How to Learn SEO Fast (The RIGHT Way)
Summary
TLDRThis video explains a fast, practical approach to learning SEO. It emphasizes understanding SEO fundamentals, such as crawling, indexing, ranking, and keyword research. The video highlights the importance of search intent, technical SEO, content strategy, on-page SEO, local SEO, and link building. The speaker advises on tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and SEMrush. The key takeaway is to focus on 'just-in-time learning'—applying knowledge through hands-on projects instead of over-studying, making this an actionable and efficient path to mastering SEO.
Takeaways
- 🚀 The fastest way to learn SEO is by taking action rather than just studying; start implementing what you learn immediately.
- 🔍 The first pillar of SEO is crawling, indexing, and ranking. Use tools like Google Search Console and Chrome extensions to check if your pages are crawlable and indexable.
- 🗝️ Keyword research is critical, and understanding search intent is the key to successful keyword targeting. Make sure your content aligns with the searcher's intent.
- 🔄 The searcher's journey through the sales funnel has different keyword intents (informational, investigative, comparison, transactional), and your content should target all stages.
- ⚙️ Technical SEO is vital, especially in terms of page speed and site architecture. Tools like Google Search Console, GTmetrix, and Screaming Frog help optimize these aspects.
- 🏗️ Optimize your site’s architecture by ensuring pages aren't more than three clicks deep and have a proper internal linking strategy with descriptive anchor texts.
- 📝 Content is essential, and it should either focus on keywords or be created as link bait. Invest time and resources to make your content unique and hard to replicate.
- 📄 On-page SEO is important. Place the primary keyword in your URL, title, meta description, and key headings. Use NLP tools like Surfer to optimize content further.
- 📍 For local SEO, secure your Google Business profile, ensure NAPW consistency (Name, Address, Phone, Website), and collect reviews to improve rankings in the local pack.
- 🔗 Backlinking is one of the most important SEO factors. Focus on earning high-quality backlinks through valuable content and use tools like Ahrefs for link-building insights.
Q & A
What is the first step in learning SEO according to the video?
-The first step in learning SEO is to get basic SEO knowledge, which includes understanding the terminology and basic concepts like crawling, indexing, and ranking.
Why is crawling, indexing, and ranking considered the most important part of SEO?
-Crawling, indexing, and ranking are the most important parts of SEO because without them, a website's pages cannot be found by search engines, which means nothing else in SEO matters if these basics are not in place.
How can you check if your pages are crawlable and indexable?
-You can use a free detailed Chrome extension or go into Google Search Console to check how well Google is crawling and indexing your site.
What is the significance of search intent in keyword research?
-Search intent is crucial in keyword research because it helps understand what a searcher wants to achieve, which in turn saves effort and time by focusing on keywords that align with the searcher's goals and will produce a return on investment.
How can you understand search intent?
-You can understand search intent by using Google's search results to see the types of pages it believes satisfy the intent of a keyword, or by creating hyper-focused pages for specific long-tail keywords.
What is the role of technical SEO in overall SEO strategy?
-Technical SEO plays a significant role as it involves optimizing website elements like page loading speed and site architecture, which directly impact Google's ability to crawl and index a site, as well as user experience.
Why is page loading speed important for SEO?
-Page loading speed is important for SEO because it is a confirmed Google ranking factor and significantly impacts conversions. Faster loading times can increase conversions, especially for mobile users.
What are the three core elements for optimizing site architecture?
-The three core elements for optimizing site architecture are crawl depth, internal link coverage, and internal link anchor text.
How does content strategy relate to SEO?
-A strong content strategy is essential for SEO as it involves creating keyword-focused content that satisfies search intent and stands out among competitors, which can lead to higher organic traffic.
What is on-page SEO and why is it necessary?
-On-page SEO refers to the optimization of HTML source code and content both directly visible on a web page, ensuring that each page contains the targeted keyword in strategic places like URLs, titles, meta descriptions, H1 tags, and throughout the content.
How does local SEO differ from general SEO?
-Local SEO focuses on optimizing a website for local search results, which includes having a local address, a Google Business profile, consistent NAPW information across the web, and earning local reviews.
Why are backlinks important for SEO?
-Backlinks are crucial for SEO as they act as votes of confidence from other websites, and Google uses them to assess the authority and trustworthiness of a site, which can lead to higher search engine rankings.
What is the concept of 'just-in-time learning' as it applies to learning SEO?
-Just-in-time learning in the context of SEO means seeking out new information only when needed to overcome a specific challenge during the action-taking process, as opposed to learning everything in advance.
Outlines
🚀 How to Learn SEO Fast
The speaker introduces a fast, proven process to become proficient in SEO. They emphasize the importance of sticking around until the end of the video to learn about an unorthodox technique that sped up their learning, something not taught in school. The first step is gaining foundational SEO knowledge, as understanding core concepts like crawling, indexing, and ranking is essential to diagnosing SEO performance.
🔍 Understanding SEO Pillars: Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking
The speaker explains the first SEO pillar, which is ensuring Google can crawl, index, and rank your site. Without these, no other SEO efforts matter. Tools like Google Search Console and SEO plugins (e.g., Yoast) can help identify and fix indexing issues. Some pages, like login or checkout pages, should not be indexed due to potential duplicate content problems.
💡 Mastering Keywords and Search Intent
Keywords are vital for SEO, and most people fail at keyword research because they don't understand search intent. Search intent is about knowing what a searcher wants to achieve. By aligning content with this intent, SEO performance improves. The speaker details how search intent evolves through the sales cycle, from informational to transactional, and offers advice on using tools like SEMrush to classify keywords by intent.
🛠️ Technical SEO: Page Speed and Site Architecture
The third SEO pillar focuses on technical aspects, such as page loading speed and site architecture. Page speed is a Google ranking factor and critical for user experience. Tools like Google Web Dev and GTmetrix can analyze page speed, while Screaming Frog helps assess site architecture. Keeping pages less than three clicks deep and optimizing internal linking with descriptive anchor text are emphasized.
📜 Content: The Backbone of SEO
Content is crucial for SEO success, and the speaker outlines two types: keyword-focused content (which drives traffic) and non-keyword content (which can serve as link bait). To stand out in search results, content should be unique and hard to replicate. Methods include using unique data, case studies, and investing in high-quality design and research.
📄 On-Page SEO: Essential Optimization Techniques
The speaker discusses on-page SEO, which involves optimizing elements like the URL, title, meta description, and headers with the exact keyword phrase. Advanced optimizations include using tools like Surfer to apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) recommendations to further enhance SEO content performance.
📍 Local SEO: Ranking in the Local Pack
For local SEO, ranking in Google's local pack requires having an address in the target location, optimizing your Google Business Profile, and gathering reviews. Consistent NAPW (name, address, phone, website) information across all listings is vital for local rankings. Tools like BrightLocal's citation audit can help ensure information consistency.
🔗 Link Building: The SEO Game Changer
Link building is essential for SEO, as Google uses backlinks as a ranking factor. The speaker highlights creating high-quality content and tools that naturally attract links. Techniques like guest posting, HARO, and using Ahrefs' link intersect tool to identify backlink opportunities from competitors are also recommended.
🧪 Take Action: Learning SEO Through Practice
The speaker advises starting a test project to learn SEO by doing rather than overstudying. Their own journey started with a baseball pitching blog, which led them to SEO as they sought traffic. By implementing and experimenting, they eventually succeeded and sold the blog. Practical application is highlighted as the best way to learn SEO.
📚 Just-In-Time Learning: The Key to Fast SEO Mastery
The final part of the video explains the concept of 'just-in-time' learning—learning what you need when you hit a roadblock, rather than stockpiling knowledge you might never use. This approach, combined with taking immediate action, helps retain knowledge better. The speaker encourages viewers to spend 80% of their time doing SEO work and 20% learning, as they already know enough to get started.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking
💡Search Intent
💡Keyword Research
💡Technical SEO
💡Core Web Vitals
💡Site Architecture
💡On-Page SEO
💡Local SEO
💡Link Building
💡Just-In-Time Learning
Highlights
Step one to learn SEO quickly is to get basic SEO knowledge, focusing on crawling, indexing, and ranking.
Crawling, indexing, and ranking are the most important pillars of SEO. Without proper crawling and indexing, your pages cannot rank.
Using tools like Google Search Console and the free Chrome extension to check your pages' crawlability and indexability is crucial for diagnosing SEO performance.
Search intent is a core principle of keyword research and should dictate your content strategy for better keyword optimization.
Google's search results reflect search intent. Use Google to understand what type of content satisfies the searcher's intent based on the keyword.
Understanding the searcher's journey through the sales cycle (informational, investigative, comparison, and transactional intent) helps to create content that meets users at each stage.
Semrush's intent classification can help you analyze keywords based on search intent, aiding in content strategy and keyword targeting.
Technical SEO is important but not intimidating—focus on high-impact factors like page speed and site architecture to improve performance.
Page speed, a confirmed Google ranking factor, can significantly affect conversions. Tools like Google Web Dev, GT Metrix, and Google Search Console can help analyze and improve loading speed.
Internal linking is crucial for site architecture. Aim to keep pages no more than three clicks deep for better crawl depth and prioritize pages with more internal links.
Content is key to successful SEO—ensure you have both keyword-focused and non-keyword-focused content to attract traffic and build backlinks.
Optimize your content for search intent, stand out with unique angles (e.g., case studies instead of list posts), and create a moat by making your content hard to replicate.
On-page SEO involves placing your primary keyword in key locations like the URL, title, H1, and meta description. NLP tools like Surfer can optimize content further.
Local SEO requires specific optimizations, including having an address in the target location, securing a Google Business profile, and obtaining reviews for better local rankings.
Link building remains crucial for SEO success, with backlinks from high-quality, relevant websites being a key ranking factor. Create valuable, link-worthy content and promote it through email, social media, and guest posting.
Transcripts
what's the fastest way to learn SEO well
in this video I'll show you a proven but
simple process it'll turn you into an
SEO pro at lightning speed and make sure
you watch until the end because I'll
show you the one thing that helped me
learn SEO faster and the crazy part is
that no one teaches you this in school
keep watching so step one is to get base
SEO knowledge and you've probably heard
the idea that you don't know what you
don't know and this is true in SEO if
you don't know the terminology and the
basic concepts you won't be able to
diagnose your SEO performance so here
are the most important pillars of SEO
number one crawling indexing and ranking
so Google must be able to crawl your
website otherwise it can't index your
pages and if it can't index your pages
your pages can't rank this is the most
important part of the SEO process
because without it nothing else matters
so I recommend downloading the free
detailed Chrome extension to see if your
pages are crawlable and indexable at a
glance you can also go into Google
search console and see how well Google
is crawling and indexing your site go to
indexing click on pages scroll down to
the section that says why Pages aren't
indexed and you can then click through
on any of these issues to investigate
further keep in mind that you don't want
every page indexed in Google some pages
to keep out of Google's index are login
Pages checkout pages and archive Pages
because these tend to cause duplicate
content in this case you can use the no
index follow directives and if you're on
WordPress you can easily manage these
pages with popular SEO plugins like
yoast all in one SEO pack and rank math
so the second SEO pillar you must learn
is keywords now as of right now people
still use words to search and maybe
you'll think it into existence at some
point but even then it would still
require words keywords are simply how
Searchers find our websites but the
truth is that most people don't
understand how to do do proper keyword
research and it stems from not
understanding One Core principle of
keyword research which is search intent
understanding search intent will save
you tons of wasted effort and time going
after keywords that won't produce a
return on investment also if you
understand it you'll know what type of
page to build to satisfy the intent of
the keyword in other words the intent of
the keyword should dictate your content
strategy so what is search intent it's
simply what a Searcher wants to achieve
when using Google by understanding the
searcher's end goal you can deliver the
perfect page for them and when you
deliver the perfect page Google will
reward you with rankings now the good
news is that you don't need to be a
genius to understand search intent here
are two foolproof ways to understand
intent number one use Google Google will
show you the types of pages it believes
satisfy the intent of the keyword it's
right most of the time except for lower
competition keywords with lower
competition keywords Google won't have
the big enough pool of pages to pick
from and that means you'll be able to
rank easily if you create a hyper Focus
page for example look at the keyword
iMovie crashes when exporting at one
point gotch SEO ranked around number 50
for this keyword with our iMovie review
page this page would never be able to
rank for this long tail phrase because
it isn't focused enough so what I did
was I created a dedicated page for this
keyword and within a few days of
publishing it hit number one in Google
and yes this doesn't have much search
volume but compound this strategy across
many keywords and you'll start to see
why it's so powerful now let me walk you
through how a searcher's intent changes
during the sales cycle first they'll
often start with a keyword phrase at the
top of the funnel with informational
intent like what is SEO once they
understand what SEO is they might
discover a laundry list of SEO tools you
can use to get the job done so they
might search for a keyword with
investigative intent like best SEO tools
once they learn all the tools they can
use they'll likely transition into a
keyword phrase with comparison intent
like semrush versus ahrefs and at this
stage they're brand aware and they're
getting closer to the conversion stage
from here it'll likely lead to a bottom
of the funnel keyword phrase like
semrush review and then at the very
bottom of the funnel they might search a
keyword with transactional intent like
semrush free trial and as you can
imagine keywords at this stage have Sky
High conversion rates so what I just
demonstrated is the searcher's journey
through the sales cycle your website
needs to attack each stage of this
search or journey and speaking of
semrush you can use it to classify
keywords based on intent just enter your
domain into the search bar and go to
competitive research click on organic
research and then click on positions and
then look under the intent column it's
by no means perfect but it's accurate at
least 80 of the time and also I recorded
a video showing a test I conducted with
semrush's new intent feature to see how
accurate it is and I'll have the video
in the description below this one and
now let's move on to the third pillar of
SEO which is Technical and don't worry
technical isn't as scary as it might
sound I have Elementary coding skills
and I've driven SEO results for hundreds
of websites you don't need to be super
technical to get SEO results you just
need to know what to look for so here
are two high impact technical SEO
opportunities you need to look for in
every campaign number one page loading
speed so core web vitals is a confirmed
Google ranking Factor so you must take
it seriously plus your site's loading
speed is critical for conversions in
fact according to google a one second
website speed Improvement can increase
conversions for mobile users by up to 27
and for a quick page speed analysis I
recommend using Google web dev or gt
metrics for more comprehensive analysis
you can use Google search console or you
can use screaming frog and integrate the
Google page speed insights API to see
your scores across your entire website
and if you're not scoring well you
should prioritize fixing it because it's
a factor that is within your direct
control the second technical SEO pillar
you need to learn is site architecture
to keep it simple site architecture is
based on your internal linking strategy
and there are three core elements for
optimizing site architecture number one
crawl depth you can use screaming frog
and just simply look under the crawl
depth column and you should aim to have
all pages no more than three clicks deep
in short the deeper your pages are into
the architecture indicates low priority
and Google will follow suit and crawl
these pages with much less frequency and
some may not even get indexed if they're
too deep into the architecture number
two internal link coverage like crawl
depth the quantity of internal links is
important for a page therefore drive
more internal links if you you want a
page to perform better just look under
the unique in links column in screaming
frog to see what pages need more
internal link love number three internal
link anchor text Google has confirmed
that using descriptive anchor text is
best for internal links that means it's
wise to go through and optimize your
internal link anchors for example don't
use generic anchor text like this
article for your internal links instead
use exact match or partial match anchors
with all of your internal links for
example if I want to link to my article
about backlinks I will use backlinks as
the anchor text now keep in mind that
this rule does not apply to link
building you need to be much more
careful when it comes to external anchor
texts during your link building efforts
and now the next SEO pillar you must
learn is content so you can do all this
other stuff well but without the right
SEO content strategy you won't get the
results you want now there are two types
of SEO content you need to know number
one is keyword Focus content and this is
any page that is built around a
dedicated keyword phrase I recommend
eighty percent of your site's content
fall into this category if you want more
organic traffic from Google number two
non-keyword focused content some
examples include link bait like this
script timer I created using nothing but
chat GPT although it does Target a
keyword its primary purpose is to serve
as link bait check the description below
to see how I use chat gbt to create this
free tool in about an hour without any
coding skills now I could dedicate hours
to this topic of SEO content creation
but I'll share some Evergreen principles
number one satisfy the intent but be the
Purple Cow Seth Godin created the
concept of the Purple Cow and in the
context of SEO you want to be the result
among the top 10 in Google that stands
out the key to achieving that goal is
finding a Content angle that hasn't been
used for example if every ranking result
is a list post you should attack it from
a different angle like a case study
number two 2. build a moat in short your
content should be so unique that it's
difficult for a competitor to replicate
my go-to method for achieving this goal
is unique data and exceptional design in
short the more you invest in your
content from a time and capital
perspective the harder it will be to
replicate and that's why I created
content like this case study where we
analyze 10 000 keywords to see what's
the best CMS for SEO or this case study
where I purchased every keyword research
service to find out which one is best
the next SEO pillar you must learn is
on-page SEO so at a bare minimum you
should place your exact keyword phrase
in your url title meta description H1
first sentence and last sentence you
should also consider adding a variation
of your primary keyword in the first h2
tag this basic optimization will put you
ahead of eighty percent of websites but
if you want to take it to another level
you should optimize for NLP or natural
language processing you can use a tool
like Surfer to accomplish this goal just
throw your keyword into Surfers surf
analyzer and run your page through the
tool then review their NLP
recommendations and look for
opportunities to add these keywords to
your content sometimes you'll need to
add some additional content to support
these ideas the next SEO Pillar To Learn
is optimizing for local SEO so
everything you've learned so far will
improve local rankings but some
variables are specific to Google's local
pack so first what is the local pack the
section above the traditional organic
results you'll see when you conduct
searches with local intent like citing
contractor St Louis and to rank in this
local pack you'll need a couple of
things number one have an address in the
Target location so if you want to rank
in St Louis you need a St Louis address
number two secure your Google business
profile and populate it with relevant
information include your keyword in the
business description like citing
contractor in St Louis number three get
as many reviews as possible because
they're the key to local pack rankings
number four make sure your napw
information is consistent and napw
simply stands for name address phone and
website and this information must be
consistent across all structured and
unstructured citations on the internet
you can use bright Local's free citation
audit tool to see your existing listings
and which ones you still need to build
and now the final SEO pillar you must
learn is link building backlinks which
are links from other websites are the
Difference Maker in SEO and Google uses
backlinks as votes for your website so
the more votes you have from high
quality relevant websites the better
you'll perform in Google and backlinko
studied 11.8 million Google search
results and found that a site's overall
link Authority strongly correlates with
higher search engine rankings now the
question is how do you get more high
quality backlinks well there are many
techniques you can use but the most
scalable and reliable technique is
creating value things that people want
to link to and that includes extremely
high quality content or free tools
content should be the foundation of your
link building strategy in short your
content should deserve backlinks so
start with content and then work to
promote it like crazy and that means
you're going to use your own assets like
your email list and social media and
then use traditional link building
techniques like guest posting getting
interviewed or even Haro I also
recommend using ahrefs link intersect
tool to see where your competitors have
scored backlinks so go to competing
domains and enter your biggest
competitors into ahrefs link intersect
now you know what websites you need to
get links on so those are the
foundational elements of SEO that you
need to start learning but please don't
fall victim to trying to understand
every little intricate detail of this
process it's time for part two of this
process which is getting your hands
dirty and I highly recommend you start a
test project so back in 2011 This is How
I Learned SEO I started a baseball
pitching blog because I was trying to
make money online it was an absolute
ghost town so I went to Google and
searched how to get traffic to my
website and that's when I found SEO and
immediately started implementing
everything I learned on this first
website I eventually started getting
traffic from Google and even made my
first real money online through
affiliate marketing I then went on to
sell this blog to a former MLB player
but here's why this story matters I
didn't spend months being an academic
and accumulating tons of knowledge
instead I took action and tried to
implement what I learned in the best way
possible and I promise you this is the
fastest way to learn SEO I have a video
about starting a niche website on my
channel already so it will be in the
description below and this brings me to
the most important part of this video if
you want to learn SEO or any skill fast
you need to understand the idea of just
in time learning it's the opposite of
how we learn in school in school we use
just in case learning mean meaning we
learn stuff that we may or may not
actually use like astronomy but it's in
our head just in case but just in time
learning is different instead of
learning to learn you only seek out new
information when you've hit a roadblock
during your action taking process for
example let's say I run into the issue
of keyword cannibalization which is when
two or more pages are optimized for the
same keyword phrase I would go to Google
find the solution implement it and keep
moving forward and because I've taken
action on this idea I'll retain that
knowledge in short when you do something
you remember it way better so if you
take anything away from this video
please understand the fastest way to
learn SEO is to take action spend eighty
percent of your time doing the work and
twenty percent of your time studying you
already know enough to get started with
SEO right now so like this video And
subscribe for more videos and thank you
so much for watching
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