Before we dive in, here’s some important background info on how Google works—it’ll provide context on what you’re optimizing for.

Googlebot, bots from Google, scans content in a process called crawling to understand what it’s about. This content gets logged in the Google index, a database of all content crawled on the web.

Google then uses a series of algorithms to determine how each indexed piece of content is ranked in its search results, with the ultimate goal to deliver the “most relevant, helpful information.” It focuses on five key factors:

1. Meaning: What exactly are users looking for? Consider how a search for “lion” shows results for both the animal and the 2016 movie starring Dev Patel.
2. Relevance: What content relates to a specific query? If you’re searching for information about car loans, you’re not going to see results about mortgages even though they’re also a type of loan.
3. Quality: Which content would be most helpful to a user? Google judges websites based on expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) to determine this.
4. Usability: What content is easy to read? Even if a piece of content actually answers a search query, it’s not helpful if users can’t read or access it.  
5. Context: What clues does a user’s location and search history give about their search goal? This factor helps determine which content would be most useful to a reader.

SEO is both an art and a science. Though it deals with algorithms, there’s no exact formula for getting a page to rank at the top of search results. You need creativity to make interesting and relevant content that users find valuable.

Some experts estimate that Google updates its algorithms more than a hundred times per year, the details of which aren’t always made public. There are a lot of speculations about what does and doesn’t work for SEO but naturally, what worked for SEO ten years ago doesn’t work today.

Despite this, many of Google’s recent changes don’t dramatically affect current SEO practices. We’ll cover only these effective, unchanging strategies that are backed by extensive research and consistent with Google’s official statements.

SEO Tools

We’ll refer to a variety of SEO tools, both paid and unpaid, throughout this unit. Many others exist, but these are the ones we recommend.

• Google Search Console (GSC): A free tool from Google that, along with Google Analytics, measures your website’s traffic and search performance.
  • Search Analytics for Sheets: A helpful supplement for more easily retrieving data from GSC since its exports are messy.
• Ahrefs: One of the most well-known paid SEO tools. It offers keyword data but its biggest strength is backlink data and domain analysis.
  • Webmaster Tools: A free tool from Ahrefs that helps pinpoint SEO issues on your site. You need to verify site ownership to use this.
• Clearscope: A paid tool for content optimization. It also provides keyword data but its most valuable feature is its text editor, which grades your content and suggests optimization tips.
• Semrush: A paid tool that’s best for keyword research.
• Keywords Everywhere: A freemium browser extension that shows rich keyword data in SERPs, like search query variants and trend data.

Besides these tools, it’s also worth looking into the resources provided by Google itself to understand the practices considered white hat SEO. White hat SEO encompasses all of the ethical optimization strategies recommended by Google. It’s the opposite of black hat SEO, manipulative techniques that violate Google’s guidelines.

Here are two helpful references for understanding what falls into these categories:

• Webmaster Guidelines: Basic principles for creating a website that Google views favorably. The main takeaway here: don’t be deceptive.
• Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines: What human quality raters use to evaluate websites and SERPs. Raters don’t directly affect rankings but help to shape Google’s algorithms by giving feedback on how helpful SERPs are.