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Overwhelmed by SEO? You Need a Consistent Practice. Semrush can help.


If you are like me, just thinking about SEO is overwhelming. 
 
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It might sound like a fantasy entity that you know is important, but have no idea how to tame. Or maybe you have no clue as to what it is in the first place. For a long time, I understood the meaning of the words “search engine optimization” but I struggled to comprehend what SEO truly meant let alone how to use it to my advantage. 
 
If that sounds like you, don’t worry. 
 

Let’s start with a quick break down of SEO.

 
According to Moz, SEO is the “practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through non-paid (also known as "organic") search engine results” (Moz, 2021-a). To do this we, as business owners and marketers, need to know what our audience is looking for, what questions they are asking, and what solutions we can provide. Additionally, we need to know how to make sure the right audience finds our content. Search engine crawlers (from search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing) help with part two. The crawlers go out across the internet and gather information from websites. They bring back the information and it is put in an index. “That index is then fed through an algorithm that tries to match all that data with your [audience’s] query.” (Moz, 2021-b). 
 

Still feeling overwhelmed?
Go back to the first word in the definition from Moz: PRACTICE


purple square crossing out perfection and replacing with progress

 
It’s ok if you don’t understand it all right away. A-ha moments will come as you increase your practice. 

 

Need a tool to help you keep a consistent SEO practice?

 
Semrush is here to "help you on your journey to improve your online visibility” and “achieve your goals” (SEMrush Knowledge Base, 2020). To measure how well your site is doing, start by setting up a project. As an example, I’ve set up a project in Semrush for this blog.
 
The Semrush Dashboard is easy to use and beginner friendly. 
 
yellow box with screenshots from SEMrush dashboard for this blog showing on page SEO Checker and Site Audit information
 
If you have a question about what a section or a term means, hover your curser over the grey italicized i. A text box will pop up with an explanation.
 
Each aspect of the tool has a clean interface that makes it quick to spot any problems. For example, the color-coded numbers in the Site Audit section immediately direct my eye to the four errors. The four is clickable and directed me to a page that shared what was wrong. The page explains the issues, but it also, most importantly for those of us starting an SEO practice, shares how to fix the errors. 
 
I found the on-page SEO checker and site audit tool to be the most useful. The actionable solutions and explanations created learning opportunities I was able to immediately put into practice. As this blog is still quite new, position tracking isn’t an area I am interested in yet. Thankfully, Semrush provides the option to hide widgets that you don’t need. This provides a clean dashboard experience without unnecessary distractions. 
 

More than SEO?

 
You may be thinking "but my online presence is more than my website." You would be right. 
Semrush understands that social media and advertising are important aspects to a brand’s “online visibility” (SEMrush Knowledge Base, 2020). On the project dashboard, you are able to set up:
- a social media tracker
- a social media poster
- brand monitoring
- PPC keyword tool
 

Keep Practicing

 
As I continue to explore Semrush as a tool, I am interested to learn more about the different aspects and features provided. Keeping a practice means there is always room to learn more, to grow more and to expand more. This holds true for websites and SEO. Keep practicing, keep growing, take it one step at a time and use SEO to your advantage. 
 


Ready to understand your digital presence? Visit my website to find a package that is right for you.





References

Moz. (2021-a). SEO 101: What it is, and why is it important? The Beginner’s Guide to SEO. Moz. https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/why-search-engine-marketing-is-necessary.

 

Moz. (2021-b). What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization 2021 - Moz. Moz.  https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-seo.

 

SEMrush Knowledge Base. (2020). Getting started. SEMrush. https://www.semrush.com/kb/15-getting-started. 

 

YouTube. (2020, May 5) Perfection Progress.[GIF] Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/youtube-mental-health-withme-get-by-Tdp2QlrGJVsz1TRY1h




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