How To Confidently Start SEOing?

[JazzJack]

Hi Guys,

Im a Web developer (Front end and back end). Ive been learning SEO tips and tricks for the last 2 years but didn't have courage to apply them to any of my clients because of lack of confidence. I say lack of confidence because I never had a SEO Guru teaching me the "Proper" way to do SEO and see ranks change OR how to really take the first step when it comes to a SEO Project, so I didnt know how to even see if my work is paying off.

Now I got this client who is a Vehicle Importer in Melbourne, and he imports cars from Japan. Im charging him $200/month for 12 months to improve SEO and cut down his competition and get his site on Google. But I have no idea where to start. His site has a blog setup already and its pretty good structure wise. I have done the On page optimizations and sitemaps etc etc, but not sure what to do next like to build links ?? or do off page optimizations,  or do keyword research or really get the site on Google without any bull****?? Can you guys please please show me how to start a SEO project and how to actually use the new Moz to his best use?

Thanks a lot for helping me.

Regards

[crackingmedia]

Hi, first up, if you haven't read it already, I recommend reading Moz's guide here: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

The other thing I would say if you are not clear on it already is first understand the strategy of SEO (i.e. that it is do with provide good relevant content that answers a site visitor's questions) than focussing too much on SEO tactics.

That said, to ensure your content is good and relevant to answer a site visitor's questions that means you need to know what questions they are asking. To do that I recommend doing keyword research to find the the keywords and phrases people are searching for so that your pages can be targeted correctly. When you have done that, make sure the content is well written and optimised correctly for those searches along the guidelines Moz recommend.

As your site is the focus of the attention you want to create then only when you have done those stages above should you be concerned with promoting the site elsewhere through social media etc.

I hope that helps,

Peter

[JazzJack]

Hi Peter

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I went through the Moz Beginners Guide many times and have a good understanding of delivering good content to answer visitors questions. What would you do if you get a Vehicle Importer who wants to see his site on Google for keywords like "Import vehicle from Japan" or "Melbourne car imoports"?

Regards

[TomKing]

Hi,

As Peter correctly states, the best start is the Moz Beginners Guide but I can also recommend 'The Link Building Book' by Paddy Moogan.

I am by no means an expert (or guru) but I have been doing SEO for a few years now, I have just written a post on my blog title' What Is It You Do Exactly?' - That seems to be the question I am most asked when I tell people what I do!

You can read the post here, it might help, it might not but take a look and see what you think; What Is It You Do?

Please feel free to post back with any further questions, everyone is friendly and willing to help!

Andy

[GPainter]

Hello,

A good tip for SEO (for me any how) is treat it like it's your own site. You can also (as touched on) look at research the more you research the easier it is later on, the golden thing most people are after is the "long tail keyword". In short if you were looking to import a car what would you type into Google. Once you've done that you can also back this up by looking into Google ad words and seeing the search volume to back up your theory. On top of this Google trends is a sneaky way to look at historical data to see if there is a season to the term.

Along side this you can also look at competitors see what they are linking with see if you are on the right track. This is always a good first step after looking at the site.

Good luck.

[Digital-Diameter]

High level, but step-by-step:

• Keyword research to determine what to target:

• Start by looking at what you are currently ranking for and what is currently driving traffic.

• Then, look at what terms related to their business drive traffic vs. the level of competition.

• Pick some terms.

• Review the site for general SEO issues and optimize for those terms.

• Build links / build citations based on whether the client is locally focused or national.

• If local, focus on citations and local business group links.

• If national, focus on quality links from relevant sites (though citations don't hurt either.)

• The number of links you need can very greatly depending on the competition and from where your client is starting.

• Tip:

• Do not 'over-optimize' the site or anchor text.

• Don't build links too quickly or you can get penalized.

• Whitespark.ca is a good citation finder tool and is pretty affordable.

Best of luck!

[crackingmedia]

Hi Jazz

What would you do if you get a Vehicle Importer who wants to see his site on Google for keywords like "Import vehicle from Japan" or "Melbourne car imports"?

As Chris suggests below, the critical factor with keyword research is to understand what people are typing into Google which may not be the phrases that your vehicle importer client is suggesting.

It may be that the competition for the phrases he is suggesting are low and so it may be quite easy to rank for them, but a number 1 position for a search that no-one is searching on is pointless. Whilst he may be impressed, any impression will be short-lived when there is no traffic.

Maybe the phrases being suggested do get decent traffic, but if they don't and you have the facility to be able to show him what is being used, then show him based on the intent of the search. If that is, for example, something like "car importer melbourne" or "japanese car importer" then better to use that than something that isn't.

Peter

[JazzJack]

Thanks for your reply, I have few questions for you if you dont mind,

1. Is there a way to see whether im ranking for any keyword if I dont know the keyword, in other words, how do I know if I rank for any keyword?
2. I added a list of keywords to Moz but it says I dont rank on first 50 results. So how do I know if Im ranking for anything at all?
3. Ive heard of keyword competition, could you please guide me on how to actually do a competition analysis?

Thanks a lot
Jazz

[GPainter]

1. Is there a way to see whether im ranking for any keyword if I dont know the keyword, in other words, how do I know if I rank for any keyword?

Google analytics  / webmaster tools lets you see what people are searching to get to your site.

2. I added a list of keywords to Moz but it says I dont rank on first 50 results. So how do I know if Im ranking for anything at all?

You can always do a manual search

3. Ive heard of keyword competition, could you please guide me on how to actually do a competition analysis?

https://adwords.google.com

[crackingmedia]

Just to follow on a little more from Chris' reply.

> 1. Is there a way to see whether im ranking for any keyword if I don't know the keyword, in other words, how do I know if I rank for any keyword?

By looking at your Google Analytics search referrals you cannot tell where you are ranking but by the fact that you have had a referral from a search engine means you must have been ranking reasonably well for a search phrase in order to get a click through.

Please note though that if pulling this information from your Google Analytics, for the last year or so Google has gradually been returning more and more "(not provided)" results. These of course don't tell you what people were searching for. Recently, Google has pulled search referral data altogether. Now you can only see if you have had a referral from Google and not what the search phrase was. So only by looking at historic data for Google search referrals will you get the info you want. But you can still get that data from Bing and Yahoo referrals.

> 2. I added a list of keywords to Moz but it says I don't rank on first 50 results. So how do I know if I'm ranking for anything at all?

Yes, Chris it right, but if below 50 then it maybe worth re-examining the phrases you are targeting to see how competitive they are (as your 3 point below) before spending lots of time trying to push them up the rankings. Your time may be better spent looking for longer tail searches that you can pick up some traffic from.

> 3. Ive heard of keyword competition, could you please guide me on how to actually do a competition analysis?

Have a look at this help page on the Moz Keyword Difficulty tool. That should give you a good kickstart to understanding more about it.

Peter

[GPainter]

Thanks peter, some good tips there.

It's true that GA has given more "not provided" however you can pull some terms of webmaster tools.

[JazzJack]

Thanks a lot guys. I've been trying the tips and tricks you guys provided and that's why I didn't close the question. Hope you guys don't mind answering few more new questions regarding the same issue.

1. When I take a SEO project onbard for a client, how should I go with writing blog content for him. Do you guys usually write content for them or you get the client to write them for you because they know the business best? For an example if the client is a Car Importer, he knows about importing cars and why people should import cars better than the SEO gurus? 
2. Similar to question one, when it comes to answering questions on forums and advertising the clients business, do you guys usually do it for the client or you get the client to do it to support the SEO campaign?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, but I literally have no idea how that works

Thanks a lot guys in advance

Jazz