Getting Started with SEO: The First Steps
Search Engine Optimization has one of the best ROIs of any marketing endeavor if done correctly. But there’s more to the process than just uploading a blog packed with keywords. There are a few essential first steps to make sure your content ranks on Google, and none of them have to do with creating content.
If you’re just starting to take SEO seriously, getting these steps right will make the process easier and will help Google find and rank your site at the right times.
Check to make sure you are indexed
The first thing you should do is make sure your site is indexed by Google. That means Google can find your site and pages and associate them with keywords and search topics. If your site is not indexed, it will simply not show up in any Google searches, which makes it pretty difficult to rank for keywords.
To check if your website is indexed, you can use the site: operator in Google search. Go to the Google search bar and type site:yourdomain.com. If your website appears in the search results, then it is indexed.
If your website is not indexed, you can submit your website/page to Google for indexing through Google Search Console.
That leads us to the next step.
Connect Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that helps site owners/SEO experts/marketers monitor a website’s performance. By connecting your website to Google Search Console, you can see how Google crawls and indexes your website and identify any issues that may be affecting your website's performance in search results.
To connect your website to Google Search Console, you will need to verify ownership of your website. You can do this by adding a meta tag to your website's HTML, uploading a HTML file, or by adding a DNS record to your domain's settings.
For more on how to connect to Google Search Console, we recommend reading Google’s instructions.
Create XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages on your website and provides metadata about each page (such as when it was last updated). Creating an XML sitemap helps Google and other search engines better understand the structure of your website and how the pages are related to each other.
To create an XML sitemap, you can use something like Yoast SEO (if you are using WordPress) or an online sitemap generator (link to something). Once you have created your XML sitemap, you can submit it to Google Search Console to help Google find and index all of the pages on your website.
Simple but crucial steps
All of these are pretty simple to do, but they are crucial when beginning your site’s SEO strategy. To summarize:
Check to make sure you are indexed by typing site:yourdomain.com into the Google search bar
Connect your website to the Google Search Console by verifying ownership.
Create an XML sitemap using a tool like Yoast SEO or an online sitemap generator.
For more on SEO optimization and marketing, check out more of our blog posts to learn more. We have a beginner series that takes users from the basics of SEO (like this blog post) through keyword research and content creation for the best SEO results.
If you’re looking for help with SEO and content marketing strategy, fill out the form below to get a free discovery call from GPS Media. Our team can analyze your site and company’s needs and help you #findyourway today.
