SEO Process Even a Beginner Can Understand: 7 Steps from Registering a Domain to Boosting Rankings

Are you just building a website, or planning to build one, hoping more people can find you through search engines?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) sounds complicated, but as long as you follow the right steps, it’s not as mysterious as it seems.

Today we’ll use the simplest, clearest 7-step process to guide you step by step from the most basic domain registration all the way to improving your website’s ranking. The entire process is as clear as building with blocks.

How to Choose a Good Domain Name?

A great domain name comes down to three key elements:

1. It should clearly represent the core (theme/brand) of your website
2. It should be simple and memorable (users can easily pronounce and spell it)
3. It should be practical and trustworthy (choose a common suffix)

Now that you understand the goal, let’s go through how to do it step by step.

Core Three Elements for Naming: Clear, Memorable, Trustworthy

Keyword + Brand = Clear Expression of Core

Goal: Just one look at the domain name, and users can roughly guess what the website is about or which brand it belongs to. This significantly lowers user cognitive barriers and helps search engines with initial positioning.

How to Do It:

Incorporate Core Business Keywords: If you sell handmade cakes, handmadecakes.com is more direct than sweetthings.com (the latter is too broad). Running a local yoga studio? beijingyoga.com or sunnyyogastudio.com would be great.

Use Brand Name (Priority): If you have a clear brand name (like “Xiao Zhang’s Kitchen”), using xiaozhangkitchen.com directly is the best choice – it reinforces brand recognition.

Combination Approach: Combine your brand name with core business keywords. If your brand is “Maple Leaf” and your business is travel, consider mapletravels.com.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid:

• Avoid completely unrelated word combinations (like best456web.com).
• Be cautious with obscure abbreviations.
• Don’t sacrifice clarity for creativity.

Easy to Read, Spell, and Remember – Effortless User Sharing

Goal: Users can easily pronounce it correctly, spell it correctly on the first try, and remember it after hearing it once.

How to Do It:

Simplify Spelling: Prefer common English words, pinyin, and simple combinations. bakehouse.com is far better than theexquisiteboulangerie.com.

Appropriate Length: Ideal length is between 6-14 characters. Too short (<5) risks being taken or vague in meaning; too long (>15) is hard to remember and type.

No Pronunciation Barriers: Say it out loud several times! Avoid confusing letter combinations (like xzl vs xsl) or tongue-twister-style names.

Avoid Numbers and Hyphens: best4you.com or best-for-you.com can confuse users about whether “4” is the number or the word “for,” or cause them to miss hyphens, leading to typos. Try to use pure letters (preferred) or pure numbers (unless it’s a special brand like 360).

• Quick Test Tip: Tell a few friends your candidate domain names and see if they can spell them correctly on the first try and repeat them. If a name doesn’t perform well, discard it果断ly.

Choose Mainstream Suffixes – Foundation for Building Trust

Goal: Use the domain suffixes most familiar and trusted by users and search engines to establish a professional image.

Priority Order (Highly Recommended):

1. .com: The most globally recognized, highest awareness, and most trustworthy choice. If your target audience is global or from any region, .com is the first choice. Its position is unshakable in the short term.
2. .cn / .com.cn: The first choice for clearly targeting the mainland China market. It’s common for governments, businesses, and local services to use .cn, and users have high acceptance.
3. .net: Traditionally often used for network technology-related websites, also serves as a good alternative to .com (when .com is unavailable).

Considerations for New TLDs: Suffixes like .site, .shop, .app, .blog, .io (popular with tech companies) are becoming increasingly common.

Advantages: Sometimes you can register the name you want in a new TLD when the .com is taken.

Disadvantages: Public awareness and trust are still far below .com/.cn. Users may not remember if your suffix is .shop or .store.

Most Practical Advice for Beginners:

Always prioritize .com. If .com is already taken:

Try to find a suitable .cn (for the Chinese market).

Then consider .net.

If you really want to use a new TLD, make absolutely sure the name is extremely simple and memorable, and when promoting online or offline, always include the complete domain (with suffix).

Avoid Niche or Weird Suffixes (like .pizza, .guru). Unless it’s for a specific niche or extreme creative project, it may look unprofessional.

Where to Register – Most Reliable Options?

Choose Well-Known Major Platforms: Reliability, security, and customer support are key. Common domestic and international options:

• Domestic Recommendations: Alibaba Cloud (Wanwang), Tencent Cloud, Huawei Cloud. Chinese-friendly interfaces, convenient payment (Alipay/WeChat), better local customer support.
• International Recommendations: Namesilo, GoDaddy, Namecheap. Sometimes better pricing, some domains have more flexibility.
• Important: Choose registrars accredited by ICANN to ensure legitimacy.

Registration Process (Using Domestic Platform as Example):

• Log in to the registrar’s website.
• In the domain registration search box, enter the domain name you want (be sure to include the suffix in your search, like xiaozhangfood.com).
• The platform will show whether the domain is available. If it’s taken, it will recommend similar available domains or suffixes.
• If alternatives are available, add them to cart.
• Before checkout, be sure to check two things:
  • Registrant Information (Whois Info): Must fill in real, valid information (name, email, phone). This determines domain ownership and legal issues. Incorrect or invalid information may result in domain lock or even cancellation!
  • Privacy Protection Service (Whois Privacy): Strongly recommended! When enabled, when others publicly query your domain registration info online, they’ll see the proxy info provided by the registrar instead of your real personal phone, email, or address. This effectively prevents spam and even scams. Domestic platforms usually offer this option on the checkout page and may be charged or given free as a first-year promotion.
• Choose registration duration (beginners should start with at least 1 year, 2-3 years or longer is recommended). Complete payment.

Must-Do Things Before and After Registration

Before Ordering: Double-Check Spelling! Type it in the search box, confirm on the checkout page. Once submitted, you cannot modify it! microsofp.com and microsoft.com are worlds apart.

Registration Duration: Buy Longer-Term!

• Trust Signal: Search engines tend to trust domains registered for longer periods, considering them more likely to be long-term operated sites (a small but continuously accumulating positive factor).
• Avoid Forgetting: Set calendar reminders for domain expiration! If you don’t renew on time, the domain enters redemption period (high-price redemption) or even gets deleted and becomes publicly available. Losses can be huge. Buying for multiple years reduces the risk of forgetting.

Privacy Protection: Must Enable! Protect your personal privacy, block harassment – very important. Don’t save this small cost.

Configure DNS Properly: After registering your domain, you need to go to your registrar’s backend and point your domain to the IP address of your web hosting (server). This step is usually set up in “Domain Management” or “DNS Settings” and is necessary for your website to be accessible. (Complete after selecting hosting)

Bind and Build Your Site Early: Leaving your domain idle for too long is not good for search engines. Once you have a domain, proceed quickly with the next steps!

Choose the Right “Space” for Your Website

Web hosting (also called web host, server, or virtual hosting),

In simple terms, it’s where all your website files (text, images, code programs) are stored.

How well you choose it directly affects your website’s performance:

1. Loading Speed: Do users open your pages instantly or wait until they want to close the tab?
2. Stability and Reliability: Does your website frequently go down (commonly called “server downtime”)?
3. Security: Can it defend against common cyber attacks? Will data be lost?
4. Future Growth: If your website traffic gradually increases, can this “home” expand (upgrade)?

Our goal is clear: spend the right amount of money, find one that is fast enough, stable online, with basic security guaranteed.

Hosting Types: Which “Room Type” is Best for Beginners?

Don’t get confused by all those fancy terms! When starting a website, understanding these main types is enough:

Shared Hosting (Recommended for Beginners!)

How It Works: A powerful server is divided into many small spaces, rented to many different websites (like an apartment building with many households).

Advantages:

Extremely Cost-Effective: Cheapest price, suitable for tight budgets, low traffic new sites (blogs, business showcase sites, small e-commerce starting out).

Low Maintenance: Server environment maintenance, security updates, software and hardware support are all handled by the host. You only need to manage your own website files. Usually comes with graphical control panels (like cPanel, BT Panel) for easy operation.

Disadvantages:

Resource Limitations: CPU, memory, and bandwidth are shared. If a “neighbor” site suddenly gets a traffic spike or misuses resources, it may slow down your website (commonly called “affected by neighbors”).

Low Customizability: Some special server configurations or software installations may be restricted.

Recommendation for Beginners: The best choice for most new websites to start! Choosing a reputable host with new hardware and strict management can effectively reduce “neighbor” effects.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

How It Works: A powerful physical server is divided into multiple independent virtual servers using virtualization technology. Each VPS has dedicated CPU, memory, disk space, and bandwidth.

Advantages:

Better and More Stable Performance: Not affected by “neighbors,” minimal speed fluctuations.

High Degree of Control: Like having your own server, you can freely install software and configure the environment, suitable for special technical requirements or running complex programs.

Flexible Upgrades: If resources are insufficient, you can upgrade CPU, memory, or disk separately.

Disadvantages:

Higher Price: Significantly more expensive than shared hosting.

Requires Some Technical Knowledge: Usually requires self-management and maintenance of the server environment (including security, updates, etc.). While control panels are available, it’s more complex than shared hosting.

Suitable For: Increased website traffic (thousands of daily visitors), those with performance or customization requirements, or if you/your team have some server management capabilities. If you don’t understand server operations at all but still want VPS, consider hosts that offer “Managed VPS” (additional fee for management).

Cloud Hosting/Cloud Server (Mainstream Trend)

How It Works: Based on cloud computing technology, composed of large clusters of physical servers forming a massive resource pool. Your “cloud server” actually runs in the cluster, with resources allocated and scaled on demand.

Advantages:

Excellent Scalability: Resources can be increased in real-time on demand (like CPU, memory, bandwidth), very suitable for websites with large traffic fluctuations or expectations for explosive growth.

High Reliability: Low single-point failure risk. Data centers generally have multi-node backup with high stability.

Flexible Payment Model: Pay by hour or by month, pay for what you use.

Disadvantages:

Complex Configuration: Requires self-configuration of security groups, networks, data disks, etc. Higher barrier for beginners than shared hosting and some VPS.

Costs Need Accurate Estimation: If you don’t estimate the required resources or traffic well, costs may exceed expectations.

Cost: At the same configuration level, costs are usually higher than or equal to managed VPS.

Suitable For: Medium to large enterprise sites, e-commerce platforms with high/growing traffic, development and testing environments, websites pursuing high availability. Alibaba Cloud/Tencent Cloud/Huawei Cloud’s ECS products are typical cloud servers.

Dedicated Server

How It Works: You exclusively own an entire physical server. Resources are entirely yours, maximum performance.

Advantages: Maximum performance, highly controllable, high security.

Disadvantages: Extremely expensive, requires professional server operations team, hardware maintenance is your responsibility.

Suitable For: Super large websites, special industries (like finance, gaming), scenarios requiring extremely high security or performance guarantees. Beginners basically don’t need to consider this.

Core Considerations for Choosing Hosting: Speed, Stability, Security

Speed is the Top Priority

Why Important? Users leave if pages don’t load in a few seconds! Search rankings also consider page speed as a key metric.

How to Choose:

• Server Location! Must choose a data center near your primary users! Mainland users accessing foreign hosts will definitely be slow. If your primary audience is in mainland China, purchase from domestic hosts like Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud with data centers in mainland China (or BGP multi-line).
• Hardware Configuration: SSD solid-state drives >> HDD mechanical drives! Choose servers supporting PHP 7.x / 8.x and new versions of MySQL/MariaDB.
• Bandwidth: Refers to the server’s data transmission capacity with external networks. For beginners on shared hosting, basic bandwidth (like several Mb/s) is sufficient. Avoid cheap hosts claiming “unlimited traffic” but severely throttling speeds (cheap is rarely good). VPS/cloud servers pay attention to bandwidth peak limits (like 1Mbps/5Mbps).
• Access Testing: When selecting a host, check reputation or (before paying) try to access the host’s official demo website to see how fast it is (if available).

Stability – Don’t Keep “Closing Shop”!

Goal: Ensure your website runs continuously without interruption (for example, 99.9% uptime ≈ less than 8.76 hours of downtime per year). Frequent downtime severely impacts user and search engine trust.

How to Check:

• Host’s Promise: Reputable hosts clearly state 99.9%+ service availability guarantee (SLA) on their product pages.
• Check Reviews: Search “host name + reviews/downtime” to see real user feedback. Big brands pay more attention to stability (but not absolute).
• Customer Support Efficiency: When problems occur, can you quickly reach customer support to resolve them (especially late night or weekends)? Big companies generally have better support.

Security Foundation – HTTPS Lock is a Must!

Why? HTTPS encrypted transmission protects user data (like login info, payment data). Without HTTPS, browsers will mark it as “unsafe,” severely impacting user experience and trust! This is also a basic requirement for search engine ranking.

How to Do:

• Choose hosts that support free SSL certificates! The vast majority of reputable hosts (including Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud’s shared hosting) offer free Let’s Encrypt wildcard certificates (supporting www and main domain). In the host backend, you can usually apply for and enable it with one click. This is the most basic guarantee!
• Confirm Easy Certificate Installation: Before purchasing, check if the host mentions SSL support or Let’s Encrypt.
• Force HTTPS: After enabling the certificate, ensure all access is forced to redirect to HTTPS (set 301 redirect). The host panel usually has options for this.

Just Enough: How to Calculate Configuration Parameters?

Web Hosting (Disk Space): The total space for storing files.

• Simple estimation formula: Page size x Estimated number of pages + Size of images/videos and other resources.
• Beginner Starting Point: For content-heavy, medium-sized images on personal blogs/small showcase sites, starting with 1GB – 5GB space is generally sufficient. If you have many images/videos or e-commerce (lots of product photos), you need more space (10GB+). If it’s not enough, you can usually easily upgrade.
• Watch Out: Be wary of “huge space but abnormally cheap” hosts – performance is often terrible.

Monthly Traffic/Bandwidth: Total data download volume generated by users browsing your website each month.

• Beginner Estimation: (Average page size + Average image size) x Estimated monthly visitors x Average pages viewed per visitor. Assuming page + images are 500KB, 5000 monthly visitors, 3 pages per person, traffic is approximately: 0.5MB * 5000 * 3 = 7500MB ≈ 7.3GB. Basic shared hosting packages (like 100GB/month) are more than enough for new sites.
• Key Points: Shared hosting usually has hidden resource limitations (CPU/memory), not just storage and traffic.

Number of Databases:

• WordPress and other website building programs require databases (usually MySQL or MariaDB).
• Beginner Needs: The vast majority of website building programs only need 1 database (one website = 1 database). Shared hosting usually provides several to dozens of databases, which is completely sufficient for starting out.

Email Accounts, Subdomains, etc.: Generally provided in multiple quantities by shared hosting, configure as needed.

Service Provider Selection and Purchase Notes

Mainstream Reliable Options:

• First Choice for Mainland Users (fast speed, good support): Alibaba Cloud (Wanwang Hosting), Tencent Cloud (Cloud Server/Lightweight Application Server), Huawei Cloud (Cloud Server). They offer very mature shared hosting and cloud server product lines with more convenient local customer support.
• Internationally Reputable Options (suitable if your target users are abroad or you’re tech-savvy): SiteGround (famous for WordPress optimization and fast speed), Bluehost, A2 Hosting, DreamHost, etc. Special note: Consider cross-border access speed and possible payment issues.
• Recommendation Principle: Prioritize large manufacturers in your target users’ location! Choose Alibaba Cloud/Tencent Cloud etc. for China, SiteGround/Bluehost for US users.

Key Points to Check When Purchasing:

1. Supported Languages/Programs: Ensure the hosting environment supports your website building program (like Apache/Nginx + PHP + MySQL). Don’t use outdated PHP versions.
2. Control Panel: Does it provide an easy-to-use graphical management panel? Like cPanel (internationally common) or BT Panel (popular in China) – extremely important for beginners.
3. Automatic Backup: Does the host provide regular automatic backup service? Data security is critical! How often do they back up? How long are backups kept? Can you restore them yourself? Free backup is a must-have feature (usually kept 7-30 days).
4. Customer Support: What contact methods are available (24/7 online support? Phone? Tickets? Chinese)? How fast do they respond? Before purchasing, try their support channels to see if they respond quickly.
5. Price Tricks: First-year discounted price vs. renewal price (renewal price may be much higher)! Impact of payment cycle length.
6. Refund Policy: Most quality hosts offer approximately 30 days money-back guarantee (trial period). Be sure to understand clearly.
7. User Reviews: Finally, check real user reviews (especially recent ones) to see if there are common problems (like slow speed, frequent downtime, poor support).

Properly Set Up Website Content Structure

A good website structure, for users: Finding information is very easy, with just a few clicks they can see what they want, making the experience naturally good.

for search engines: The “crawlers” (think of them as content collecting robots) they send can smoothly find all your pages, understand what these pages are about and how they relate to each other.

Navigation Menu: Clarity and Simplicity is King

The navigation bar (usually at the top of the website) is the “main road” for users to explore your site. Its design directly determines whether users can immediately understand what your site has and how to find it.

Control the Number: Less is More!

Principle: Main menu items should not be too many, the goal is for users to understand at a glance. The ideal number is usually capped at 5-7 items.

Content:

• Core Business/Products: Like “Products,” “Services,” “Solutions.” Organize by business type or product category, avoid piling too many sub-products (put those in secondary menus).
• Key Information Pages: “About Us” (brand story, team), “Contact Us” (various contact methods).
• Value Content Center/News: “Blog,” “Articles,” “Resource Center,” “Help Center” (places to publish articles, tutorials, downloadable resources).
• Call to Action (optional but recommended): “Free Trial,” “Contact Now,” “Shopping Cart” (for e-commerce).

Watch Out: Don’t stuff every link on your site into the main menu! Secondary pages (like privacy policy, job postings) belong better in the footer.

Clear Names: At a Glance!

Menu item names should use words users understand immediately, avoid jargon or over-creativity (like replacing “Blog” with “Whimsical Thoughts”). For example: “Services” is more direct than “What Can We Do For You?”

Flatten Hierarchy: Don’t Bury It Too Deep!

Three-Level Principle (Ideal State):

• Level 1: Main menu (like “Products”)
• Level 2: Dropdown menu (like “Phones,” “Computers,” “Accessories”)
• Level 3: Specific page (like “iPhone 15” under “Phones,” “Huawei P60”)

Core Goal: Any important page should be found within 3 clicks (Homepage -> Level 1 Menu -> Level 2 Menu -> Page).

Too deep hierarchy (requiring 4 or more clicks) increases user drop-off rates and makes it difficult for search engine spiders to crawl.

URL Addresses: Clean and Semantic

Each page has a unique web address (URL). Good URLs are like clear street signs – not only can users understand at a glance what the page is about, but search engines can also understand the page’s topic from it.

Basic Principles:

Include Keywords: Naturally include the page’s core keyword or category name in the URL. For example:

• Good: www.example.com/blog/how-to-choose-domain-name (blog – how to choose domain)
• Bad: www.example.com/post.php?id=123 (meaningless numbers)
• Good: www.example.com/services/seo-services (services – SEO services)

Clearly Express Hierarchy: The URL structure should reflect the page’s position in the website hierarchy. Use slashes / to separate different levels. For example:

• Product category page: .../products/notebooks
• Specific product page: .../products/notebooks/macbook-pro-16
• About us page: .../about-us
• Blog articles: .../blog/category/article-name (optional category folder)

Short and Sweet: Remove unnecessary words (like the, a, and), keep it concise. But clarity is the前提. Prioritize semantics > absolute shortness.

Use Hyphens - as Separators: Avoid spaces (they get encoded to %20 which looks ugly), underscores _ (may have recognition issues in some scenarios), or special symbols. how-to-choose-domain-name is the standard practice.

How to Set Up (Based on Website Building Platforms):

WordPress:

1. Go to “Settings” -> “Permalinks.”
2. Strongly Recommended: Choose “Custom Structure” and enter /.
3. Common recommended structures: /%postname%/ (directly use article slug as URL) or /%category%/%postname%/ (includes category name).

Other CMS (like Shopify, Wix): Usually has SEO settings or URL editing in the backend. Ensure you can modify to friendly format. Avoid system-generated default long meaningless URLs.

Manual Setup: If using pure code development, design URL routing rules following the above principles from the start.

Internal Links: Weave a Content Network (Boost Authority & User Experience)

Internal links are links from one page on your site to another page on the same site. They are one of the most powerful and most underestimated SEO tools in website structure.

Core Value:

• Guide Users to Read Deeper: Set links in related content for easy user exploration of more information, increasing page views and time on site. For example: In an article about “How to Choose a Domain Name,” you can link to “Domain Registrar Recommendations” or “Website Hosting Selection Guide.”
• Help Search Engines Crawl and Index: Spiders follow links to discover new pages (especially important pages not often in navigation or sitemap).
• Pass Page Authority (Importance): Search engines judge page value through links. Pages linked from high-authority pages (like homepage) are considered more important.
• Define Topic Relevance: Pages that link to each other are considered more topically relevant.

Setup Strategy (Operation Guide):

Naturally Integrate in Body Text: The best approach is to use descriptive anchor text at appropriate positions in article content to link to related pages. Anchor text should describe where the link leads (avoid “click here” meaningless text).

Good: When **selecting hosting**, **loading speed** is a key consideration factor. (links to detailed explanation page of “Why speed matters”)

Bad: About the importance of speed, **click here** to learn more.

• Related Articles/Recommended Reading Module: Set up a module at the bottom or sidebar of articles to automatically or manually list other highly relevant articles.
• Breadcrumb Navigation: Show the user’s current location path at the top of the page (usually below the title, like: Home > Blog > SEO Tips > Website Structure). This is a powerful navigation and internal linking tool that clearly reflects the structural hierarchy.
• HTML Site Map Page: A plain text page listing links to all important pages on the site (can be appropriately layered). Although not used much by users, it’s a good supplement for search engines.
• Avoid Abuse: Only add links where truly relevant, ensure links point to high-quality pages. Don’t add links just for the sake of adding links.

XML Sitemap: Map for Search Engines

An XML Sitemap (Sitemap.xml) is a special file (usually placed in the root directory like: www.example.com/sitemap.xml) that lists URLs of all important pages on your site along with their metadata (like last update time, update frequency, importance).

Core Functions:

• Ensure Indexing: Proactively inform search engines what pages you have (especially complex structured or new pages with few external links), significantly improving the speed and likelihood of pages being discovered and indexed.
• Detect Updates: Search engines can discover updated pages and recrawl them faster based on the lastmod (last modified) field in the file.
• Priority Hints (Optional): You can give more important pages (like homepage, core product pages) higher priority values (0.0 – 1.0).

How to Generate and Submit (Beginner-Friendly):

Generation:

• Website Building Platforms Auto-Generate: WordPress and other mainstream CMS (Content Management Systems) usually have built-in features or free plugins (like “Yoast SEO,” “Rank Math,” “Google XML Sitemaps”) to generate with one click. This is the most recommended approach – the sitemap automatically updates when you update your site.
• Online Generator Tools: Use free online tools (search “XML sitemap generator”) input your URL to generate, but requires manual updates. Suitable for static websites.
• Manual Writing (Not Recommended): Very tedious, almost no one uses this.

Submission:

• Baidu Search Console: Log in, go to Site Management -> Resource Submission -> General Inclusion -> Sitemap, fill in your XML sitemap URL.
• Google Search Console: Log in, select the relevant property (website), left menu -> Sitemaps -> In “Add a new sitemap” field, enter your XML sitemap URL.
• Tip: After updating the sitemap, resubmit once in both platforms.

Do Good Keyword Research

Keyword research, simply put, is figuring out what your target users are looking for? How do they search?

This isn’t random guessing – it’s the most important, most directional step in SEO!

Find words that: people are actually searching for (have search volume), are related to your website content, and you have a chance to rank for.

Keyword Research Goals

They usually meet three conditions:

1. Relevance: This word or phrase must be closely related to your website topic, business, or content. A website selling yoga mats optimizing for “latest smartphones” makes no sense.
2. Search Volume: There really are a considerable number of people who will search using this word. Keywords with zero or extremely low search volume have poor ROI (but don’t ignore the cumulative effect of some long-tail keywords).
3. Controllable Competition: The competition level for this keyword, your website’s current foundation (like domain authority, content strength) can compete for. A new site going head-to-head with industry giants like “insurance” or “loans” is nearly impossible.

Keyword Sources

Put Yourself in the User’s Shoes (Think from Their Perspective):

• Ask yourself: If I encountered this problem/needed this product or service, what would I type into Baidu/Google?
• Ask customers/target users: In daily communication, research, ask how they usually search for related questions? This is valuable firsthand information.
• Ask your team/sales staff: They interact with customers most, understand customer common questions and search habits best.

See What Competitors Are Doing (Competitive Analysis):

• Find 3-5 well-performing websites in your industry/field.
• Check their homepage titles and descriptions: Usually contain the core keywords they consider most important.
• Check their well-ranking articles/product pages: Also pay attention to these pages’ titles and content focus.

Use Free Tools:

• Webmaster Tools for Keyword Research: In Google Search Console, check what keywords are bringing traffic to competitor websites (if their site traffic is good, you can get partial data).
• SEO Analysis Extensions (like MozBar free version, Ahrefs free website analysis): Can preliminarily see competitor websites’ main optimized keyword directions and backlink profiles.

Search Engine’s “Considerate Hints” (Autocomplete, Related Searches):

Main Search Box Autocomplete: When searching a core term in Google (like “fitness”), the autocomplete shows many frequently searched related long-tail keywords. These are extremely valuable!

Bottom of Search Results “Related Searches”: At the very bottom of the search results page, search engines list other related searches users have made.

Operation: Using your core business term, product name, problem description term as a starting point, search repeatedly, record words from autocomplete and related searches.

Free/Low-Cost Tools for Mining (Data Support):

• Google Trends: (trends.google.com) – Similar to Baidu Index, view global or specific regional keyword trend热度, related topics and queries.
• Google Keyword Planner: (requires Google Ads account registration, free to use) – Similar function to Baidu Keyword Planner, provides search volume forecasts and competition levels (“high,” “medium,” “low”).

Other Free Tools:

• AnswerThePublic: Input a core term, shows user commonly searched questions in question format (like “how to start fitness?”, “what equipment do I need for fitness?”).

Understand the Essence: “Search Intent”

Search intent, simply put, is: When a user enters this keyword, what are they really trying to do? What kind of results are they expecting to see?

Why important? Because the goal of search engines is to provide results that best match user intent.

If your content doesn’t match intent, even with good ranking, users won’t click; if they click, they’ll leave immediately (high bounce rate), and ultimately you’ll be pulled down.

Common Search Intent Types:

Informational:

What User Wants: Learn knowledge, study, find information, solve problems.

Keyword Characteristics: Usually questions or contain words like “what is,” “why,” “how to,” “tutorial,” “guide.”

Examples: “What does SEO mean?”, “How to install WordPress?”, “What medicine is best for a cold to recover quickly?”.

Content Response: Provide clear, comprehensive, easy-to-understand answers, tutorials, guide articles.

Navigational:

What User Wants: Directly visit a specific website, brand, or page.

Keyword Characteristics: Usually specific brand names, website names, or product names.

Examples: “Taobao,” “Zhihu,” “Apple Official Website,” “Xiaomi Mall.”

Content Response: Usually the brand’s official site dominates the ranking. For non-brand owners, these keywords have lower value (unless doing navigation sites).

Transactional:

What User Wants: Buy something, find services, register, download (clear purchase or action tendency).

Keyword Characteristics: Often contain words like “buy,” “price,” “discount,” “package,” “franchise,” “download,” “which is best,” “recommend.”

Examples: “How much for Nike sneakers,” “XX hosting discount,” “Which yoga studio in Chaoyang District Beijing is best.”

Content Response: Product pages, service introductions, promotional pages, strong call-to-action purchase guides or comparison reviews.

Commercial Investigation:

What User Wants: Compare different brands, products, or services, conduct decision research for final purchase.

Keyword Characteristics: Often contain “vs,” “compare,” “which is better,” “review,” “evaluate,” “Brand A vs Brand B.”

Examples: “Huawei phone vs Apple phone,” “WordPress vs Shopify which is better,” “How are reviews for XX hosting provider.”

Content Response: In-depth comparison reviews, comprehensive reports, pros and cons analysis, user cases.

Long-Tail Keywords

“Long-tail keywords” refer to those with relatively smaller individual search volume (but huge in total), usually longer, and more specifically described keyword combinations.

Characteristics: “Beijing Haidian weekend adult beginner oil painting training class with best value,” “What to do if iPhone 15 Pro Max has poor signal,” “Affordable moisturizing cream recommendations for sensitive skin”

Why Are They Must-Do Keywords for New Sites?

1. Extremely Clear Search Intent: User goals are very clear, with strong conversion intent or need to solve specific problems.
2. Low Competition: Very targeted, fewer websites optimizing for them, new sites get rankings more easily.
3. Potentially Higher Conversion: The more specific the user’s search term, the clearer their need, and the more likely they’ll convert (buy, inquire, register) once your content satisfies them.
4. Huge Volume: The vast majority of searches on the internet are made up of long-tail keywords, accumulating small amounts creates massive power.

How to Discover Long-Tail Keywords?

Core Term Variations and Expansions: Combine tools and autocomplete/related searches, expand around core terms with dimensions like questions, scenarios, locations, functions.

Example: Core term “fitness” -> Long-tail: “how to work out at home,” “what to eat for fitness,” “how beginners should train at gym,” “fitness plan for small weight loss,” “will girls get bulky from fitness.”

Q&A Platforms and Communities: Quora, Facebook, LinkedIn, relevant industry forums, see what questions people are asking? How do they describe problems? These are ready-made long-tail keyword sources!

Pay Attention to User Comments: In product/article comment sections on your or competitor sites, user questions also reflect their search needs.

Keyword Filtering and Organization

After gathering a large number of candidate keywords, you need to filter and categorize them to form your core keyword strategy library.

Filtering Dimensions (Combining Goals and Tool Data):

Relevance: First filter, remove non-relevant ones directly.

Target Intent: Does it match your priority intent type (e.g., new blog focuses on informational, e-commerce focuses on transactional/comparison)?

(Estimated) Search Volume: Use Google Keyword Planner etc. to get range values or trends and judge if the热度 is worth investing in.

Avoid “chasing big and hot,” focus on long-tail keywords with potential (even if just dozens or hundreds of searches per month).

(Estimated) Competition:

Tool Hints: Check “competition intensity” hints from Keyword Planner (or SEO tool difficulty estimates).

Manual Search: Search the keyword in Google and check:

Who are the websites on the first page? (Big sites like official sites, Zhihu, industry giants? Or personal blogs or small business sites? The former naturally has higher ranking difficulty.)

Are there many ads on the results page? (Many ads usually mean high commercial value, fierce competition)

Are there rich special search features (video carousels, knowledge graphs, featured snippets, etc.)? (May divert user clicks)

Commercial Value: For keywords with clear transactional intent, even with medium search volume, prioritize them.

Build Keyword Database (Structured Management):

Grouping: Group by core themes, business types, or website channels.

Example grouping: “Core Product Keywords,” “Core Business Keywords,” “Information Article Keywords (by topic),” “Long-tail Q&A Keywords.”

Fields: Use Excel or documents to record:

1. Keyword
2. Search Intent (Intent – Informational/Transactional/Comparison/Navigational)
3. (Estimated) Search Volume
4. Competition (High/Medium/Low)
5. Target Page (Which page are you planning to optimize?)
6. Notes (Like source, special ideas)

Priority Ranking:

• Beginner Formula: High relevance + Medium-low competition + Reasonable search volume/high commercial value.
• Start with Core Long-Tail Keywords: Focus on securing rankings for several relevant, low-competition long-tail keywords to build confidence and initial traffic. Don’t try to optimize big keywords at the start!

Create Useful, Readable Content

What is good content? Remember two golden standards:

1. Useful (Core Value): Truly solve user problems, provide urgently needed information, satisfy their curiosity or needs. Readers must gain something!
2. Readable (Experience Key): Write clearly, well-organized, easy on the eyes. Users can grasp key points at a glance and understand you effortlessly.

Content Must Be “Useful” (Solve User Problems)

Anchor to “Search Intent”:

• Return to Source: Review the search intent determined for each target keyword in keyword research (informational, transactional, etc.). Your content must 100% match this intent!
• If intent is “learn”: provide clear, systematic, actionable guides.
• If intent is “buy”: provide detailed product information, authentic reviews, purchase guides, and convenient entry points.
• If intent is “compare”: do objective, in-depth comparison reviews and analysis.

Cover Demand Depth: Don’t just scratch the surface! Try to cover all core sub-problems users might have under this topic and provide one-stop solutions.

For example, when writing “How to Choose a Domain Name,” don’t just talk about “which suffix to choose,” but also include “registrar comparisons,” “importance of privacy protection,” “steps after registration,” etc.

Provide Value Beyond Expectations:

• Unique insights/analysis: Don’t just copy information, add your thoughts, experience, or unique perspective.
• Actionable steps: Tutorial content has clear, detailed steps so users can immediately take action after reading.
• In-depth data/cases: Support arguments with real data, demonstrate effects with cases.
• Resource compilations: Provide useful tools, templates, download links, etc.

Title: Window for Attracting Clicks and Communicating Information

Core Elements:

1. Include Core Keyword: Naturally incorporate the target keyword near the beginning or front of the title (let users and search engines see the topic at a glance).
2. Accurately Convey Value/Benefit: Tell users what they’ll gain from reading this article (e.g., “Solve XX Problem,” “Learn XX in 5 Minutes,” “XX Guide”).
3. Spark Interest (Moderately): Create curiosity, use positive words or point out pain points (but be authentic, don’t be a clickbaiter).

Practical Tips:

Structure Reference:

1. Core Word + Benefit/Solution: “Domain Selection Strategy: 3 Steps to Pick an Easy-to-Remember and Reliable Website Address”
2. Question Format: “How to Choose Website Hosting? Beginner Guide Here”
3. Number Format: “7 Key Layout Techniques to Make Your Website Content More Readable”
4. Pain Point Solution: “Slow Mobile Website Loading? It Might Be Your Hosting Choice”

Appropriate Length: Search engines have limited display length (approximately 60 characters on desktop, less on mobile). Put core information and keywords toward the front.

Avoid Clickbait: Content must deliver on the title’s promise! Exaggeration leads to high bounce rates and loss of trust.

Clear Structure: Turn Reading into Enjoyment

Clear Logical Hierarchy:

• Organize Around Core Topic: Don’t deviate from the main point.
• From Overview to Details: Briefly state at the beginning what problem the article solves or what value it provides (introduction). Subsequent content unfolds layer by layer, going into details.

Masterfully Use Subheadings (H2, H3):

• Divide Content Blocks: Each subheading represents a sub-topic or key point.
• Include Keywords: Naturally incorporate related keywords in H2/H3 headings (helps SEO and understanding).
• Eye-Catching Formatting: Visually different from body text (usually larger font, bold).

Keep Paragraphs Short and Concise:

• One Idea Per Paragraph: Each paragraph should cover only one core point.
• Length Control: 3-5 lines (at computer screen width) is the comfort zone. Split particularly long points into multiple paragraphs.

Clever Use of Lists:

• Bullet Points: For parallel points, features, step explanations.
• Numbered Lists: For steps, processes with sequential relationships.
• Purpose: Greatly improves scanning efficiency and readability, especially for presenting key points.

Use White Space:

• Appropriately Increase Paragraph and Line Spacing: Avoid cramped feeling, let the page “breathe.”

Text Formatting (Moderately):

• Bold: Emphasize the most important concepts or keywords.
• Italic: Secondary emphasis or quotes.
• Watch Out: Avoid large areas of bold or overusing formatting – it defeats the purpose.

Language Expression: Speak Human, Keep It Real

Professional doesn’t mean obscure, clear and easy to understand is true professionalism.

Audience Awareness: Imagine you’re explaining to a friend or client.

Avoid Excessive Jargon: If you must use technical terms, immediately follow with a simple explanation. For example: “CMS (Content Management System), it’s the software platform that helps you build websites without writing code.”

Simple Sentence Structure:

1. Use short sentences more.
2. Reduce complex sentences with nested clauses.
3. Clear subjects.
4. Avoid unnecessary passive voice.

Friendly, Positive Tone: Use “we,” “you,” to create closeness.

Read Aloud: After writing, read it yourself (or ask someone to read it). If something doesn’t flow well when spoken, it usually doesn’t look good either – revise immediately.

Natural Keyword Integration

Core Positions:

• Opening Paragraph: The paragraph below the title is most important, naturally integrate the main keyword.
• Body Subheadings: Appear appropriately in H2/H3 headings (when relevant).
• Closing Paragraph: Can revisit the topic and naturally mention the core keyword again.

Semantic Related & Variations: Don’t just repeat one word. Use related keywords, synonyms, long-tail variations, question forms, etc. (semantically appropriate). For example, “domain” themed content can incorporate “website address,” “domain registration,” “domain selection tips,” etc.

Density Is Not the Key: Don’t pursue a specific “keyword density” percentage! Natural flow and topic focus are key. Overstuffing (forcefully inserting) damages reading experience and may even be seen as spam by search engines.

Center on Reader Experience: Ask yourself: Does this word feel awkward here? Does it fit the flow?

Images and Multimedia: Not Just Decorations

Enhance Understanding and Attraction:

• Use charts to explain complex concepts.
• Match screenshots or short videos for step-by-step operations.
• High-quality, atmospheric images increase reading interest.

Image SEO Optimization:

1. Meaningful File Names: Use descriptive text instead of default IMG_1234.jpg. Example: how-to-choose-domain-name-diagram.jpg.
2. Alt Text Must Be Written! This is the description for visually impaired users, also shows when images can’t load, and is the only way search engines understand image content.
3. How to Write: Accurately and concisely describe the image content or the core information it conveys, include related keywords (naturally integrate!). For example: An image showing the domain registration process, Alt text could be: “Domain registration platform backend operation process screenshot.”
4. Caption: A brief note below the image that can explain image source, supplement details, or guide attention.
5. Compress Size: Ensure image file size is optimized, won’t affect page loading speed! Use tools like TinyPNG, Squoosh. Balance image clarity and size.

Content Freshness

Establish Update Mechanism:

Regular Review: Regularly (like quarterly or semi-annually) check high-traffic content, target keyword content.

Identify Content Needing Updates:

• Outdated information (policies, data, software versions).
• Significant drop in ranking or traffic.
• User comments/feedback pointing out errors or new needs.
• Original content not deep or comprehensive enough.

Update Strategy:

• Update Data/Information: Replace with latest materials.
• Add New Content/Chapters: Increase depth or cover newly emerging related issues.
• Optimize Title/Description: If title isn’t attractive enough or description is inaccurate.
• Improve Readability: Refine structure, language, add images/charts.
• Strengthen Keyword Coverage/Intent Fulfillment: Adjust based on current keyword data.
• Fix Errors: Spelling, grammar, outdated links.

Rewrite or Split/Merge:

• If content topic has changed significantly or is too outdated, consider a complete rewrite.
• Excessively long and complex content can be split into series articles.
• Several related but sparse pages can be merged into more comprehensive guides.

Do Basic Technical Optimization and “Promotion”

This step in SEO is to solve these two critical issues:

1. “Arrange” Your Shop: Ensure your website is fast, mobile-friendly, secure (basic technical optimization). Let users browse smoothly and search engine “robots” crawl content easily.
2. “Spread the Word”: Through gaining lots of backlinks (other websites recommending you) and social media sharing and other methods, let more people know your website exists (content promotion).

Basic Technical Optimization

Website Speed: Lifeline! (Core Pain Point!)

Why Fatal? User patience is limited, loading over 3 seconds may cause them to leave! Speed is also a direct factor in search engine ranking.

Common Slow Causes and Beginner Solutions:

Images Too Large Absolute #1 Reason!

• What to Do: Must compress images! Use free online tools (TinyPNG, Squoosh) or website building plugins (like WP Smush for WordPress) to losslessly compress image files.
• Goal: Single image display size on web pages should usually be controlled within 100KB-300KB (depending on resolution). Social media images are different.

Choose Right Format: Photos use JPG, simple graphics/logos use PNG or SVG.

Hosting Underperforming: Low-priced “neighbor” shared hosting may have poor performance.

Watch Out/Optimize:

• New sites prioritize choosing reputable hosts with new infrastructure (SSD drives) shared hosting or cloud server entry-level options. Avoid overly cheap “traps.”
• Consider enabling caching features provided by the host (usually simple to turn on).
• Use CDN (Content Delivery Network): Like Cloudflare (has free plan), Baidu Cloud Acceleration, etc. The principle is distributing your website’s static files (images, CSS, JS) to multiple global nodes so users access nearby, significantly improving loading speed. Free version is already quite effective, configuration is relatively simple, recommend using it.

Bloated Front-end Code (like too many plugins/effects): Too many plugins/themes installed on the website building platform slowing the site.

Optimize: Regularly review and disable/delete unused plugins and themes. Choose lightweight, well-reviewed themes and plugins.

Testing Tools: Use free tools to test speed, find bottlenecks: PageSpeed Insights (Google), Baidu Search Console -> Site Speed Test.

Mobile Adaptation

Current Situation: Mobile traffic far exceeds desktop. Search engines default to indexing mobile version of websites first.

What to Do:

• Use Responsive Design: Preferred solution! Website automatically adjusts layout, image size, font based on screen size (mobile, tablet, desktop). The vast majority of modern website building platforms (WordPress themes, Shopify, Wix, etc.) support this by default. Confirm your website uses responsive design (ask your website builder/check theme description).
• Disable: Don’t use separate mobile sites with different URLs (like m.example.com) anymore! Hard to maintain and error-prone.

Testing Tools: Google Search Console -> Mobile Usability Test, Baidu Search Console -> Mobile Adaptation (if using old methods). Or directly access your website on your phone in a browser, manually experience: Can you read the text? Can you click buttons? Do you need to manually zoom?

HTTPS and Security Lock (Must-Do Item!)

Why Must Have? Encrypt data transmission between user browser and server, protect privacy (like login info), avoid being marked “unsafe” by browsers, and is a basic requirement for search engine ranking.

How to Do? Super Easy!

1. Choose hosts that provide free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates (Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, SiteGround, etc. mainstream providers all offer).
2. Log in to host control panel (cPanel, BT Panel, etc.), find “SSL/TLS” or “Security” settings.
3. One-click apply and enable certificate for the selected domain (usually have buttons like “Get Free,” “Install Let’s Encrypt”).
4. Force HTTPS (301 Redirect): After enabling SSL, must set all http:// access to automatically redirect to https://. There’s usually a “Force HTTPS” switch or setting in the control panel – just enable it.

Check: Access your URL in a browser, there should be a small lock icon on the left side of the address bar. Click the lock to view certificate info.

Let Search Engines Know About New Content: Actively Submit Links

XML Sitemap Submission: (emphasized in Step 3) is a long-term, comprehensive way to notify search engines of all important pages.

New Pages/Important Updates – Immediate Submission:

• Google Search Console: Left menu -> URL Inspection -> Enter new page URL -> Test Live URL -> Request Indexing.
• Function: Accelerate the process of search engines discovering and indexing new pages (but ranking still takes time).

Content Promotion and Backlink Building

Lots of backlinks are the key to gaining domain voting power.

• Why is it core? Many different websites (especially from different industries, not just related fields) linking to you is like many websites recommending your articles or products. This passes “trust votes,” significantly improving your website’s credibility and value in search engines’ eyes.
• Principle: Quantity > Quality! 100 links from different domains with basic authority (DA>1) has far greater effect than 1 link from an authoritative related website. Never buy high-authority (DA above 30) backlinks – effectiveness often diminishes as DA increases.

How to Naturally Get High-Quality Links?

Core Secret: Create valuable content worth linking to!

Original Research/In-Depth Reports: Publish valuable industry data, survey reports.

Authoritative Guides/Tools: Like “Complete Beginner’s Guide to XX Field,” “Free XX Tools.”

Infographics: Visualize complex information, easy to understand and share.

Unique Perspectives/Insights: In-depth analysis and commentary on industry events.

Highly Practical Resources: Carefully curated resource lists, templates, case collections.

Track Results and Continuously Improve

Search engines need time (usually several months) to discover, understand, evaluate, and trust your website.

During this process, you must learn to read “data,” understand what’s working well, what has no effect, and where you can improve further.

Core Free Analytics Tools (Must Use for Beginners)

Google Search Console: Direct Feedback from Search Engines (Free, Must Use!)

Core Value: Official tool! Understand your website’s performance directly from Baidu/Google’s perspective.

Must-See Data:

Coverage (Indexing): How many pages on your website have been discovered by search engines and deemed indexable? How many pages have errors (like 404) or issues (need attention and fix)?

Search Performance/Search Analysis (Core!):

• Keywords: What terms did users actually search to find your website? (This is the real traffic-driving keywords, may exceed your initial research scope)
• Impressions: Total times your website was displayed in search results.
• Clicks: Number of times users saw your website and clicked to enter.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Clicks / Impressions * 100%. Measures if your title and description are attractive. Low CTR (<2%) means even high ranking is useless!
• Average Position: Your website’s average ranking range in search results.

Links: Understand external links to your website (quantity, main source sites), internal link situation (helps discover internal structure issues).

Mobile Usability: Google provides mobile-friendly test reports.

Security Issues: Like being hacked, will be notified here.

Action Suggestions: Log in every week or two to check, focus on “Search Performance” and “Coverage.”

Google Analytics (GA): User Behavior Analysis (Free, Highly Recommended!)

Core Value: Deeply understand the users visiting your site and their behavior.

Traffic Overview:

• Sessions/Users: Total visits/unique users.

Traffic Sources:

• Organic Search: Free traffic from search engines (SEO core goal).
• Direct: Users directly typing URL or using bookmarks (reflects brand awareness).
• Referral: Clicks from other websites (reflects external links/collaboration effects).
• Social: From social media platforms (reflects social media promotion effects).

Devices: Percentage of users from PC, mobile, tablet.

User Behavior:

• Pageviews: How many pages did users view on your site (total pages).
• Average Session Duration: How long did users stay on your site per visit? Longer usually means content is more attractive.

Bounce Rate (Important Metric!): Percentage of users who left after viewing only one page. High bounce rate (like >70%, specific varies by industry and page type) may mean:

Content doesn’t match user search intent (clickbait).

Poor page experience (slow loading, messy layout, not mobile-friendly).

Low content quality/not meeting needs.

Heatmaps (Some tools provide or require additional plugins): Show which areas users click/scroll on the page, intuitively understand user focus points.

Content Performance:

• Top Pages: Which pages have highest traffic?
• Landing Pages: Which pages are users first entering your site?

Action Suggestions: Check at least weekly. Combine with Search Console data for analysis (e.g., high impressions low clicks may be a title issue; high clicks high bounce may be a content issue).

Key Metrics Interpretation and Problem Diagnosis

Overall Traffic Trend:

• Goal: Is organic search traffic steadily growing (may be slow)?
• How to See: In Baidu Stats/GA, select a long enough time range (like 3 or 6 months), observe the organic search traffic curve. Focus on trends, not daily fluctuations!
• Problems: Traffic not growing or declining? Possible: keyword strategy issues, insufficient content quality/updates, technical issues (slow loading, not mobile-friendly), algorithm update effects, stronger competitors, etc. Need deeper investigation combined with other data.

Keyword Performance:

• Target Keyword Rankings: Are your key optimized keywords ranking rising? (Can manually search in search engines to roughly see which page, or view approximate data in some free tools/platform backends).
• Real Traffic Keywords: (Check Search Console) Did keywords appear that you didn’t anticipate but are valuable to you? High traffic?
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): For keywords with decent ranking (like top 30) but very low CTR, focus on checking that ranking page’s Title Tag and Meta Description: Are they attractive enough? Do they accurately reflect the content? Do they include keywords? Optimizing titles and descriptions is a low-cost effective way to improve CTR!

Page Performance:

High Traffic Pages: Which are the site’s “star pages”? Analyze why they succeed (what need did they meet? What keywords?); can they be expanded into series content? Or enhance internal links guidance on these pages?

High Bounce Rate Pages: Key Investigation Targets!

• Intent Match: Does page content really match the user search keyword’s intent?
• User Experience: Is page loading fast? Is layout clear and readable? Does the opening quickly capture the key point? (Opening paragraphs are important!) Is it mobile-friendly?
• Content Quality: Does it provide unique value? Is information clear and accurate?
• Navigation Design: Are there clear internal links guiding users to read deeper into related topics?

Low Traffic/ Low Ranking High Quality Pages: Why is some carefully crafted content getting no attention? Check: Is keyword competition too high? Is keyword search volume too low? Are there enough internal or external links pointing to it? Was there appropriate promotion after publishing?

Indexing Issues (Coverage Report):

• “Submitted, not indexed” / “Not submitted” / “Excluded”: Are there many? What’s the cause (may be low-quality pages, duplicate content, crawl obstacles)? Do you need to optimize page quality, solve technical issues, delete low-quality pages, or use canonical tags?
• 404 Errors: Fix dead links! Ensure important pages (especially those with external links pointing to them) don’t 404. Use 301 redirects to redirect deleted or moved pages to new related pages.

Data-Driven Action Guide

Optimize Existing Content:

Improve Low CTR Pages: Rewrite more attractive, accurately keyword-including titles and meta descriptions.

Improve High Bounce Rate Pages:

• Strengthen opening: Quickly state the value in the opening paragraph, capture the user.
• Improve readability: Apply Step 5’s structure and language optimization techniques.
• Match content to intent: Ensure content fully answers the user questions corresponding to the target keyword.
• Enhance internal links: Add guiding links to related content.
• Update information: If content is outdated, update data and cases.

Empower Low Traffic Good Content:

• Increase in-site recommendations (modify other high-traffic pages, add internal links pointing to it).
• Re-examine target keywords, consider if there are more matching, less competitive terms.
• Share again on social media or relevant communities (emphasize its value).

Create New Content:

• Around high-potential real traffic keywords discovered in Search Console (decent search volume, high relevance).
• Fill content gaps, meet unmet critical user needs (from Q&A platforms, user feedback, industry trends).
• Focus on long-tail keywords and clear intent.

Technical Fine-Tuning:

• Fix coverage errors: 301 redirect or delete 404 pages; fix server errors (like 5xx); handle low-quality/duplicate content.
• Improve speed: Check slow pages again (via PageSpeed Insights, Baidu speed test), optimize based on issues (image compression, CDN configuration, cache enabling).
• Ensure mobile-friendly: Manually test high bounce rate pages on mobile again, fix issues.
• Ensure HTTPS is stable: Pay attention to certificate expiration reminders.

Strengthen Promotion Strategy:

Link Building:

• Seek more high-relevance external links for best-performing content (high traffic/high quality) (refer to Step 6’s natural acquisition methods).
• Check which pages have gained many backlinks, analyze success factors and replicate.

Social Media:

• Analyze which content types perform best on which social media platforms, invest more there.
• Increase interaction frequency, not just posting links.

Keyword Strategy Review:

1. Regularly (like quarterly) review your keyword library:
2. Which keywords are underperforming? Need to replace or abandon?
3. Are there new industry trend keywords, user search terms emerging worth adding?
4. What new keywords are competitors optimizing for?

Begin Your SEO Journey, Build Step by Step, and Wait for Your Flowers to Bloom