The world of Search Engine Optimization is a strange place to be. There are some basics that you need to know about SEO, and then there are lots of different theories floating around out there in cyberspace that can confuse even the smartest Internet marketers. It’s easy to get lost when you’re trying to optimize for Google, Yahoo, MSN and all of the other major search engines. So, if you are new to SEO, these are some basic tips that you should remember as you begin your journey through the world of Search Engine Optimization. The first tip that we have for you is one that is often overlooked, and that is to be patient.

Here’s the big SEO tip: If you are doing well on a particular keyword or keyphrase, and you have done well for the past six months or so, and your site isn’t seeing much of a drop-off in the SERPs, you may still want to give SEO a chance. You don’t want to completely write your website off, and there are certainly some exceptions to the rule. Plugging the keyword(s) of your two or three main targeted keywords in Ahrefs will tell you what the rest of the web is doing, and can give you some insight into how your competitors are doing. Here are the next SEO tips:

Use Google’s Keywords tool. This is Google’s primary search bar application. It shows you how many searches occur for each of your chosen keywords, the average number of times per month that the keyword shows up in Google search results, and your click-through rates for each of those searches. Once you find keywords within your own metadata that appear to be working for you, take a closer look. You may be doing well on a specific keyword because other marketers are doing well on it, too.

Use Google’s Intuitive Search Engine Marketing. The goal of SEO is to make the user intent of a search engine query (for example, “Mortgage loans” in Google search results) clear from the text of a web page. To do this, a webmaster should carefully consider the title tag text, headings, content, headers, etc of every page within the site. If a page has a lot of blank text, user intent that could be more obscure, or the search results for the page having the blank text, it will probably not do well in terms of ranking. On the contrary, pages with lots of relevant and descriptive information linked to the page, as well as keyword focused titles and headings, will often do better.

Create a keyword rich description. The more your content is “robust” in keyword usage, the more likely people are to find it when they do a search. A description is not enough to gain SERP rankings. Along with a good title, a lot of relevant keywords should be used in the page’s content (this is called a density). However, even a high density does not guarantee success in terms of organic traffic and the major engines.

Optimize images and videos for SEO. Even though they may not carry any links, photos and videos can greatly improve a site’s rankings and organic traffic. As a rule, videos rank better than images in terms of click-through rates (the number of times a visitor clicks through to the video versus number of times a visitor views the video). Sites that have high amounts of highly relevant and keyword rich content also rank better than sites that have low amounts of these keywords in their content.

Optimize site navigation and usability. SEO plays an important role in improving a site’s search engine rankings and organic traffic. However, there is another important factor to consider when optimizing website navigation and usability. A site that is easy to navigate and has user-friendly features will improve the user experience and increase click through rates. In addition, a site that is easy to use will reduce the need to re-enter search engine data when a user needs to look up certain information. SEO companies often utilize sitemap and navigationbar tools to show user experience statistics.

Update site data regularly. Organic SEO is all about making the most of current and fresh information on a site. To keep your site fresh and maintain high rankings, it is important to update site data regularly with new information that provides relevant insights. When you use a seo strategy software tool such as Data Studio to create sitemaps and analyze the link analysis, it becomes easier to understand how you can optimize your websites for the major search engines.