SEO Basics: What is SEO and Why is it Important? [SEO Course by Ahrefs]

Summary

In the SEO fundamentals course by Ahrefs, Sam Oh introduces the basics of SEO, emphasizing its importance for driving organic, consistent, and free traffic to websites. The course, suitable for beginners, covers keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and technical SEO, aiming to help businesses grow through search engine optimization. With a focus on execution and practical application, the course promises to guide learners through the process of optimizing content for search engines.

Takeaways

• 📚 The course is designed to teach SEO fundamentals with an emphasis on practical execution, suitable for beginners but also relevant for established businesses.
• 🌐 SEO is crucial for Ahrefs, contributing to over a million monthly visits from Google search, highlighting its effectiveness as a traffic strategy.
• 📈 The course is structured into four modules: keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and technical SEO, with weekly releases to allow application of learned skills.
• 🔔 Encourages subscription and notification activation to stay updated with the course's module releases.
• 🔍 SEO, or search engine optimization, is about making content discoverable through organic search results, akin to how a library organizes books.
• 🕷️ Search engines operate through crawling and indexing, using automated 'spiders' to gather and categorize web pages for their search database.
• 🤔 The importance of SEO is underscored by its ability to generate free, consistent traffic and reach large audiences that might be otherwise inaccessible.
• 🔑 Google's ranking algorithm is complex and constantly updated, but certain signals like backlinks, search intent, and content depth are known to be significant.
• 🔗 Backlinks are considered as 'votes' of trust from other websites, positively correlating with a page's organic traffic.
• 🎯 Understanding search intent is vital for creating relevant content that matches what users are looking for in search results.
• 📝 Content depth is important, not just for the length of the content but for thoroughly addressing the user's query, even for short topics.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the SEO fundamentals course by Ahrefs?

The main focus of the SEO fundamentals course by Ahrefs is to teach the basics of SEO with a heavy emphasis on execution, suitable for beginners but also applicable to businesses of all sizes, including 8-figure businesses.

What is the significance of SEO for Ahrefs' own business?

SEO is significant for Ahrefs' business as it has led to compounded growth and currently drives over a million monthly visits from Google search alone, making it one of their most effective traffic strategies.

How is the SEO course structured in terms of modules?

The SEO course is structured into four modules plus an introduction video, covering SEO basics, keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and technical SEO, with each module being released weekly.

What are the three major reasons marketers are attracted to SEO according to the script?

The three major reasons marketers are attracted to SEO are: 1) search traffic is free unlike paid ads, 2) organic traffic is typically consistent once high rankings are achieved, and 3) SEO offers the opportunity to reach massive audiences that may not be accessible through other marketing mediums.

How does the script describe the process of search engines discovering web pages?

The script describes the process as involving crawlers or spiders that gather information from known URLs, follow hyperlinks to discover new pages, and continuously collect data which is then added to the search index.

What is the role of backlinks in Google's ranking algorithm?

Backlinks are considered as votes from other websites for the content on a page. The more credible backlinks a page receives, the higher its trust and the better its chances of ranking well in search results.

What is search intent and why is it important for SEO?

Search intent represents the reason behind a user's query. It is important for SEO because understanding and matching search intent can help in ranking higher in search results by providing the most relevant content for a given query.

How does content depth relate to SEO and what误区s its significance?

Content depth refers to the extent to which content answers a searcher's query comprehensively. It is significant for SEO because search engines favor content that provides thorough answers, even if it does not necessarily translate to a longer word count.

What is the script's advice on how to determine search intent for any query?

The script suggests a simple 3-step checklist to determine search intent, which will be shared in the next module of the course.

How can one ensure they don't miss out on the keyword research module of the course?

To ensure they don't miss out on the keyword research module, one should subscribe to the course and hit the bell icon to receive updates on the module's release.

What is the script's stance on the complexity of SEO strategies used by an 8-figure business?

The script states that even for an 8-figure business like Ahrefs, they do not engage in overly technical or complicated SEO strategies, but rather stick to the fundamentals that have led to their growth.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to SEO Fundamentals

Sam Oh introduces the SEO fundamentals course by Ahrefs, emphasizing the importance of SEO for driving organic traffic and its role in Ahrefs' success. The course is structured into four modules, starting with an SEO 101 overview, followed by keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and technical SEO. The aim is to teach practical SEO strategies that even an 8-figure business like Ahrefs uses. Sam also highlights the benefits of SEO, such as free and consistent traffic, and the opportunity to reach massive audiences. The video concludes with a brief explanation of how search engines work, focusing on crawling, indexing, and Google's ranking algorithm.

05:01

🔍 Understanding Key SEO Ranking Factors

This paragraph delves into the most crucial SEO ranking factors. Backlinks are discussed as a significant trust signal, where prominent websites linking to a page indicates its quality. The concept of search intent is introduced, explaining that content must match the reason behind a user's query to rank well. Content depth is also highlighted as important, with top-ranking pages providing comprehensive answers to search queries. The summary clarifies that content depth is not necessarily about length but about thoroughly addressing the user's needs. The paragraph concludes with a teaser for the upcoming keyword research module and an invitation to subscribe for further lessons.

Keywords

💡SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing content to be discovered through a search engine's organic search results. This is the main theme of the video, where the speaker emphasizes the importance of SEO in driving traffic to websites and provides a detailed course on its fundamentals.

💡Keyword Research

Keyword research involves finding and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines with the goal of using that data for a specific purpose, often for SEO or marketing. In the video, keyword research is discussed as the first module of the course, setting the foundation for optimizing pages to rank for these keywords.

💡On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO refers to the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. This includes optimizing content and HTML source code. The video introduces on-page SEO as the second module, focusing on optimizing pages to rank for targeted keywords.

💡Link Building

Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. It is one of Google's most prominent ranking signals, contributing to higher search rankings. In the video, link building is highlighted as the third module, underscoring its importance in Google's ranking algorithm.

💡Technical SEO

Technical SEO refers to the process of optimizing a website for the crawling and indexing phase. This involves ensuring that a website meets the technical requirements of search engines. The video lists technical SEO as the final module, focusing on best practices and website maintenance.

💡Crawling and Indexation

Crawling and indexation are the processes by which search engines discover web pages and add them to their search index. Crawlers (or spiders) gather publicly available information from the web and index it. This concept is explained in the video to show how Google discovers and indexes web pages.

💡Backlinks

Backlinks are links from one website to a page on another website. They are a significant ranking factor for Google, as they indicate the credibility and trustworthiness of a page. The video explains backlinks as 'votes' from other websites, which can help improve search rankings.

💡Search Intent

Search intent is the reason behind a user's query. It is crucial for returning the most relevant results for a search query. The video emphasizes understanding search intent by analyzing top-ranking pages to ensure that the content matches what users are looking for.

💡Content Depth

Content depth refers to the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of the content in addressing a topic. The video highlights that content should provide a complete answer to the user's query, and more in-depth content generally leads to better rankings.

💡Organic Traffic

Organic traffic refers to visitors who come to a website through unpaid search results. It is considered a valuable source of traffic because it is free and typically consistent. The video underscores the importance of SEO in driving organic traffic, which is highlighted as one of the major benefits of SEO.

Highlights

Introduction to the SEO fundamentals course by Ahrefs, focusing on execution for beginners.

Even an 8-figure business like Ahrefs relies on the fundamentals of SEO for compounded growth.

Ahrefs' site receives over a million monthly visits from Google search, emphasizing the effectiveness of SEO.

Course structure includes four modules and an SEO 101 introduction.

Module 1 focuses on keyword research for business benefit.

On-page SEO module discusses optimizing pages to rank for targeted keywords.

Link building is a prominent Google ranking signal for higher search rankings.

Technical SEO basics cover best practices and website maintenance.

Modules released weekly to allow application of learned skills.

SEO defined as optimizing content for organic search engine results.

Search engines work like libraries, storing copies of web pages for indexing.

Three major reasons marketers are attracted to SEO: free search traffic, consistency, and massive audience reach.

As of October 2019, nearly 4.39 billion internet users, with almost 4 billion Google users.

Google's crawling and indexation process explained.

Google's ranking algorithm involves hundreds of signals with frequent tweaks.

Backlinks are crucial for SEO, acting as votes of trust from other websites.

Search intent is key to understanding why certain pages rank higher for specific queries.

Content depth is important, but not always correlated with length.

Upcoming keyword research module to be published throughout the week.

Transcripts

Hey everyone, my name is Sam Oh and welcome to the SEO fundamentals course by Ahrefs.

In this course, I'll be teaching you the fundamentals of SEO with a heavy focus on execution.

And while it's a beginner's SEO course, I don't want you to be fooled by the word "beginner."

Even for an 8-figure business like ours, we don't do anything crazy technical

or complicated.

Right from the start, we've stuck with the fundamentals of SEO that led to

compounded growth.

And today, our site gets over a million monthly visits from Google search alone, making SEO

one of our most effective strategies to get traffic to our site.

So the course is broken down into four modules plus this video, which is more

of an introduction to the course as well as an SEO 101.

In this video, we'll go over the basics of SEO and cover things like what it is, why

it's important and how it works.

You'll then move on to module 1 which is on keyword research.

Throughout these lessons, I'll show you how to find keywords to target that can

benefit your business.

It'll also set the foundation for the next module, which is on-page SEO.

In this module, we'll talk about optimizing your pages to rank for those keywords.

The next module will be on link building.

This is one of Google's most prominent ranking signals which has proven to contribute to

higher rankings in search.

Finally, we'll finish off the course with the basics of technical SEO, which will mostly

be about best practices and website maintenance.

And we'll be releasing a module each week to give you time to actually apply what you've

learned to your website.

So if you're not subscribed then make sure to do that and hit the bell icon so you don't

miss out on the rest of the course.

Alright, let's kick things off with the SEO basics.

We'll talk about what search engine optimization is, why it's important and how Google works.

SEO stands for search engine optimization.

And it's the process of optimizing content to be discovered through a search engine's

organic search results.

Now, let's talk a bit about how they work.

If you're completely new to SEO, then it's easiest to think of search engines as libraries.

But instead of storing books, they store copies of websites and web pages.

So when you search for a query, the search engine will then look through all pages in

its index and try to return the most relevant results.

And SEO helps demonstrate to search engines that your page is that result.

Now, you might be thinking: why should I focus on SEO when there are so many

other marketing mediums?

Well, there are three major things that attract marketers to search engine optimization and

in my opinion, these three things make SEO the best traffic source.

#1. Unlike paying for ads, search traffic is free.

#2. Organic traffic is typically consistent once you're ranking high.

Whereas other mediums like social media and email marketing often result in traffic spikes

that usually end up fading to nothing.

And it makes sense because social media networks are designed to

surface fresh content.

Emails often get marked as read, forgotten, or land in the spam box.

Whereas search traffic is a result of users actively searching for information.

And the number of searches for a given topic is typically consistent month to month.

And #3. You have the opportunity to reach massive audiences you wouldn't have

access to otherwise.

In fact, as of October 2019 there were nearly 4.39 billion internet users around the world.

And almost 4 billion of those people are Google users.

This is why search engine optimization is an 80 billion dollar industry and why marketers

from all walks of life are adopting and pursuing it today.

Everyone wants their business to get discovered and SEO is the perfect way to do that.

Now, let's briefly talk about how Google works.

And there are two parts to this.

The first is crawling and indexation.

And these two things are what actually allows Google to discover web pages and create their

search index.

So to actually attain information, Google uses crawlers, also known as spiders,

which gather publicly available information from all over the web.

The spiders will start crawling from a list of known URLs called seeds.

They then follow the hyperlinks on those pages and crawl those newly discovered pages.

And this process goes on and on, allowing them to collect a ton of information.

They then take all of this data back to Google's servers to be added to their "search index."

And that's what people like you and I are searching through when we key in a query

in Google.

Now, if you were to search for something and Google returned every result that mentioned

your words on the page, then you'd end up with really bad results.

This brings us to the second part, which is Google's ranking algorithm.

Google has hundreds of ranking signals and they make tweaks to their algorithm 500 to

600 times per year.

So to be frank, no one knows exactly how their algorithm works.

But they've given us clues and some guidelines to better understand the factors that are

most important.

In addition, third-party companies like ours have done studies to test and

better understand these factors.

Now, I won't bore you with over 200 ranking signals, many which are just speculation at

best, but I do want to cover a few of the most important factors that you'll need

to understand from a fundamental standpoint.

First are backlinks.

Backlinks are links from a page on one website to another.

And Google has said on their How Search Works page that if other prominent websites

link to a page, that's proof to be a good sign that information is well trusted.

The easiest way to understand the value of a backlink is to think of them as votes.

When a page receives a backlink, it's essentially another website vouching

for the content on the page.

And the more "votes," you get from credible sources, the higher the trust.

And we also studied the effect of backlinks on search traffic and found a clear positive

correlation between backlinks from unique websites and a page's organic traffic.

Second is search intent, which represents the reason behind a searcher's query.

And if you think of Google's goal for search, their job is to return the most relevant results

for any given query.

So with that said, you can discover search intent simply by looking at the top ranking

pages for the query you want to rank for.

For example, if you search for "slow cooker recipes," you'll see that the search results

are mostly blog posts with a list of slow cooker recipes.

So if you try and rank a product page where you're selling a slow cooker, you won't be

matching search intent and therefore, you won't rank.

Now, if we change the query to just "slow cooker," you'll see that the dominant types

of pages are eCommerce category pages.

So if you try and rank your blog post of slow cooker recipes, then you probably won't rank

because you're not matching search intent.

This is a critical concept to understand and I'll share a simple 3-step checklist you can

use to determine search intent for any query in the next module.

And third is content depth.

Search engines are made up of computer programs.

So they can't actually read and understand text like you and I would.

Nevertheless, Google has poured billions of dollars into creating sophisticated technology

that understands content to a certain degree.

But it's your job as a content creator to provide context about the subject.

For example, if you look at the top-ranking pages for the query "how to drive a car"

you'll find that they talk about things like fastening your seatbelt, familiarizing yourself

with the gas and brake pedals, adjusting your seat and mirrors, and other things

that a first-time driver may not know.

Basically, you want to be able to answer the searcher's query the best that you

possibly can.

And naturally, it should lead to content that has depth.

Now, it's important to note that depth doesn't always translate to length.

For example, a topic like "how to turn off iphone 12" doesn't need to and shouldn't

be long.

In fact, the top-ranking page is only 185 words.

But the content itself solves the user's query from start to finish.

Alright, so the basics are in the book and it's time to move on to the keyword research

module, which will be published throughout this week.

So make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on any future lessons.

And if you're watching more than a week later from this video's publishing date, then

just check the description where we'll leave links to all of the other lessons in the course.

I'll see you in the next module.