✅ What is Keyword Density?

Keyword density refers to the percentage of times a keyword appears on a web page compared to the total number of words. Formula:

Keyword Density=(Total word count/Number of times keyword appears​)×100

✅ Ideal Keyword Density:

There is no perfect %, but a good range is :1% to 2% for primary keywords.

Overuse may trigger keyword stuffing penalties.

Focus on natural usage over strict numbers.

✅ Best Practices:

Use primary keywords in:

Title tag – 60

H1 tag

First 100 words

Meta description – 160

Image alt text – 120

Support with LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords or synonyms.

What to Do After a Technical SEO Audit ?

Once you’ve completed a technical audit (using tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Search Console), you must prioritize and fix issues.

✅ Steps After the Audit:

A. Prioritize Critical Issues First

Broken links (404 errors)

Server errors (5xx)

Redirect chains or loops

Duplicate content

Missing title tags, meta descriptions, H1s

B. Improve Crawlability

Ensure robots.txt allows important pages.

Submit sitemap to Google Search Console.

Fix crawl errors reported in GSC.

C. Page Speed Optimization

Compress images.

Enable browser caching.

D. Mobile-Friendliness

Use responsive design.

Check with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

E. HTTPS Implementation

Use SSL certificate.

Redirect all HTTP URLs to HTTPS.

F. Structured Data / Schema

Add schema markup for:

Articles

Products

Breadcrumbs

Helps with enhanced search snippets.

G. Internal Linking Fixes

Ensure every important page is reachable within 2–3 clicks.

Use descriptive anchor text.

📈 How to Increase Domain Authority (DA)

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric by Moz (0–100 scale) predicting a site’s ability to rank. While Google doesn’t use DA, it correlates well with ranking strength.

✅ How to Increase DA: DA improves over time.

A. Earn High-Quality Backlinks

Guest posting on relevant sites.

Linkable content (infographics, original research).

B. Remove Toxic Backlinks

Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to audit backlinks.

Disavow harmful links via Google Disavow Tool.

C. Publish High-Quality, In-Depth Content

Build authority through well-researched, long-form posts.

Use internal links to distribute page authority.

D. Improve On-Page SEO

Optimize titles, headers, alt tags.

Use semantic and related keywords.

E. Technical SEO

Mobile-friendly, fast-loading site.

Clean URLs, no crawl issues.

F. Consistency and Patience

Focus on long-term trust and content growth.

📄  What is Sitemap.xml?

✅ Definition:

A sitemap.xml is an XML file listing all the URLs you want search engines to crawl and index.

Example Entry in Sitemap:

xml

✅ Why It’s Important:

Helps search engines find and crawl your pages.

Especially useful for large, new, or poorly linked websites.

You can submit it in Google Search Console under “Sitemaps.”

✅ Best Practices:

Include all important pages.

Exclude:

Duplicate content

Canonicalized pages

Redirects

Keep it under 50,000 URLs per file (or break it into multiple sitemaps).

📁 Project-Related SEO Activities (End-to-End)

Here’s how these elements fit into an SEO project workflow, especially for a new or ongoing website:

✅ SEO Project Lifecycle:

📌 Phase 1: Discovery

First we decided the topic TRAVEL

Then blog topic

Then we searched for places to visit

📌 Phase 2: Technical Audit

Crawl the website (e.g., Screaming Frog),Canonicals

Check site speed, mobile usability,Broken links,Plagarism,Check whether SSL is applied or not to get Security in HTTP – HTTPS

Fix critical errors

➡️ Follow with on-page and technical fixes

📌 Phase 3: Keyword Research

Identify short-tail and long-tail keywords

Analyze intent and cluster them

Map keywords to pages (keyword mapping)

📌 Phase 4: Content Strategy

we have created content around high volume and relevant intent keywords

we also added our product link in anchor text in first paragraph

📌 Phase 5: On-Page SEO

Title tags, meta descriptions, headers

Internal linking – Blogs which are related to our content we interlinked

Image optimization

📌 Phase 6: Link Building / Authority

Outreach, guest posting, PR links

Disavow harmful backlinks

Build brand signals (e.g., mentions, social shares)

📌 Phase 7: Monitoring & Reporting

Use Google Search Console and GA4

Track:

Keyword rankings

Organic traffic

Bounce rate

Pages per session

Monthly reports with insights and next steps

🚀 Final Tip:

Always treat SEO as a continuous process, not a one-time task. Google rewards consistent, optimized, and helpful experiences.

Would you like an SEO checklist, audit template, or a full project tracker (Google Sheet/Excel) to manage these tasks? I can create and share one with you.

🔄 What is Keyword Cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages on the same website target the same or very similar keywords, causing them to compete against each other in search engine rankings.

Instead of helping your site rank better, this internal competition can actually hurt your SEO by confusing search engines and diluting your page authority.

🧠 How It Works (Example)

Let’s say you run a fitness website and you have these two blog posts:

/blog/best-protein-powder

/blog/top-protein-powder-for-muscle-gain

Both are targeting “best protein powder.”

Google may struggle to decide which page to rank higher and might shuffle their positions or rank neither well, since it sees two similar pages trying to satisfy the same intent.

🚨 Why Keyword Cannibalization Is a Problem

📉 Lower Rankings: Instead of one strong page, Google sees multiple weaker ones.

❌ Wasted Crawl Budget: Googlebot might crawl both similar pages repeatedly.

🔄 Diluted Backlinks: External links might be split between pages, weakening their authority.

🤯 User Confusion: Visitors may land on outdated or less relevant versions.

🧪 How to Identify Keyword Cannibalization

Manual Search on Google

Search site:yourdomain.com keyword

👉 You’ll see which pages are competing for that keyword.

Google Search Console

Go to “Performance”

Filter by query

Check if multiple URLs are ranking for the same term

SEO Tools

Ahrefs → Site Explorer → Organic keywords → Filter for keyword duplicates

SEMrush → Keyword Cannibalization report

Screaming Frog (with GSC integration)

🛠️ How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization

✅ 1. Merge Content

Combine two similar articles into one comprehensive piece.

301 redirect the weaker one to the stronger or new page.

✅ 2. Differentiate Content Intent

If pages serve different purposes, adjust the content and keywords:

One page = Informational (“What is protein powder?”)

Other page = Commercial (“Buy protein powder online”)

✅ 3. Use Canonical Tags

If pages must exist but are similar, add a canonical tag to indicate the preferred URL to search engines.

✅ 4. Improve Internal Linking

Consolidate authority by linking to the primary target page using the exact keyword as anchor text.

✅ 5. Deoptimize the Weaker Page

Remove or reduce the keyword in:

Title

H1

Meta description

Body content

🧾 Summary Table

Problem

Two pages rank for same keyword

Diluted backlinks

Keyword confusion

SEO cannibalization

🌐 What is Off-Page SEO?

✅ Definition:

Off-page SEO refers to all the actions taken outside your own website to improve its search engine rankings. It primarily revolves around building trust, relevance, and authority in the eyes of search engines like Google.

🔧 Key Off-Page SEO Techniques:

Technique

Backlink Building – Getting links from other high-authority, relevant websites to your site

Social Media Signals – Engagements like shares, likes, and comments (indirect ranking factor)

Brand Mentions – Getting your brand talked about (linked or unlinked) on other sites

Guest Posting – Writing articles for other blogs with a link back to your website

Influencer Outreach – Collaborating with niche influencers to promote or link to your site

Forum Participation – Engaging in platforms like Reddit, Quora with helpful answers + links

Local Listings (Citations) – Submitting your business to directories like Google Business Profile, Yelp

📌 Why It Matters:

Off-page SEO builds authority.

It helps search engines trust your content as valuable and popular.

It’s essential for ranking competitive keywords.

📝 How Will You Optimize Content After Deciding Your Keyword?

After selecting the target keyword, here’s how you optimize content step by step:

✅ A. Place Keyword in Strategic Locations:

Title Tag – Ideally at the beginning

Meta Description – Naturally include it

URL Slug – E.g., /best-dslr-camera-2025

H1 Tag – Main headline

First 100 Words – Early mention is a strong signal

Image Alt Tags – Describe images with relevance

Internal Linking Anchor Text – Use keyword variants

✅ C. Content Structure

Use H2/H3s to break sections logically.

Add FAQs to match People Also Ask questions.

Include bullet points, tables, media to improve UX.

✅ D. Intent Matching

Ensure the content matches the search intent:

Informational → Guides, tutorials

Transactional → Clear CTAs

✅ E. Engagement Elements

Add CTAs, share buttons, comments section

Use schema markup (for reviews, FAQs, etc.)

✅ F. Content Length

Aim for comprehensive content.

Use competitor benchmarking to find the ideal word count.

🧱 3. What is Error 404?

✅ Definition:

404 Error = “Page Not Found”

This error occurs when a user tries to visit a page that doesn’t exist on the server.

🧨 Causes:

Page deleted without redirecting

Broken internal or external link

Typo in the URL

Content moved without updating links

❌ SEO Impact:

Wastes crawl budget

Poor user experience

Can cause ranking drops if important pages are lost

✅ How to Fix:

Use 301 redirect to send users to a relevant working page

Create a custom 404 page to keep users engaged

Regularly audit with tools like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console

🔁 4. What is Redirect 301?

✅ Definition:

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to another.

📦 When to Use:

You delete or merge a page

You change URL slugs for SEO

You move to a new domain

💡 SEO Benefit:

Passes 90–99% of the original page’s SEO value (link juice) to the new URL

Ensures you don’t lose traffic and rankings

Example:

bash

CopyEdit

301 Redirect:

https://example.com/old-page → https://example.com/new-page

⚠️ Tip:

Avoid redirect chains (301 → 301 → 301), as they dilute SEO value and slow down crawl time.

🧠 5. What is E-E-A-T?

✅ Definition:

E-E-A-T stands for:

Experience

Expertise

Authoritativeness

Trustworthiness

It’s a framework used by Google’s Search Quality Raters to evaluate content quality, especially for YMYL (Your Money Your Life) topics like health, finance, or law.

🔍 Breakdown:

Element

Experience

Expertise

Authoritativeness

Trustworthiness

✅ How to Improve E-E-A-T:

Add author bios with credentials

Use cited sources from authoritative sites

Display customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies

Keep privacy policy, contact page, and terms updated

Regularly update outdated content

🎯 Why It Matters:

While E-E-A-T isn’t a direct ranking factor, it strongly influences how Google ranks quality and reliability—especially for YMYL sites.

🤖 What is Robots.txt?

✅ Definition:

robots.txt is a text file placed in the root directory of your website (e.g., example.com/robots.txt) that gives instructions to search engine crawlers (like Googlebot) about which pages or folders to crawl or not to crawl.

🔍 Basic Syntax:

txt

CopyEdit

User-agent: *

Disallow: /private-folder/

Allow: /public-folder/

User-agent: * → Applies to all crawlers

Disallow → Tells bots not to access the listed path

Allow → Overrides a disallow and permits crawling

✅ Use Cases:

Prevent crawling of admin areas, login pages, or duplicate content

Reduce server load by excluding heavy files (PDFs, scripts)

Improve crawl budget efficiency

❗ Important Notes:

It doesn’t stop indexing if other sites link to the URL

For no indexing, use noindex meta tag or HTTP header, not robots.txt

✍️ What is Guest Posting?

✅ Definition:

Guest posting is the practice of writing and publishing an article on someone else’s website (typically in your niche) to gain backlinks, exposure, and authority.

🎯 Benefits:

Get high-quality backlinks (critical for off-page SEO)

Drive referral traffic

Build personal brand and authority

Network with industry influencers

✅ Good Guest Post Example:

A fitness blogger writing an expert guide on “nutrition for runners” on a sports magazine website and linking back to their own site.

🛑 Avoid:

Spammy guest post networks

Sites with low domain authority

Over-optimized anchor text

🚀 Why is SEO Important?

✅ Reasons Why SEO is Crucial:

Benefit

Increased Organic Traffic

High ROI

Brand Visibility & Trust

Better User Experience

Beats Competition

🎯 SEO for Business Impact:

More leads and conversions

Lower customer acquisition cost

Strengthens online reputation

🔗 What Off-Page SEO Practices Did You Use in Your Project?

Let’s say you worked on an eCommerce or service website project. You can mention:

✅ A. Backlink Building

quora

pinterest

🛠️ What SEO Tools Did You Use in Your Project?

Here’s a list of popular SEO tools you might have used and how:

Tool

Google Search Console

Ahrefs / SEMrush

Screaming Frog

Ubersuggest

Yoast SEO / RankMath

keyword planner

Canva

PageSpeed Insights / GTmetrix

Website SEO Checker | Free SEO Tools to Boost Your Website’s Performance

✅ Example Answer (Interview Style):

“In my SEO project, I used off-page strategies like guest posting, forum participation, and social media promotion to build backlinks and increase brand visibility. I also submitted the site to local directories and managed the Google Business Profile.

I used tools like Ahrefs for backlink analysis and keyword tracking, Google Search Console for monitoring indexing and performance, and Screaming Frog for technical audits. These helped me identify and fix 404 errors, redirect issues, and optimize crawl efficiency using robots.txt.

SEO was crucial for this project because it helped us increase organic traffic by 60% in 3 months and improved conversions without spending heavily on ads.”

✅ What SEO Practices Have You Followed in Your Project?

In my project, I followed a holistic SEO approach, including:

🔹 On-Page SEO

Keyword optimization (titles, meta tags, H1, content)

Structured internal linking

Added schema markup (Product, FAQ,Breadcrumbs )

Optimized images (alt tags, compression)

🔹 Technical SEO

Fixed crawl errors (404s, redirects)

Improved page speed and mobile usability

Generated and submitted sitemap.xml & robots.txt

Ensured HTTPS, clean URL structure, and Core Web Vitals

🔹 Off-Page SEO

Built backlinks through guest posting

Submitted to niche directories

Promoted content on social platforms

Acquired local citations for local SEO

✅ How Do You Perform Technical SEO Analysis of a Page?

To do technical SEO analysis, I use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and check:

Area

Crawling & Indexing

Speed & Core Web Vitals

Mobile Usability

Status Codes

Duplicate Content

Security

Structured Data

✅ What Do We Do After Completing All the Audits?

After audits are completed:

Fix Technical Issues

Resolve 404 errors, redirect loops, speed issues, sitemap errors

Optimize Content

Refresh outdated content, match search intent, fix keyword gaps

Implement Structural Changes

Improve internal linking, add canonical tags, fix heading hierarchy

Submit for Reindexing

Request URL inspection in Google Search Console

Track Performance

Use Search Console & Analytics to monitor traffic, rankings, and errors

✅ Your Home Page is Ranking for Product Keywords. How Will You Make the Product Page Rank Instead?

This is a keyword cannibalization issue. Here’s how to fix it:

🛠️ Steps:

Optimize the Product Page for the Target Keyword

Use the keyword in the product page’s title, H1, meta description, image alt, and URL.

Reduce Keyword Focus from Home Page

Deoptimize the homepage: remove exact-match product keywords or shift to brand focus.

Internal Linking

Link from the homepage and other relevant pages to the product page using the product keyword as anchor text.

Use Canonical Tags

If needed, set the product page as canonical.

Backlinks to Product Page

Build external links directly pointing to the product page.

Update Sitemap & Request Indexing

Resubmit sitemap and request reindexing of the product page in Search Console.

✅ 1. What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO refers to all the optimizations you make directly on your website pages to improve their rankings on search engines and provide a better user experience.

🔹 Key On-Page SEO Elements:

Element

Title Tag

Meta Description

Heading Tags (H1–H6)

Keyword Optimization

URL Structure

Internal Linking

Image Optimization

Content Quality

Mobile Optimization

Schema Markup

✅ Explain the Keyword Research Process

🔍 Step-by-Step Keyword Research Process:

Understand Your Topic & Audience

Define what your users are searching for and what problems you’re solving.

Brainstorm Seed Keywords

Start with broad terms related to your product/service.

Use Tools to Expand Keywords

Use tools like:

Google Keyword Planner

Ahrefs

SEMrush

Ubersuggest

AnswerThePublic

Analyze Keyword Metrics

Check:

Search Volume

Keyword Difficulty

CPC (Cost per Click) (optional for SEO, useful for commercial intent)

Trends

Group Keywords by Intent

Create clusters (e.g., blog topics, product pages, FAQs)

Select Target Keywords

Choose a mix of:

Short-tail (e.g., “running shoes”)

Long-tail (e.g., “best running shoes for flat feet”)

Branded and non-branded terms

✅ What Do You Understand by “Google Showing Results Based on User Intent”?

Google’s algorithm doesn’t just match keywords anymore — it tries to understand the real reason (intent) behind a search.

For example:

If someone searches “iPhone 15”, Google shows product pages, reviews, and videos.

If someone searches “how to lose weight fast,” Google shows guides, blogs, and tips — not products.

🔍 This means:

Google analyzes the context and search patterns to show content that best satisfies the user’s purpose, not just content that includes the keyword.

✅ What Are the Different Types of Keyword Intent?

There are four main types of keyword/search intent:

Intent Type

Informational

Navigational

Transactional

Commercial Investigation

🎯 Why Intent Matters in SEO:

Helps you create the right type of content for each keyword

Increases chances of ranking and converting traffic

Prevents mismatch between content and what users expect

✅ What Do You Understand by Backlinking & Why Is It Important in SEO?

🔗 Backlinking:

A backlink is when one website links to another website. In SEO, it’s also known as an inbound link.

📈 Why Backlinks Matter:

Benefit

Improves Authority

Improves Rankings

Drives Referral Traffic

Faster Indexing

🔍 According to Google, backlinks are one of the top 3 ranking factors.

✅ What Are the Different Methods of Backlinking?

Here are the main techniques (white-hat) used to build backlinks:

Method

Guest Posting

Broken Link Building

Directory Submissions

Social Bookmarking

Forum Posting

Influencer Outreach

Press Releases

Infographic Sharing

🛑 Avoid:

Buying backlinks (against Google’s policy)

Private blog networks (PBNs)

Spammy blog comments

✅ 3. What Is Off-Page SEO?

📤 Definition:

Off-page SEO refers to all optimization actions that are performed outside your own website to improve its rankings, authority, and visibility in search engine results.

🔧 Key Off-Page SEO Activities:

Practice

Backlink Building

Brand Mentions

Social Media Marketing

Influencer Outreach

Google Business Profile

Content Promotion

Reviews and Testimonials

✅ What Is a Spam Score?

🧪 Definition:

Spam Score is a metric developed by Moz that estimates how likely a website is to be penalized or banned by search engines due to spammy or manipulative SEO practices.

It ranges from 0% to 100%:

0–30% = Low Risk

31–60% = Medium Risk

61–100% = High Risk

⚠️ Factors That Contribute to High Spam Score:

Indicator

Low-quality backlinks

Thin or duplicate content

Over-optimized anchor text

Fake traffic or bots

Unnatural link patterns

Keyword stuffing

Hidden text or cloaking

📉 Why It Matters:

A high spam score reduces trust in your site

Google may penalize or de-rank your pages

Linking from or to spammy websites can harm your rankings

🛠️ You can check spam score using Moz’s Link Explorer.

✅ Summary for Interview/Project:

“In my SEO project, I focused on high-quality backlink building through guest posting, niche directories, and infographic sharing. I avoided spammy practices and regularly monitored the Spam Score of linking domains using Moz.

Off-page SEO was essential to improving domain authority, getting referral traffic, and increasing the trustworthiness of our content in Google’s eyes.”

✅ What is Schema?

🧠 Definition:

Schema markup (or structured data) is a code (in JSON-LD format) that you add to your website’s HTML to help search engines better understand your content.

It provides context — like telling Google, “This is a product,” “This is a review,” or “This is an FAQ.”

🔎 Why Schema is Important:

Enables rich snippets in search results (ratings, price, availability, etc.)

Increases CTR (Click-Through Rate)

Helps in voice search, featured snippets, and Google Discover

📌 Common Types of Schema:

Type

Product

FAQ

Article/Blog

Local Business

Breadcrumbs

Event

Recipe

🔧 Tools: Google’s Rich Results Test

✅ What is Error 404 and 301 Redirect?

⚠️ Error 404: Page Not Found

A 404 error occurs when a user tries to access a page that does not exist.

Common causes:

URL was changed or deleted

Typo in the link

SEO Impact:

Hurts user experience

Too many 404s can waste crawl budget

✅ Solution: Redirect broken URLs to relevant pages using a 301 redirect.

🔁 301 Redirect: Permanent Redirect

A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that the page has moved permanently to a new URL.

SEO Impact:

Passes 90–99% of link equity (ranking power) from the old page

Helps maintain search rankings

📌 Use 301 for:

URL changes

Domain migrations

Deleted content redirection

✅ What Are Sitemaps? What Are Their Types?

🗺️ Definition:

A sitemap is a file that lists all important URLs of your website so that search engines can crawl and index your pages effectively.

Think of it as a roadmap that tells Google which pages to visit.

🧾 Types of Sitemaps:

Type

XML Sitemap

HTML Sitemap

Image Sitemap

Video Sitemap

News Sitemap

📍 Best Practice:

Use an XML sitemap for Google.

Submit via Google Search Console under “Sitemaps” section.

✅ What is Robots.txt?

🤖 Definition:

The robots.txt file tells search engine bots which parts of your site should or should not be crawled.

It sits at the root of your website like:

arduino

CopyEdit

https://www.example.com/robots.txt

⚙️ Syntax Overview:

Directive

User-agent:

Disallow:

Allow:

Sitemap:

🧾 Example:

txt

CopyEdit

User-agent: *

Disallow: /admin/

Allow: /blog/

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

This tells all bots:

Don’t crawl /admin/

Do crawl /blog/

Here’s the sitemap

🔒 Why Robots.txt is Important:

Prevents crawl waste (e.g., login pages, cart pages)

Helps protect sensitive areas from being indexed

Works with meta robots tag for fine-grain control

⚠️ Misuse can block important pages from indexing — use with caution!

✅ Summary for Interview:

“In my project, I used structured Schema markup to boost visibility in rich snippets, fixed 404 errors with 301 redirects to preserve SEO value, submitted sitemaps via Search Console for better crawling, and configured a clean robots.txt to guide bots and prevent crawl waste.”

✅ Top 10 SEO Recommendations for a Given Website/Page

Here’s a general SEO checklist — your top 10 action points for improving a website’s search performance:

#

1. Optimize Title & Meta Description

2. Use Proper Heading Structure (H1–H6)

3. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness

4. Improve Page Speed (Core Web Vitals)

5. Target One Main Keyword + Variants

6. Use Internal Linking

7. Add Structured Data (Schema)

8. Create Unique, High-Quality Content

9. Fix Broken Links & Redirects

10. Use Image Alt Text & Compression

➡️ These should be tailored based on SEO audit results using tools like Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, or Google Search Console.

✅ Home Page is Ranking for Product Keywords – But You Want the Product Page to Rank Instead

This is a classic keyword cannibalization issue. Here’s how to solve it:

🔧 Step-by-Step Solution:

Check Keyword Overlap

Use tools like Ahrefs or GSC to see which pages rank for the same keyword.

Optimize the Product Page

Include the target keyword in:

Title Tag

H1

URL

Content

Image Alt Text

Internal Links

Demote the Home Page

Remove or de-optimize the target keyword on the home page.

Replace with broader/brand terms.

Use Canonical Tag (if needed)

If duplicate content exists, canonicalize to the product page.

Internal Linking

Link from the home page and blog posts to the product page with exact anchor text.

Backlink Focus

Build external links to the product page.

✅ Goal: Shift all authority, relevance, and signals to the intended page.

✅ How to Increase Domain Authority (DA)

📈 What Is DA?

Domain Authority is a metric by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank.

It’s based on link profile strength, quality, and relevance.

🚀 Steps to Increase DA:

Strategy

Earn Quality Backlinks

Disavow Toxic Links

Create Shareable Content

Interlink Your Content

Fix Technical Issues

Improve Content Depth

Use Schema Markup

Be Active on Social Media

📌 Note: DA improves gradually over time with consistent, ethical SEO work.

✅How to Find What Search Queries a Page is Ranking For?

🔍 Method 1: Using Google Search Console (GSC)

Open GSC

Go to Performance > Search results

Click “+ New” > Page and enter your exact page URL.

Review the “Queries” tab below — these are the search terms the page ranks for.

🔹 You’ll see:

Clicks: how many times users clicked

Impressions: how many times shown in search

CTR: Click-through rate

Average Position: SERP rank

🔍 Method 2: Using Ahrefs / SEMrush

Enter your URL in the tool.

Go to “Organic Keywords” section.

Filter by position, country, and intent if needed.

You’ll get:

Keywords

Search volume

Ranking positions

URL that ranks

Traffic potential

🔍 Method 3: Using Google Analytics (with GSC Integration)

If you have integrated GSC and GA, you can view landing pages vs search queries under Acquisition > Search Console > Landing Pages.

✅ Summary for Interview/Project:

“I regularly use Google Search Console and SEMrush to identify what queries our key pages rank for. If I notice the home page ranking for product-specific keywords, I take actions like adjusting keyword focus, internal links, and backlinks to shift rankings to the correct product page. I also ensure our technical setup — schema, speed, sitemap, and crawlability — supports SEO performance.”

🔍 What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases (keywords) that people enter into search engines when looking for information, products, or services. The goal is to find the right keywords that:

Your target audience is searching for.

Are relevant to your business.

You can realistically rank for.

✅ Keyword Research Process (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Understand Your Business and Target Audience

Before any tools, clarify:

What does your business offer?

Who are your customers?

What problems do they need to solve?

➡️ Example: A fitness brand may target keywords like “best workout clothes for women” or “breathable gym wear”.

Step 2: Define Seed Keywords

Seed keywords are broad terms related to your business that serve as starting points.

➡️ Example for a bakery:

“cakes”

“birthday cakes”

“custom cupcakes”

These will be expanded upon in the next steps.

Step 3: Use Keyword Research Tools

These tools help you expand your seed keywords into a larger list:

🔧 Tools You Can Use:

Google Keyword Planner (free, great for PPC + SEO)

Ubersuggest

SEMrush / Ahrefs / Moz (paid but powerful)

Answer the Public (for question-based queries)

Google Autocomplete + People Also Ask

Each tool provides data such as:

Search Volume – Monthly searches

Keyword Difficulty – How hard it is to rank

CPC (Cost-per-click) – Commercial value

Trend – Is the keyword seasonal?

➡️ Example Output from a tool:

Keyword

best yoga mats

yoga mats for beginners

thick yoga mats

Step 4: Analyze Keyword Intent

Group keywords by search intent, which refers to what the user wants when they search.

Intent Type

Informational

Navigational

Transactional

Commercial Investigation

Target intent-based content to match each type.

Step 5: Check Competitor Keywords

Use tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, or SEMrush to find out:

What keywords your competitors rank for.

What pages are driving their traffic.

Gaps where they don’t rank but you can.

➡️ This helps you benchmark your keyword strategy and uncover untapped opportunities.

Step 6: Prioritize Keywords

Now, shortlist keywords based on:

Relevance – Aligns with your content/products.

Search Volume – Enough people are searching.

Competition – Low to moderate difficulty is ideal if your site is new.

Intent – Focus on keywords that drive conversions.

Step 7: Group and Map Keywords (Keyword Clustering)

Group related keywords into content clusters:

Helps organize content and improve site architecture.

➡️ Example:

Main Keyword: “Yoga Pants”

Cluster: “best yoga pants for plus size”, “affordable yoga pants”, “high-waisted yoga leggings”

You can target all in one blog post or break them into multiple targeted articles.

Step 8: Track and Optimize

Once you start publishing content using your selected keywords:

Use Google Search Console to track impressions and rankings.

Monitor performance.

Update underperforming pages with improved keywords, better headlines, FAQs, etc.

🎯 Bonus Tips:

Focus on long-tail keywords (e.g., “best budget laptops for college students”) for easier wins.

Don’t ignore local keywords if you run a physical business (e.g., “bakery in Bandra”).

Include questions from “People Also Ask” for voice search optimization.

🧾 Example Summary Table

Step

1. Audience Research

2. Seed Keywords

3. Use Tools

4. Check Intent

5. Competitor Audit

6. Prioritize

7. Cluster Keywords

8. Track Performance

✅ What Was the Last Google Update? (As of June 2025)

The latest major update was:

🔄 Google March 2024 Core Update (Launched March 5, 2024 – Completed April 19, 2024)

Purpose: Improve content quality and reduce spam.

Targeted AI-generated, low-quality content

Focused on authority, originality, and helpfulness

Many thin affiliate or scraped content sites lost visibility.

👉 Google also released Spam Updates (ongoing), targeting:

Expired domain abuse

Scaled content abuse

Site reputation abuse (e.g., parasitic SEO)

Note: The best place to track updates is Google Search Status Dashboard.

✅ How to Create an SEO Plan for a New Website

Creating an SEO plan involves both technical setup and content strategy.

🔧 Step 1: Technical SEO Foundation

Choose SEO-friendly CMS: WordPress, Webflow, Shopify (with apps).

Set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4

Install SSL for HTTPS.

Create and submit a sitemap.xml

robots.txt configuration

Mobile responsiveness check

Fast loading speed (Core Web Vitals)

📚 Step 2: Keyword Research

Follow the process from section 1.

Map keywords to content types (homepage, blog, product pages, etc.)

🏗 Step 3: Site Architecture

Flat architecture (easier crawling)

Logical URL structure:

/products/yoga-pants/

/blog/how-to-choose-yoga-pants

✍ Step 4: Content Plan

Build core pages: Homepage, About, Contact, Services, Product pages.

Start blogging using keyword clusters.

Prioritize long-tail keywords early on (easier to rank).

🔗 Step 5: Link Building Strategy

Internal linking between pages

Outreach for backlinks (guest posts, partnerships, HARO)

Social sharing and local citations

📈 Step 6: Monitor & Improve

Use GSC and GA4 to track impressions, clicks, bounce rates

Update old content regularly

Fix SEO errors (404s, redirects, duplicate content)

 How to Rank a Website for a New Keyword

Ranking for a new keyword requires a mix of content, optimization, and authority building.

📝 Step 1: Understand Search Intent

Is the keyword informational, transactional, or navigational?

Example: “best yoga pants for tall women” = informational + commercial

🧠 Step 2: Competitor Analysis

Google the keyword and analyze:

Top 5 pages (content length, structure)

Use of multimedia (videos, images)

Backlink profiles (using Ahrefs/Moz)

✍ Step 3: Create High-Quality Content

Target long-form, comprehensive, and helpful content.

Use the keyword in:

Title tag

Meta description

URL slug

H1 and H2 headings

Body content (naturally)

Image alt text

Include FAQs and semantic keywords (LSI).

🔗 Step 4: On-Page SEO Optimization

Internal links from related pages

Schema markup (especially for FAQs and products)

Fast load speed and mobile-friendly layout

🧲 Step 5: Build Authority with Backlinks

Reach out to relevant blogs in your niche

Share content in communities (Quora, Reddit, Facebook groups)

Get featured via HARO or niche-specific PR

📊 Step 6: Monitor Performance

Use GSC to track keyword ranking progress

Monitor bounce rate and engagement

Optimize further based on user behavior and rank movement

🚀 Pro Tip:

For new websites, start by targeting low-competition, long-tail keywords.

As authority grows, gradually move toward high-volume competitive terms.

WHAT IS SEARCH CONSOLE ?

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that helps website owners monitor and maintain their website’s presence in Google Search results. It allows you to track your website’s performance, identify technical issues, and improve your site’s visibility. 

Here’s a more detailed explanation:

• Monitoring and Improvement:Search Console provides data about how often your website is shown in search results, how many clicks it gets, and what keywords people are using to find your site. This data helps you understand how your site performs in search and identify areas for improvement. 
• Technical SEO:Search Console helps you identify and fix technical issues that might be affecting your site’s ranking, such as crawl errors, mobile-friendliness issues, or issues with indexing. 
• SEO Optimization:By analyzing the data in Search Console, you can make informed decisions about your SEO strategy and optimize your website to rank higher in search results. 
• Reporting:Search Console offers various reports that provide valuable insights into your site’s performance, including impressions, clicks, average position, and more. 
• Communication:You can receive messages from Google in Search Console about potential issues with your site, such as website security problems or spammy content.