Never ever freelance as a SEO if you don't know what you're doing. Start with your own sites first.

"a bit like sending in a plumber who only just learned what a wrench is for. What's the worst that can happen?" - Well said!

 

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[Danny01]

Can anyone offer me a little quick SEO advice?

I'm just starting out on SEO and I hear backlinks are super important for ranking.

Is this a useful service to generate backlinks for your website or a con:

Submit your startup to 80+ quality startup directories - SR Booster | Startup Ranking

Take your Off-Page SEO strategy to the next level. We manually submit your business to 80+ startup directories & tech blogs to help you increase your online visibility and your site's ranking on Google.

www.startupranking.com

Build contextual backlinks to your target pages.

 

[KushShah9492]

The subreddit /r/seo is where most newbies hang out.

In my opinion, the best way to learn more is to register a few domains and build some sites of your own; conduct experiments and utilize free tools when needed. You don't need to pay for any unless you've got clients or are looking to invest heavily in your online business.

I have little knowledge about building a web design. Is there any other way I can experiment with those skills? Or should I learn web design as well?

 

[Andy Black]

I’m curious... why SEO and not Google Ads?

Regardless, this is how I’ve got clients in the past 10+ years as a Google Ads freelancer:

• Make friends, build relationships, and create win-wins

 

[KushShah9492]

I’m curious... why SEO and not Google Ads?

Regardless, this is how I’ve got clients in the past 10+ years as a Google Ads freelancer:

• Make friends, build relationships, and create win-wins

What is the difference between them? Are they correlated? Does learning one of them help me with the other?