SEO 101

What the heck is it, how does it work, and how to start

Jess Schultz
September 29, 2024

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Hi there - This week’s newsletter is sponsored by our good friends at HubSpot ❤️

In this current marketing-focused streak, we’ve made it to —> SEO. And today, I’m going to demystify this topic for you.

Legoooo. 🏃‍♀️

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SEO 101

Types of website traffic

First, it’s important to understand the different types of traffic to your website.

People either -

Already know you and go there on their own,
Get there organically (SEO), or
Get there because you paid for it

Traffic Type	What it means
Direct	Someone who clearly knows of you and knows your website typed it straight into their browser (e.g. cascadedebt.com)
Referral*	Someone went to another website (e.g. G2.com) and found you, and then followed a link to your website
Organic Search*	Someone typed in a keyword or question, and your website surfaced in the search results; they clicked it
Organic Social*	Someone saw a post or found your company page on social media and then followed a link to your site
Paid Search	Someone typed in a keyword you are paying for on Google, and clicked on the paid link to go to your site
Paid Social	Someone clicked on your paid ad on social media and went to your site

*Organic traffic influenced through an SEO strategy

So, what is SEO?

SEO = search engine optimization

SEO is a strategy that focuses on driving organic traffic to your site.

In layman's terms, it means optimizing your website and digital content to appear on the first page of Google search results (the top 10 results) for appropriate questions or keywords, ultimately driving people to your website.

Why did I say first page?

Well, because most of us don’t look at the search results on page 2 or 3. We click on a result on the first page or refine our search to get a new list of more relevant top 10 results.

Components of SEO

Next, let’s break down the three core components contributing to your overall SEO effectiveness.

Component	What it means	Key elements
On-Page SEO	Optimizing individual web pages on your site to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic.	Page Titles, Keywords, Meta Descriptions, Quality Content, User Experience
Off-Page SEO	Activities conducted outside of your website that improve its visibility and authority.	Link building (from press, podcasts, or other websites linking to your site/content), social media mentions and engagement, external review sites (G2, etc)
Technical SEO	Optimizing a website’s infrastructure to make it easy for search engines to crawl, index, and render it successfully.	Optimizing the technical aspects of your site for browser and mobile (load speed, image size and quality, etc) Free tool: https://pagespeed.web.dev/

Component

What it means

Key elements

On-Page SEO

Optimizing individual web pages on your site to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic.

Page Titles, Keywords, Meta Descriptions, Quality Content, User Experience

Off-Page SEO

Activities conducted outside of your website that improve its visibility and authority.

Link building (from press, podcasts, or other websites linking to your site/content), social media mentions and engagement, external review sites (G2, etc)

Technical SEO

Optimizing a website’s infrastructure to make it easy for search engines to crawl, index, and render it successfully.

Optimizing the technical aspects of your site for browser and mobile (load speed, image size and quality, etc)

Free tool: https://pagespeed.web.dev/

Where to start

If you’ve followed ANY of my prior advice…you already started!

When I told you…

To try to get booked on podcasts —> that earned you a backlink (off-page SEO)
To post thought leadership on LinkedIn —> that’s helping drive organic traffic to your site (off-page SEO)
To get customer reviews on G2 —> that’s helping drive organic traffic to your site (off-page SEO)
To write long-form content that answers key questions you get from your prospects —> that’s helping your on-page SEO

That’s why I suggested them 👆️ . They are GTM multivitamins.

Once you’ve got $5-10k/month of budget to play with, you can hire a fractional CMO, freelancer, or agency to help you accelerate and expand your SEO strategy more formally.

And, don’t forget…

Driving people to your website is only half the battle.

Great, they showed up to the party. But did they stay? Did they convert (aka set up a meeting or demo)?

Don’t forget —> your website is your only 24-7 salesperson❗️

Spend time getting your website right, so you don’t lose these leads you worked so hard for. 💡

See ya next week!

Want to learn more about how I help startups increase their revenue by 150-590%? 👀

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With love and gratitude,

Jess Schultz

Founder & CEO

Amplify Group