Shownotes
Action Items
- [ ] Download the 5-step SEO checklist from the speaker's website SEOwithsenthil.com
- [ ] Implement the 5-step SEO process to rank for less competitive keywords and build authority
- [ ] Focus on creating high-quality, valuable content that meets the needs of the target audience
- [ ] Avoid going after highly competitive keywords right away and instead start with less competitive ones
- [ ] Understand the fundamentals of how Google works and what it values in order to improve SEO efforts
Outline
Introduction and Speaker Background
- Linda Fanaras introduces herself as the host of the B2B Brand 180 podcast and CEO of Millennium Agency.
- Linda introduces Senthil Kumar, founder of SEO with Sentl, who will discuss his Five Step Jump Start SEO system.
- Senthil shares his key achievement of ranking for over 100 keywords on Google's first page and making over a million in revenue using SEO and word of mouth.
- Senthil confirms his success in his printing company and art studio without using any other marketing besides SEO and word of mouth.
Importance of Ranking on Top Google Pages
- Linda asks Senthil why ranking on the top Google pages is important.
- Senthil explains that targeted traffic from SEO has a stronger buying intent compared to social media traffic.
- He emphasizes that SEO is cost-effective and less time-consuming once initial rankings are established.
- Senthil highlights the long-term benefits of SEO, which can continue to bring results even after reducing efforts.
Strategies for Competitive Keywords
- Linda inquires about strategies for companies facing competition in highly competitive keywords.
- Senthil advises starting with less competitive keywords to build a foundation before targeting more competitive ones.
- He compares this approach to starting in local leagues before competing in international competitions.
- Senthil explains that less competitive keywords can provide baseline traffic and authority, which is crucial for future success.
Understanding SEO Fundamentals
- Linda asks Senthil what the first step is for businesses to rank on Google's first page.
- Senthil emphasizes the importance of understanding SEO fundamentals and thinking from Google's perspective.
- He explains that Google aims to show the most relevant and engaging content to attract more users and advertisers.
- Senthil advises businesses to focus on creating high-quality content that meets the needs of users and aligns with Google's standards.
Common SEO Mistakes and Keyword Research
- Linda asks Senthil about common mistakes businesses make in SEO.
- Senthil identifies keyword research as a critical step often overlooked by businesses.
- He explains the importance of understanding keyword demand, competition, and profitability.
- Senthil highlights the need to understand the intent behind keyword searches and create content that meets user needs.
Creating Outstanding Content
- Linda inquires about how to create outstanding content for SEO.
- Senthil advises understanding the psychology behind the keyword and the needs of the target audience.
- He emphasizes the importance of making content viewable, scannable, and comprehensive.
- Senthil suggests asking customers for feedback and conducting competitor research to improve content quality.
Balancing Long and Short Form Content
- Linda asks if short form content can be as valuable as long form content.
- Senthil acknowledges that long form content tends to perform better but emphasizes the importance of adding value with every word.
- He advises against creating content for the sake of meeting a word count and compromising quality.
- Senthil emphasizes focusing on quality over quantity to ensure content effectiveness.
SEO Maintenance and Backlink Building
- Linda asks about the frequency of updating SEO and the importance of images and alt tags.
- Senthil clarifies that businesses do not need to constantly create new content once initial SEO efforts are in place.
- He explains the importance of maintaining content quality and updating broken links.
- Senthil outlines the five steps of SEO: keyword research, content creation, on-page optimization, internal linking, and backlink building.
Simplifying SEO Terminology
- Linda asks Senthil to simplify some common SEO terms for the audience.
- Senthil explains that a title tag is essentially the title of an article with the focus keyword.
- He defines search volume as the number of people searching for a keyword.
- Senthil explains domain authority as a measure of a website's quality and reputation, which influences backlink value.
Final Takeaways and Contact Information
- Linda asks Senthil for final takeaways and how businesses can get in touch with him.
- Senthil emphasizes the importance of targeting less competitive keywords that competitors may overlook.
- He advises businesses to focus on keyword research and content quality to avoid missing out on potential traffic.
- Senthil provides his website, SEO with Sentl, where businesses can download his five-step SEO checklist.
Transcripts
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
B2B SEO, Five Step Jump Start, Google rankings, targeted traffic, less competitive keywords, SEO fundamentals, keyword research, content quality, on-page optimization, backlink building, domain authority, SEO mistakes, long form content, SEO maintenance, SEO checklist
00:00
Hi. I'm Linda Fanaras, host of the B2B Brand180 podcast, and CEO of Millennium agency, where you will learn the latest tips on how to grow your business with marketing. Today, I'm excited to bring in Senthil Kumar. He's the founder of SEO with Sentl. He uses this Five Step Jump Start SEO system, which he's going to talk about, and he is going to talk about how He's ranked for 100 plus keywords on Google page number one and made over a million in revenue in his business and art studio, which he has now sold. So great to have you here. Thank you for coming on today.
00:39
Hi, Linda. Thank you for having me
00:40
absolutely. Did I miss anything about you? Happy to have you chime in if there's anything else you might want to add.
00:48
Well, you shared my key achievement, which was my printing company and art studio, which I made over a million dollars in revenue using SEO and word of mouth alone. So I didn't use any other marketing.
01:00
Excellent. All right, fantastic. So today we're going to talk about SEO, because we do know that a lot of business owners don't really know much about SEO, or don't know exactly how to improve their search engine rankings, particularly today, with a lot of additional traffic on the internet, it's becoming more and more cluttered. So let's get started. So I'll have you ask this real simple question, why is ranking, you know, on the top Google pages so important because
01:31
you get targeted traffic looking for information related to the products or services that you sell, and because these people, they are already searching for information related to services or products in your niche, they already have a stronger buying intent as compared to someone on Facebook or Instagram who are just scrolling these social media platforms for Fun. So not just that, when you attract these potential buyers using SEO, you don't need to pay more and more money to ads, or whether it's Google ads, social media ads, you don't have to keep paying more money to attract more leads, and once you start ranking on Google, even though the first six months to one year where you start establishing those Google rankings may be challenging, once you rank these keywords on Google, then the maintenance part is a lot less time consuming, and you still get to enjoy the benefits of SEO, or SEO done well, if you did it well, You gotta enjoy the benefits of it, 135, years down the road, even after you put stop putting in so much effort into it. So that's my favorite part about SEO, because I don't like to keep having to put in a lot of time and effort and keep tweaking, tweaking something right,
02:57
right? That makes sense. A lot of times, companies will choose keywords that are really competitive. Do you have any ideas or strategies for companies that may find that they're up against a lot of other similar companies and they just can't compete and stay on top of it because of the amount of content they're putting out, because of the SEO that they're putting behind it?
03:18
Yeah. So, Linda, your question itself has a mistake that many of these companies are making, which is to go for highly competitive keyword right at the beginning. So what I tell my clients is, if you're going for a soccer competition and you haven't even won your local league, for example, I'm from Singapore, and then Singapore hasn't even won in the Asian League, and they're trying to compete in the World Cup. It's going to be really challenging, right, right? So always start off with less competitive keywords. There's a way to check the competition, and then once you start ranking for less competitive keywords, then you slowly work on the more competitive keywords. So this way, the less competitive keywords helps you to establish some baseline traffic and authority, and then you build up to the more competitive ones. And this way you will already be getting traction leads and sales for your business when you start ranking for the less competitive keywords, and it takes much less time. And
04:24
I think a lot of companies do it the other way around. They look at their competitors, see exactly what they rank for, and say, oh, I want to rank for that too. But that is really not the right strategy. And it is, it is good to really consider those. I guess I'll say less competitive keywords, that where you would have an opportunity to rank, and maybe you can explain our audience why that is, why number one, why it works, and why that's important. So
04:48
it works because Google wants to show the best results for any keyword that people are searching for, and many of these less competitive keywords, they are. Are forgotten because people don't aggressively work towards writing great content for these keywords. So if you spot that keyword and say, hey, you know this, this is a keyword that has less competition and that I can work on writing an article around when it meets the needs of the person searching for that keyword. Yeah, it's not faster to bring in these people onto your
05:26
website. So what do you think the first step is for businesses, and what should they be taking advantage of in order to rank for their either their website or their page? What is the number one key step they should do?
05:39
The number one key step for any business to start ranking on Google page, one is to understand SEO fundamentals. So what do I mean by that? They need to put themselves in the shoes of Google and think, what? How does Google make money? So if you ask yourself that question, Google makes money through Google advertising. And if Google wants to make more money through Google advertising, Google needs more people searching on Google correct. So if Google wants more users, more people spending more time on Google, then Google will want to choose the most relevant and engaging content that people love to rank organically on Google. So if you understand this core principle of what Google wants to earn the trust of people searching on Google, then all the other steps become so much easier. Because anytime you get stuck during the process, you always come back to the fundamentals and ask yourself, if I were Google, then what would I do?
06:41
So what do you think people miss when it comes to SEO? What are some of the things that you notice that they actually mistakes that they might make, or what they miss when they're trying to rank with SEO? You
06:52
mentioned one of the mistakes earlier, which was keyword research. So that's the second step. After you understand the fundamentals you need to get the keyword research, right? And you can check for the keyword demand, also known as keyword search volume, yeah. And then you can check for the keyword competition, yeah. So sometimes people not find keywords that are less competitive to begin working on. And one more aspect of keyword research, which is understanding the profitability element of a keyword. Let's say someone was searching for, why should I Why invest in corporate team bonding? Or why is corporate team bonding important? Then they're just looking to find out more about why they should do it, for example. Or they might be searching for some information around a product or service, right? They are not inclined to buy that product or service yet. Whereas if, let's say, someone is searching for corporate team bonding activities in Singapore, they are obviously looking for corporate team bonding within their area, and they are much more likely to buy from you, right? So you have to understand the intent of keyword searches. So one mistake that businesses make is failing at a keyword research. Second mistake they make is creating mediocre content. So remember, I spoke about the fundamentals. Yes, they just looking at what's already out there, or they're just looking at putting something relevant for that keyword out in the shortest time, probably they don't invest in the quality right clients that mediocre content does not rank on Google anymore. You need to have outstanding content and that that's not easy to to Yeah. And
08:39
how would you find outstanding content for our audience? I mean, I think a lot of people think that they're creating outstanding content, but maybe they're not. Yeah, that's
08:50
a great question. So the very first thing before you create outstanding content is to understand the psychology behind the person searching for a particular keyword, and really understanding your your client so well, and knowing what is the information they're going to need that perhaps your competitors aren't providing, or that perhaps will add value to and then the next thing is, of course, making sure your content is viewable, scannable, with images not too clunky. Bullet point everything. It is comprehensive in the sense that they get everything they need from you know, your content. And the third thing is they don't leave your content piece. Let's say someone lands on your article and then they look at it, and then they exit the page. It's all indicated to Google that, hey, you know what the bounce rate is, seems pretty high, so it might not be good. So you have to look at these kind of key elements. And of course, ask your customer. As well, whether you know, like, what can I have in my content to make it better? And another thing that I do, which helps is also doing some competitor research to find all the good elements your competitors are providing that you can take inspiration from, and then also add in what they're missing. Yeah, then you make it
10:20
so a lot of clients will focus in on long form content versus short form content. Do you have any feedback for our audience? Whether one is so can you do short short form and actually make it really valuable and rich in great content and have the same equal value as a long form so there has
10:41
been research that long form content, or content with a certain number of words, tends to perform better than short form content. But then again, I tell people that like stop worrying about the length as long as every word you add in the article is adding value to that person searching for that keyword, right? If your reader is going to benefit from you making the content longer, then definitely make it longer. But don't just keyword for the sake of meeting some word count and compromise on the quality of your article. Yeah, so
11:22
stay focused really on the quality Exactly. How often do you think companies should be updating their SEO? Maybe speak a little bit about images and alt tags and making sure sort of that back end of the website is optimized as well. Okay,
11:39
yeah, that's quite a lot in one question. So firstly, it's a myth that people have that you need to keep creating the content as a business owner to work on your SEO or do well in SEO. Because unless you are a media business like where you know you you need to write blogs all the time for SEO. If you're running a small business, you only need to write a small batch of content after you do the keyword research. It might be 510, or 15 pieces of content based on your niche. And once you create that outstanding content, you do not need to create, keep creating new content, which is great news, right? And the second thing is that you may need to make peaks in the content and try to improve on the content until it ranks on Google. But once it's ranking on Google, then you just need to make sure that the content is up to date. So if there are things that are relevant or links that you have included in your content that is broken, you may need to go in and replace it. But apart from this maintenance, you do not have to keep creating new content. So the second part of the question. So of course, when you create the content, it's the third step of SEOs, keyword research, and then the third step is creating the content. When you create the content, you need to put in the title tag, the description of your content. You need to you need to make sure you have a URL that looks clean. And then these are some of the basics. And then the fourth step is making tweaks on your website in line with Google's on page optimization best practices. So it might seem overwhelming, but what this means is that Google has a bunch of best practices, for example, making sure your website is mobile optimized, which nowadays given because like Website Builder platforms to help you build mobile optimized website, right? Too slowly, or it could be linking within your article, internal linking within your website, linking out to other articles as well on the web. So these are just a few of the best practices, but there are many of these that, if you follow it, helps your content get seen much faster. And finally, the fifth step is what you mentioned about links. So it's called backlink building, where you need to attract backlinks or build backlinks from other websites pointing to your website. So in simple terms, it's just getting referrals. And you don't want to be getting referrals from other fishy websites, right? Getting referrals from other good quality websites. And this indicates that, hey, you know this website is getting referrals from other good quality websites, so this website is good as well. Yeah.
14:38
So do you think so that's that's a great point when you're talking about SEO, what are some of these words mean to our audience? If you want to talk about the the volume and all of that. So there are
14:49
a lot of words that sound overwhelming, but if you look at it, if you break it down, it isn't that complicated. Yeah. So like, like, for example, there's this thing called Title Tag, right? Call it title tag, but I mean, if you want to explain it in simple terms, it is the title of your article, right? Most of the time, it's the title of the article that with the focus keyword that you're looking to rank for. So what are the search volume? Means? It's how many people are searching for a keyword, the one one that sounds scary. Okay, it's called domain authority. So this, this is often used when you come to the last stage, when you're doing backlink building. Remember, I mentioned you you need to get good quality sites linking to your website. So domain authority means that it helps you see how established your website is and how many basically, the higher your domain authority like, the higher quality your website looks in the eyes of Google. That's how I would simplify it, right? So what one have a rough gate of know whether you should get a backlink from another website. You look at their domain authority and you know, is it higher than mine,
16:11
or how many backlinks they have versus how many you have? So Exactly,
16:15
yeah, you can, you can look at a few factors and then gage whether you want the backlink from their website to your website,
16:22
perfect. So a final closing question, what do you what would be some great takeaways for the audience, other than what we covered today,
16:32
I think the biggest takeaway is that not enough people realize that there are actually some keyword that they could be ranking for that aren't competitive, that even their competitors are not working on. So because of this, people think, oh, SEO is too much effort. And there are even people who put in effort to creating block content without even doing the keyword research, and they just had to do one step before that, which is the keyword research, and then write the content. But because they don't do that second step, then they are missing out on potential traffic so many years down the road,
17:14
that's a great point. Awesome. Well, I thank you for sharing all the information on SEO. I would love for you to tell our audience how businesses how they can get in touch with you
17:25
so they can go to my website SEO with centil, S, E, N, T, H, I, l.com, and on my website, I have this five step SEO checklist. It's a very, very detailed checklist of how I rank for hundreds of keywords on Google page one, and how they can too. So they want to get started, they can just go to the website and download my five step checklist.
17:49
Fantastic. I just want to take a moment here and thank the audience for listening in again. I am Linda Fanaras, host of the B2B Brand180 podcast, and CEO of Millennium agency, and you can visit us at Mill, M, I, L, L, dot agency, or connect with me on LinkedIn. Thanks again for listening to the B2B Brand180 podcast. You.
