SEO Fundamentals Course by Ahrefs

Jul 17, 2024

SEO Fundamentals Course by Ahrefs - Lecture Notes

Introduction by Sam Oh

  • Course Focus: Fundamentals of SEO with an emphasis on execution
  • Target Audience: Beginners, but useful even for experienced businesses
  • Ahrefs' Success: Sticking with SEO fundamentals; over a million monthly visits from Google alone
  • Course Structure: Intro Video + 4 Modules
    • SEO 101, Keyword Research, On-Page SEO, Link Building, Technical SEO

SEO 101

What is SEO?

  • SEO Definition: Search Engine Optimization; optimizing content to be discovered via organic search
  • Search Engines Work Like Libraries: Store copies of websites and web pages
  • Why Focus on SEO? Three major reasons:
    1. Free Traffic: Unlike paid ads
    2. Consistent Traffic: Organic traffic is more stable
    3. Massive Reach: Opportunity to reach a global audience (4 billion Google users as of 2019)

How Google Works

  • Crawling and Indexation: Uses crawlers (spiders) to index pages
  • Ranking Algorithm: Hundreds of signals, tweaked 500-600 times/year
    • Key Factors:
      • Backlinks: Links from other pages; act as votes
      • Search Intent: Purpose behind the search query
      • Content Depth: More comprehensive answers rank better

Module 1: Keyword Research

What Are Keywords?

  • Definition: Words/phrases people type into search engines
  • Importance: Determines what you rank for

Choosing Keywords

  1. Search Demand: Look for high search volume
  2. Traffic Potential: Total search traffic if you rank high
  3. Business Potential: Value to your business
  4. Searcher Intent: Match intent to rank
  5. Ranking Difficulty: Competitive analysis

Keyword Research Process

  • Step 1: Generate keyword ideas (use Seed Keywords, AHREFs, and Google Keywords Explorer)
  • Step 2: Validate Keywords
    • Check Search Volume & Traffic Potential
    • Analyze Business Potential
    • Match Searcher Intent
    • Assess Ranking Difficulty

Module 2: On-Page SEO

What is On-Page SEO?

  • Practice of optimizing web pages to rank higher
  • Focus on Search Intent

Common Misconceptions

  1. Keyword Stuffing: Not useful; impacts readability
  2. Keyword Frequency: Irrelevant with good content
  3. Minimum Word Count: Not essential for high ranking

On-Page SEO Best Practices

  • Titles and URLs: Include target keywords naturally
  • Meta Descriptions: Influence click-through rates
  • Internal Links: Help with navigation and SEO
  • Image Optimization: Names, alt text, and compression
  • Readability: Short sentences, descriptive subheadings, large font, conversational tone
  • Schema Markup & OG Tags: Enhance results in search engines and social media

Module 3: Link Building

What is Link Building?

  • Definition: Getting other sites to link to yours; backlinks
  • Importance: Critical for ranking in competitive areas

Methods of Link Building

  1. Create Links: Manually adding to directories, comments, etc. (Low effectiveness)
  2. Buy Links: Risky and against Google guidelines
  3. Earn Links: Most effective, three ways:
  • Outreach: Emailing and requesting links
  • Media Exposure: Becoming a source (e.g., HARO)
  • Organic Links: Naturally acquired

Qualities of Good Backlinks

  • Relevance: Topically related sites
  • Authority: Links from high-authority pages
  • Link Placement: Within content, more credible
  • Link Attributes: Followed links preferred over nofollow, ugc, or sponsored

Link Building Tactics

  • HARO (Help A Reporter Out): Offering expert knowledge for a link
  • Guest Blogging: Writing content for other sites
  • Skyscraper Technique: Improve existing content and reach out to those linking to it

Outreach Best Practices

  • Personalized Emails: Tailored to the recipient
  • Clear Value Proposition: Explain what they gain
  • Effective Subject Lines: Curiosity and relevance
  • Starting a Conversation: Focus on building relationships

Module 4: Technical SEO

Importance of Technical SEO

  • Helps search engines find, understand, and index your pages

Common Technical SEO Elements

  1. No Index Meta Tag: Avoid unintentionally hiding pages
  2. Robots.txt: Direct where crawlers should and shouldn’t go
  3. Sitemaps: Provide search engines with map of your site
  4. Redirects: Consolidate signals from multiple URLs
  5. Canonical Tags: Prevent duplicate content issues

SEO Maintenance

  • Logical Site Structure: Hierarchical and user-friendly
  • Page Speed: Caching and image compression
  • Regular Audits: Using tools to find and fix technical issues

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