How to Become an SEO Expert in 7 Steps – How I did it and How You Can do it Too!
Let me tell you how to become an SEO expert and help local business owners to get their business websites rank higher on Google.
I remember when I first got into SEO…
…it was absolutely hectic!
I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
All I knew was I wanted to learn how to do SEO and make money.
I was determined to do anything to learn how to do it.
Every day I was learning how to optimise websites, get traffic to them and make money.
It was extremely tough and disheartening when I worked super hard at something and had nothing to show for it.
But I kept persevering and I was determined to rank and bank.
When finally, I had cracked the code and managed to rank my site for a couple of keywords.
The only problem was…
…I didn’t know how I did it.
So I tried my best to reverse engineer how I ranked, but I just couldn’t do it.
So what did I do?
I kept on testing different ranking methods of course.
After much time of learning and implementing, I finally figured out my own little formula on how to rank a website.
And I decided I wanted to keep ranking websites and making money.
As time went on, I got some clients and made some money.
I could finally rank websites at will.
It was safe to say I had learned enough to be considered an SEO expert by some people.
So in this post, I’m going to be revealing 7 steps on how to become an SEO expert.
Why become an SEO expert
An SEO expert doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who does SEO as a profession,
An expert is someone who has a vast amount of knowledge in a particular area.
Even if you don’t plan on doing SEO you should learn it.
WHY?
Step 1: Understand Google and how it works
Understanding Google and how it works is critical if you want to rank.
What is the purpose of Google?
The purpose of Google is to serve users. To give them the best possible result for their search query. To answer any question users have.
So every time you’re creating a piece of content and plan on getting it ranked on Google.
Ask yourself;
- “Am I answering the user’s search query?”
- “Have I explained it as best I can?”
- “What else can I add to this that will help the user?”
It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an article, creating a video or recording a podcast, these questions are critical.
What I recommend is every time you’re about to create a piece of content, write these questions out and answer them.
By doing this exercise, you will get clarity on what you’re doing and you’ll be able to serve the user much better.
Keyword research
There are 3 main steps to getting ranked in Google:
- Keyword research
- On page SEO
- Off page SEO
Keyword research is identifying user search queries.
You need to figure out what users are typing into Google
If you’re targeting a keyword that no one is typing into Google, then what’s the point?
No one will find your piece of content.
So you would have spent all that time working hard on a piece of content that no one is interested in.
Keyword research is making sure you’re not shooting in the dark.
How do I identify what users are typing into Google?
There are many ways to identify what users are typing into Google.
The main way is using a keyword tool. We’ll cover this but later on in the article.
On page SEO
On page SEO is optimising your content for the search engines.
For example, if you had an image of a kitten, Google would not be able to understand that’s an image of a kitten.
You would have to optimise that image so Google could understand it.
This doesn’t just apply for blog posts but also YouTube videos.
You need to optimise it for the Google and YouTube search engine.
There are many on page SEO tweaks you will have to make to your content such as your images, titles, images etc.
Off page SEO
So we went over on page SEO which was optimising your content.
Off page SEO is what happens off your site.
Simply put, this is link building.
You see, if you want your content to rank, you have to build backlinks.
Backlinks are links from one website to another.
There are many types of backlinks you can build such as:
- Social profiles
- Web 2.0s
- Guest posts
- Blog comments
- Forum links
- Local citations
- Directories and more
You need to make sure you’re building different types of links to diversify your link profile.
Make sure you don’t get links from spammy looking sites. This will hurt your ranking efforts.
Step 2: Make sure you absorb the right information
One of the biggest SEO mistakes I ever made was absorbing the wrong information.
I remember purchasing a course that had completely outdated SEO tactics. (At the time I never knew the tactics were outdated)
So I started implementing these tactics and it actually hurt my SEO. My rankings were shot down.
As time went on I figured out these tactics were useless and outdated.
I had to figure out how to rank all by myself.
Don’t make the same mistakes I made. Make sure you absorb relevant information.
If you don’t you will greatly damage your SEO and you would have spent time and money doing so.
You see, there’s a ton of content out there full of outdated SEO techniques. Unfortunately, this content ranks on Google and people are also selling it in their courses.
Step 3: Keep on top of the SEO updates and strategies
SEO is constantly changing and Google is constantly rolling out new updates.
People are constantly creating new strategies that will assist you in ranking on Google.
You need to keep on top of this.
HOWEVER…
This can be overwhelming and tough to do.
That’s why I would recommend checking out only a few blogs to get your SEO content from.
Make sure to check out:
These 3 blogs will help you keep on top of your SEO.
Step 4: Make sure you have the right tools
You need to have the right tools if you’re serious about getting ranked in Google.
These tools can be used for many things such as keyword research, analysing backlinks and many other things.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a very well rounded tool. It pretty much covers everything you’d want in an SEO tool.
You’ll be able to do keyword research, steal your competitor’s keywords, analyse backlinks and much, much more!
It’s $99 per month and if you’ve got the money, I would highly recommend it. You also get a free 7-day trial.
Keywords Everywhere
Keywords everywhere is a super handy tool and just as the name implies…
…it leaves keywords everywhere.
When you’re typing into a search engine like Google, YouTube or Bing…
…when one of the search engines suggests something, the search volume for the keyword comes up.
This is by far my favourite feature.
It also allows you to save the keywords you find for a later time.
Keywords everywhere allows you to analyse a page. This is great if you want to figure out what keywords your competitors are using and the density.
Step 5: Test, test, test
You’re going to find a ton of different strategies and ways to do SEO.
But which methods actually work?
How do you know if a method is effective or outdated?
You need to test things out!
This can be very time consuming and grinding,
HOWEVER…
If you’re serious about ranking on Google, you’re going to have to test things out.
You can’t always listen to these gurus and so-called “experts”.
I would recommend setting up a few different WordPress blogs and testing out a ton of different stuff.
If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty parts of SEO…
…I would recommend you test out different methods on an established domain.
By doing this, you’ll be able to see the results of your tests much faster.
And trust me, nothing is more valuable than time in the SEO game.
You can acquire these established domains by working for an agency, getting clients or purchasing an expired domain.
Step 6: Understand content is king
Content is king.
Without it, you won’t rank. It’s as simple as that.
Content is the very lifeblood of the internet.
It’s what makes you come online and check your social media.
When you’re typing in “restaurants near me”, you’re looking for helpful content.
You need to be answering the user’s search intent.
Don’t just post linear pieces of content that’s 300, 500 or even 800 words long.
If you’re really looking to rank for a particular keyword, you must go above and beyond.
You want over at least 1,000 words and I would still consider that to be short.
And I’m not just talking about your word count but also your multimedia.
You want to make sure your article is full of images and videos.
If it applies to you, you can go ahead and post audio files. Maybe you’re a site about books, I don’t know.
The point is, make sure you have a lot of multimedia.
Make sure the multimedia is actually helpful and your not just throwing up stuff to simply tick a box.
You want your images and videos to help with your explanation and further the point you’re making.
Step 7: Don’t always listen to the experts
The experts don’t always know best.
For example, a lot of these experts tell us to publish content frequently if we want to get more traffic and rankings.
When in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
I would publish content frequently and I wouldn’t see a traffic increase.
It does not matter how often you publish content. Google doesn’t rank your content like that.
Publishing content frequently is one of the most dangerous SEO myths out there.
It’s something that I fell for and it hurt me badly.
These so-called “experts” will say, publish great content and you will rank.
This is completely ridiculous advice.
I’ve personally published in-depth guides and wasn’t anywhere close to the first page…
…UNTIL
I optimized the page for SEO.
That’s when my rankings shot through the roof.
These experts will tell you a lot of things like publishing content frequently, build it and they will come and then they’ll try to sell their crappy little course.
You need to learn how to identify and avoid these fake experts.
Unfortunately, these people who start to randomly name themselves SEO experts, give a bad rep to the rest of us.
Want to skip the tedious learning curve?
SEO can be a long and tough game.
Remember what I said about testing?
If you didn’t then I basically said in-order to figure out how to rank, you’re going to have to run your own tests.
This can become really tough to do.
I would recommend learning SEO from a real SEO expert.
Someone who already knows how to rank on the top of Google.
Someone who can actually show you real-life rankings in person.
Someone who can take you from your current level and understanding of SEO to an expert.
The person who I described is myself.
I’ve ranked for many keywords and continue to do so.
Make sure you email me at digital@clickdo.co.uk
Tell me what you’re interested in being coached in SEO and we can set a time and date.
And I’ll show you exactly how to rank.
What’s the best SEO course?
Are you looking for an SEO course that will show you how to rank?
Well, you’re in luck.
A bunch of proven SEO experts came together and created a course called the SEO Blueprint.
This course will show you everything from creating a website all the way to ranking it and making money online.
In this course, you will learn all the different types of SEO and how to do it.
Read more about the best SEO for beginners.
We have bee doing SEO services for the last 5 years in London and we have a good understanding of most of the lucrative niches in the UK business markets. We look at Google AdWords PPC budding prices and the worthiness for each top 3, 5 and 10 keywords and have done our analyses about SEO prices.
So, let’s get started what has changed in SEO 2018? Or better yet how-to SEO, what are the best practices to get your website on search results as easily and quickly as possible. For starters let’s do a list and elaborate on each of the list items because there is simply too much. I won’t even have time to mention the very first steps of Search Engine Optimization which is good quality keyword research for all long tail keywords to transactional keywords otherwise how else you going to know under what terms your clients are looking for you under and start optimizing for keywords. So, this is just a quick check list a review of website SEO.
Just a short biography my name is John Bucalo, I am from Adelaide, Australia. I have travelled well around the world and so far have lived in three different county’s and two continents I love SEO and take pride in my work as a SEO Expert and SEO consultant at 
