To do keyword research you will need to:

1. Monitor your rankings to see how they progress.
2. Identify the core services your business offers.
3. Identify questions your audience will want answered.
4. Use keyword research software. I prefer ahrefs and SurferSEO.
5. Research competitor approaches.
6. Identify the keywords that your site can rank given it’s current status.
7. Edit page titles, meta descriptions, headings, urls, pictures, and content to target the keywords you want to rank.
8. Link your webpages to help people learn more about the subject.

Everyone has a different opinion about the number of internal links that a page should have, but many people recommend no more than one internal link per 200 words. This is a good recommendation because it means you have one internal link per section.
Just make sure the links are relevant to the page they are on, the section, and the page they are going to. Otherwise it might cause confusion for people.

Backlinks are links from another website to your page. They effectively add credibility to your website based on how reputable the other website is. They can also generate traffic to your website. Some of the ways to get inbound links include creating useful content, guest blogging, reaching out to respected websites, or sharing to social media.

Yes. In most scenarios SEO is a cost-effective long-term strategy for bring customers to your business, but it is not a fast strategy. I have found that you can become a subject matter expert on most subjects within 15 SEO-optimized blogs, but that depends on the competition and the difficulty of the keywords you are trying to rank. It can often take 3-6 months to start seeing meaningful results and may take even longer to start earning profits from SEO.

An SEO audit evaluates how well your website appears in search engine rankings and identifies areas of improvement. An SEO audit normally includes analyzing on-page SEO, technical SEO, backlink profile, and content quality, then offers recommendations.

Many SEO experts are willing to provide free audits, but more thorough evaluations will be costly because it means effectively understanding your business and creating a plan for long term success.

No. SEO is not dead, but it’s evolving at a rapid pace. SEO strategies now have to take into account AI and generative search. That means that people are often more informed before they ever come to your webpage.

SEO commonly takes 3 to 6 months to generate meaningful results, but many factors impact how long it takes. Low competition subjects can often rank immediately, while the most broad topics can take years.

I’m still trying to get to the top of the topic “How To Start A Business” after 4 years of SEO, but subject like “How To Start A Cleaning Business” I was able to do in less than a month.
Expect SEO to go through three distinct phases:

1. Planning (1-3 Months): Focus on performing a site audit, keyword research, creating a content plan, and technical SEO optimizations.
2. Creation (4-6 Months): Create high-quality content, build backlinks, and monitor initial ranking improvements.
3. Optimization (6+ Months): Optimize your content to improve rankings and conversions. The end goal is to make more money from people coming to your website.

SEO costs between $1,500 and $5,000 monthly for ongoing services, $5,000+ for short-term projects, or $200 per hour when billed hourly. These costs depend on factors like your business size, industry, and the scope of the SEO work needed.