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SEO first steps. Beginner strategy

In my recent post, we dove into quality content and how to make it. Turns out, content hits differently for readers vs. search engines. If we’re talking real people, the plan is obvious: provide engaging info, throw in some relatable memes, and keep it light. But when it comes to pleasing the Search Engine… that’s another game entirely.

How Search Engines work

When you search for something online, you’re basically asking, 'Hey, dude, could you give me some sites on this topic?' Google steps in like a librarian, pulling out the books (sites) from its catalog that it finds most suitable for your query."

The challenge here is that there are millions of websites for each topic, and Google has to sort them out to find the best one. In practice, when you google something, you rarely go lower than the 5th result and almost never scroll to the bottom or use pagination. I’m pretty sure some people don’t even know there’s more than one page available 😅.

So the idea behind Search Engines is cool, but the execution is far from ideal—like a lot of things in our world. Imagine the librarian has a book written by an author he likes. Maybe it has a nice cover, or the author is a friend. The book might not be exactly what you’re looking for, but he’ll still give it to you. That’s basically what SEO specialists do. They try to convince Google their website is the best for a certain query, so the Search Engine ranks it high. They analyze how Google ranks websites and work the system.

First steps for SEO on a new site

In my quality content post, I mentioned that my website hasn’t had any visits from Google yet, which means Google still hasn’t shown it to anyone. So, I started digging to figure out why, and I found some interesting things.

Modern SEO pretty much stands on two pillars:

  • Content – so Google can find you
  • Backlinks – so Google ranks you (shows you above your competitors)

And, against what you’d expect, we actually need to focus on backlinks before content. Marketing is full of these paradoxes, right? It reminds me of my first post where I said marketing should come before MVP. I was surprised too, but now it’s clear: backlinks come first.

Backlinks are more important than content

“How can that even be possible?” you might ask. I don’t have a perfect answer just yet, but I’ve found proof that this is how people actually do it. I’ll try it out myself and share updates in my next posts. But here’s what I know now: you won’t get many organic backlinks from your content alone, or if you do, it’ll be painfully slow. When I say slow, I mean… there’s a story of a guy on Reddit who got one backlink in a year. That’s crazy, and I believe him—and here’s why.

Imagine you have a website, you post content regularly, and you expect people to find you on Google. But they don’t. You end up with the same problem I’m having. Even if Google indexes your site, it won’t rank high, so no one will find it. And if no one finds it, how will anyone stumble upon it and give you a backlink? It’s like looking for a job right out of college: no one hires you without experience, but how do you get experience if no one hires you? It’s a vicious cycle, but we just have to accept it and keep pushing.

I realized that good SEO specialists know how to get backlinks even before you post your first piece of content. Just having a domain. I think paid collaborations are in play here, but I’ll figure it out and share what I find.

What is quality content for Google?

Content is king—true, but only after backlinks. I already said that AI isn’t super sharp about understanding your text. So, you need to know how the Search Engine reads your content to make it easier for it to find you.

Here’s a list of the basic steps I found that I’ll be applying to my site (and I suggest you do the same). Figure out, pretend, or somehow guess what search terms your potential reader might use. Then take those keywords and make sure they’re in these parts of your page:

  • <title> – keep it between 15-70 characters (per Ahrefs)
  • <meta name="description"> – under 300 characters (per Ahrefs)
  • <h1>
  • <h2>
  • Page URL
  • <img> alt attribute
  • <a> link text

You might wonder, with tons of keywords, where exactly you should place them. Great question, but let’s keep it simple for now. Fine-tuning can come later—premature optimization is the root of all evil. Just remember, it’s totally fine to go back to old posts and update these parts as your project grows. That’s how you keep your SEO up to date.

Conclusion

Modern SEO can seem confusing and full of paradoxes until you dig into it. But once you get it, it starts making sense. SEO stands on two blocks—content keyword optimization so Google finds you, and backlinks so Google shows you above competitors. Backlinks matter more than keywords, though one doesn’t work without the other. Quality content for Google is just about applying search terms where Google checks. Keep it simple, stay consistent, and you’ll have your first organic readers.