SEO for a New Website: 8 Steps to Success

Choosing a unique domain name

Choosing a unique domain name plays an important role in establishing a recognizable brand and creating a first impression with users. When deciding what to name your website, it is important to consider several key aspects.

First, a short and easy-to-remember domain name will make it easier for users to remember and find your site. It also helps to internalize your company's brand.

Secondly, although in the past the use of keywords in domain names had its importance for SEO, modern search engine algorithms such as Google have focused on the quality of content and user experience, not just the keywords in the domain. Therefore, when choosing a domain name, it is worth paying more attention to its uniqueness and brand reflection.

For example, if you are creating a website for a company that sells eco-friendly products, a domain name like “GreenHarmony.com” is better suited than “EcoFriendlyProductsOnline.com.” The former is shorter, more memorable, and better communicates the essence of the brand.

Although Google states that TLDs do not affect SEO, it is important for users to establish trust and a professional impression. The .com TLD always remains popular and widely accepted, but other options such as .net, .org, .io are also worth considering, depending on the nature of your business and domain availability.

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Website

Choosing the right platform for your website plays a key role in its development, management, and future success. Understanding the features of different web platforms will help you choose the best solution for your needs. Here are some important points to consider:

Hosting platforms: These platforms offer easy-to-use solutions for creating and hosting websites. They provide ready-made templates, tools for editing content, and managing the site without the need for programming. Examples of such platforms are Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify. They are great for small businesses and personal sites.

Standalone platforms: These include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and others. These platforms require a higher level of technical expertise to set up and manage, but they also provide greater flexibility and control over your site’s functionality. WordPress, for example, is one of the most popular platforms due to its open structure, rich functionality, and huge community of developers and users.

SEO plugins: One of the key benefits of WordPress is its extensive suite of SEO plugins that allow you to optimize your site for search engines. Plugins like Yoast SEO, All in One SEO Pack, and Rank Math provide tools for optimizing metadata, creating sitemaps, managing links, and more.

Example: Let’s say you have a small online store and want to launch it quickly without any complications. In this case, the Shopify platform can be a great choice due to its ease of use, ready-made templates, and integrated online sales features. However, if you are developing a blog or a corporate site where flexibility and control over functionality are important, WordPress will be a better option, especially considering its SEO capabilities and rich functionality.

Choosing a hosting for a new website

Choosing the right hosting for your new website is an important step that can significantly impact its performance, security, and availability. Here are some additional tips and factors to consider when choosing a hosting:

Server speed and performance: Fast loading of website pages plays a key role in user experience and search engine rankings. Therefore, it is important to choose a hosting that provides high server speeds and optimized performance.

Scalability and resources: Make sure your hosting provides sufficient resources such as disk space, bandwidth, and scalability so that your site can successfully develop and grow with your business.

Backup and restore data: It is important to have regular backups of your website data so that in the event of a crash or data loss, you can quickly restore your site to working order. Make sure your host provides reliable tools for automatic backup and recovery of data.

Example: Let's say you are creating an online store targeting the US market and most of your audience is in North America. In this case, you can choose a hosting that has servers in the US or Canada to ensure fast page loading for your customers. Also, make sure that the host provides SSL/TLS certificate for free to ensure secure data transfer between your site and visitors. 

Setting Up for Successful SEO

In addition to setting up Google Search Console and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, there are a few other steps you can take to ensure successful SEO for your site:

Optimization of meta tags: Make sure that each page of your site has unique title and description meta tags that contain keywords that accurately describe the page's content. This will help search engines better understand your content and display relevant results in search results.

Improving page loading speed: Optimize images, minify code, and use caching to speed up your site's page load times. Fast page loading is important for both user experience and search engine rankings.

Creating high quality content: Produce informative and original content that will be interesting to your audience. Try to create content that answers users' questions, solves their problems, and provides valuable information.

Example: Let’s say you are creating a blog about healthy living and one of your pages is about exercises to strengthen your back. In this case, when setting up for successful SEO, you can optimize the meta tags of this page to include keywords like “back exercises”, “healthy back”, etc., and also make sure the page loads quickly so that users can quickly get the information they need. Creating unique and informative content about the benefits and proper execution of these exercises will also help to attract the attention of search engines and users.

Creating a logical website structure

When creating a logical website structure, it is important to consider not only user convenience, but also search engine requirements. Here are some useful tips and examples:

Grouping by topics: Divide your site's content into sections and subsections based on their subject matter. This will help organize the information and make navigation more intuitive.

Example: If you have a healthy lifestyle website, sections could be dedicated to fitness, nutrition, mental well-being, etc.

Use descriptive URLs: URLs should be short, descriptive, and reflect the content of the page. Avoid long and confusing URLs, use hyphens to separate words.

Example: Instead of website.com/page123, use something like website.com/fitness-tips.

Creating a sitemap: A sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the pages on your website. It helps search engines index your site more efficiently and makes it easy for users to find the information they need.

Mobile Optimization: Consider mobile users by creating a responsive design for your website. This will help ensure a good user experience regardless of the type of device the visitor is using.

Example: When developing a website, use responsive design, which automatically adapts content to different screen sizes.

Creating a logical site structure and using descriptive URLs not only improves user experience, but also helps improve search engine rankings.

Selection and analysis of keywords

When selecting and analyzing keywords for your site, it is important to consider not only their popularity, but also their relevance to your content. Here are some helpful steps and examples:

Use keyword research tools: Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Ubersuggest help you identify keywords related to your niche. They also show you search volumes, competition, and other metrics that can help you make a decision.

Example: Let's say you run a healthy lifestyle blog. Using keyword tools, you can find queries like "healthy eating," "home fitness workouts," and "healthy recipes."

Analyze your competitors: Research what keywords your competitors are using, especially those that rank high in search results. This will help you understand what topics and queries are in demand in your niche.

Example: When researching your competitors, you may find that many of them are using the keywords “healthy eating for weight loss” and “fat burning exercises”.

Select a variety of keywords: Include a variety of queries in your keyword list, including informational, transactional, and navigational queries. This will help you attract different types of users and meet their needs.

Example: In addition to healthy eating queries, add exercise-related keywords such as “beginner workouts” or “pilates for muscle strengthening.”

Monitor and update your keyword list: Continuously monitor the performance of your keywords and update your list to reflect changes in trends and your audience's needs.

Conducting keyword research will help you create optimized content that will attract your target audience and improve your positioning in search results.

Website distribution

In addition to optimizing your content and technical aspects of SEO, it is also important to actively promote your site to your target audience. Here are some useful methods and examples:

Social media: Create profiles for your website on popular social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and others. Regularly publish interesting content that will attract the attention of your audience and promote your website through social media.

Example: If your site offers healthy lifestyle advice, you can share helpful tips on healthy eating, exercise, and mental well-being on social media.

Blogs and forums: actively participate in discussions on blogs and forums related to your niche. Share your experiences, answer questions from your audience, and offer useful advice. At the same time, do not forget to insert links to your site where appropriate.

Example: If your site is about cooking, you can actively participate in recipe discussion forums, sharing your own recipes and inviting users to visit your web resource for more information.

E-mail: Create a newsletter or subscription to regularly inform your audience about new publications, promotions, or events on your site. This will help retain your audience and keep them interested in your content.

Example: Invite your visitors to sign up for a weekly newsletter with your best recipes if your site is about cooking, or workout tips if your site is about fitness.

Distributing your site through various channels will help attract new users, strengthen engagement with your current audience, and increase the overall visibility of your website.

Performance Tracking

Tracking the performance of your SEO strategy is key to continually improving your results and achieving your goals. Here are some additional tips and examples:

Google Analytics: Use Google Analytics to track key metrics such as visitor numbers, traffic sources, user behavior on your site, and conversions. This tool provides deep data analysis that will help you understand how users interact with your site and what improvements are needed.
Example: Use Google Analytics to identify pages with high bounce rates or low time-on-site. This may indicate content or navigation issues that require your attention.

Monitoring positions in search engines: Use tools like Ahrefs' Rank Tracker or SEMrush to track changes in your site's keyword rankings and positions in search results. This will help you understand which aspects of your SEO strategy are working well and where there is potential for improvement.
Example: If you have launched a new page with optimized content, use tools to track its position in search engines. If you notice positive dynamics in the growth of positions, this may indicate that your content is well received by search engines and users find it useful.

User reviews: Constantly collect feedback from users about your site and its content. This can be either direct feedback through feedback forms or analysis of comments on the site or in social networks. User feedback can help you identify problems that analytical tools did not catch.
Example: If many users complain about the difficulty of navigating your site or the inconvenience of reading the content, this may be a signal to change the design or structure of your site.

Tracking performance allows you to not only evaluate the effectiveness of your current strategy, but also take timely steps to improve your site and its visibility in search engines.