SEO DIY Guide

seo diy guide

In the current AI scenario SEO can be really complex. We all face this problem. Burn the midnight oil and launch the app and then launch the website and become clueless on what's next.

This is the dilemma faced by almost all tech entrepreneurs. I too was in a similar situation until a few years ago when I decided to change this.

I have spent 100s of man hours to learn SEO in depth so that you do not have to. This guide will help you kick start your journey of building a successful business.

This article assumes that you have already figured out who your target audience is.


Understanding Google Search Algorithm

Google uses NPL to understand the context of the content like a human so that it can mimic a human while returning results. Hence the number of keywords used in a page is of no value or use in determining your ranking on google search results.

If people come to your website and quickly go back to the search result page, Google will down rank your page for that particular keyword.


SEO Activities


Setup google search console

The first step is to set up a google search console for your site. It is important to understand how your site is performing in google search.

Once you have the search console enabled it is important to upload the sitemap.xml file. This sitemap.xml file

If you are not sure what a sitemap.xml file if you can watch the video below.
Watch Video

In a nutshell sitemap.xml file is a file that has all the links of the website in xml format. Sample sitemap.xml - https://www.adjutas.work/sitemap.xml

Once the sitemap.xml is ready you need to submit it to the google search console. Watch Video

Bonus point - It is also a best practice to to add a robots.txt file besides sitemap.xml file. You can add the following content to your robots.txt file.


Do keyword research

Keyword research is the process of identifying the keywords for which your website will be listed on Google search results. So you need to first identify the keywords for which you want your site to be listed on Google search.

Keywords are the set of words for which your site will be displayed in the google search result. Let's consider that you run a business that sells natural lip gloss. You want your site to be listed in google search results when someone types lip gloss without harmful chemicals. So for your lip gloss business, lip gloss without harmful chemicals is a keyword.

As a new business situated in a country with weaker currency I did not have the luxury of having access to expensive tools like Ahref or Semrush. No doubt they are the best but they are also way out of reach of businesses from countries like India.

Create a spreadsheet and start populating it with keywords along the journey.

Seeder Keywords

You can start with seeder keywords, meaning simple keywords related to your product or service.

For example, If you are selling a helpdesk software then your seeder keywords will be,

Start with seeder keywords. Keywords that are related to your product. Like for adjutas it will be asset management, asset management software, web based asset management.

Use free tools like Google Suggest

Google search itself is a big repository of keywords which you can use in your early days, until you are able to afford the subscription of Ahref.

Google Suggest → type your seed keywords into Google and note the auto-complete suggestions.

Related Searches → scroll to the bottom of Google results.

Add these keywords to your spreadsheet.

Now run similar searches for all your seeder keywords and add all the resultant keywords to the spreadsheet.

If your site has been up for a while you can also get the list of keywords for which your site already ranks from the Google search console.

Keyword Sheeter is a free tool that churns out keywords.

Use **AnswerThePublic**

AnswerThePublic is useful because it shows the exact questions people type into search engines.

It offers three free searches. If you create content answering those questions, you:

Analyze Search Intent

Analyzing the search intent of a prospect is very important. Each page in the website should be optimised for the keywords with the right user intent.

Types of Intent:

💡 Why it matters:

You don't want to optimize your product page for an informational query — that belongs on a blog.

Check Keyword Competitiveness

Though it is important to check the competitiveness of your keywords, it's not super mandatory. There are ways you can circumvent this.

If you have the budget to buy tools like ahref or semrush nothing like it. Go ahead and check the competitiveness of the keywords and plan your strategy accordingly. The idea here is not to compete with the giants for all the keywords, that's all.

So you can safely guestimate on which keywords you need to give least preference and which ones to focus. This is enough to start with.

Another idea here is to look for long tail keywords.

For example, instead of using keywords like asset management software which is a short tail keyword, using long tail keywords like best asset management software for hospitals in India is more beneficial for a new site. So basically for a new site it's easier to rank in the first page for long tail keywords instead of short tail keywords.

Write content for the website with keywords

Now that you have a bunch of keywords, you have to write content with those keywords. You should not stuff your keywords into your content. The goal here is to write a good piece of content with your keywords sprinkled in it.

So do not use keywords for the sake of it. Frame your sentences in a way that your keywords are used, but while reading it it should be clear and understandable and not just look like a bunch of words just thrown together.

Write authentic content

The content that you write should be authentic. Meaning you should not be copying it from other sites or blogs. Google pénalisés copied content. So make sure that your content is authentic and your creation.

Do not do keyword stuffing. Use the keywords in title and in the content use the keywords in the first 100 words.

Pick a mix of long tail and short tail keywords

In the content that you write use a mix of long tail and short tail content.

For example, let's consider that you have chosen the following two keywords for your content.


Keywords Keyword Type
Asset management software Short tail keyword
Web based asset management software in india Long tail keyword

When you are writing content for a particular web page on your website use both these keywords interchangeably.

Now do not use the same keywords throughout the website. Use multiple combinations of long tail and short tail keywords. But remember the goal is to write good quality content that people find easy to understand.

Content Should not be Just Text

While writing content, in your audience's shoes. Will you read through blogs that are a cluster of words stuffed together one after another? No, you won't. So don't expect your audience to do otherwise.

While creating content make sure that you add tabular columns, images, quotes or anything else that increases the visual appeal of the blog article.

Prioritize by Business Value

Ask: If I rank #1 for this keyword, will it actually help me hit my goals?

Make a table:

Keyword Search Volume Difficulty Intent Business Value
Helpdesk software 12000 High Commercial 5
What is a ticketing system 1500 Low Informational 3
Helpdesk software for schools 500 Medium Commercial 5

Organize Into Topic Clusters

Topic clusters are articles linked to one another.

Choose a Core Topic (Pillar Page)

This is a big, broad, in-depth article or page that covers everything about a subject at a high level. Example: “Asset Management Software - The Complete Guide”. This page links out to all the smaller detailed articles on related subtopics.

Cluster Content (Supporting Articles)

There are individual, focused blog posts or pages that go deep on specific articles of the core topic.

Example subtopics can be,

Why Google Likes It

When all your related content is interlinked and organized like this, google sees you as an authority in that topic. You have a better chance of ranking for big, competitive keywords because you're covering the topic comprehensively.

Visitors also stay longer because they find related content easily.

💡 Pro Tip (Mark-style):

Add Meta Tags

Adding meta tags to the site is important. Though nowadays it hardly impacts the search results it gives the indexing spiders an indication of what the site is all about. It also comes in handy when our website shows up in the google search results.

Do not choose one static meta description for all your pages. Keep it dynamic. Each and every page on your website should have its own meta description.

Structure the Content

The H1 and H2 tags should be appropriately. What I mean by that is the heading of the page should be H1 and the headings below that H2 and below that H3 and so on. This is the right way to structure the page and content.

Using it interchangeably is bad content design and search engines rank such pages poorly.

The file names of the images should be related to the heading of the page. Every image should have an alt tag and the content in the tag should be related to the content on the page and the chosen keywords.

Few Words on the Content

Setting up the Blog

After you have created content for your website, you should start a blog. In the blog you should publish content that is highly related to your user and that targets user search intent.

The content should target all stages of a prospect researching the problem that you solve. So your content should talk about the problem and how you solve it and then it should also talk about the product.

Link Building

Link building falls under off page SEO. Link building is very important for your website to rank high on google search results. The links should come from high value or high traffic websites.

Google search algorithm assumes that if a high value website links to your website then your website must also be a high value website.

Reaching out to high value blog owners and you can request them to link to your article or website. Alternatively you can also guest post on their blogs.

Be the source - Content Strategy

Find important statistics in your industry and write about it in detail.

Find useful metrics or stats in your target industry and write simplified yet detailed article. This way others will quote your articles and that way you can develop bank links.

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