How to Choose a Domain Name
How to choose a domain name: make it brandable, pronounceable, short, intuitive, bias to .com, avoid names that infringe on another company, use broad keywords, and if not available, modify.
SEO Basics
If you're on this page, you probably want to learn the basics of modern SEO, right? Never fear! Here at Moz, we practically invented basic SEO, and we'll keep you up to date on the latest standards.
If you haven't already, you probably want to read the newly updated Beginner's Guide to SEO. It explains key concepts like how search engines work, keyword research, and the importance of links.
Here, we've listed some of our favorite posts on SEO basics, and you'll find the most recent blog posts below.
SEO 101: The Beginner's Guide to SEO : Start here to understand the basics of modern SEO.
SEO Learning Center : Moz's free SEO learning resources are continually updated, and a virtual encyclopedia of SEO tips and tactics.
The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet 3.0 : If you're looking for basic technical SEO considerations, this 4 page downloadable cheat sheet will get you started on the basics of meta tags and more.
How to Rank : The SEO Checklist: Ranking in Google really isn't as hard as some folks make it seem. In this video, our SEO guru Rand Fishkin gives you a simple checklist for greater visibility.
Keyword Research : The Beginner's Guide to SEO: SEO almost always starts with keywords, so we thought this would be a good place for you to start too.
Most Recent Articles on SEO Basics
Why Listing Accuracy is Important
Whether you manage a single local listing or hundreds, the consistency of your NAP data across the web can make or break your business. With answers for just about everyone, Moz Local's George Freitag stars in this week's Whiteboard Friday covering all the boons and secrets of listing accuracy (give him a warm welcome, folks!).
Everything You Need to Know About Using Yoast SEO for Wordpress
If you have a self-hosted Wordpress site, you'll want to bookmark this guide. Angela Petteys outlines everything you'll need to know about setting up and optimizing the Yoast SEO plugin to get your site search engine-friendly.
How Voice Search Will Change Digital Marketing — For the Better
Voice search is poised to create a seismic shift in our industry. Purna Virji is here to answer three huge questions: who's using voice search, how is it different from text queries, and how can you prepare?
Level Up Your SEO Skills With Our Free Training
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Keyword Research Master Guide
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Guide to SEO Competitor Analysis
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10 Free Online Marketing Tools Every Small Business Owner Needs
May 1st–7th is Small Business Week! In honor of small businesses everywhere, Garrett Mehrguth's put together a list of free SEO tools that will bolster your online marketing efforts without whittling away your budget.
An Exploration of Podcasting SEO in 2016
SEO is everywhere you look. In today's post, Dan Shure dives headfirst into the world of SEO for podcasting, exploring the surprising similarities and differences in ranking for iTunes and uncovering his journey in launching an SEO-oriented podcast.
![The Start-to-Finish Guide to Optimizing Your WordPress Blog Posts [Plus a Checklist]](https://moz.rankious.com/_moz/images/blog/banners/blogging-f148f14_2021-03-31-002013.jpg?w=1180&h=400&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1617150013&s=af6e21bd72fd8ad0640284fd8154c863)
The Start-to-Finish Guide to Optimizing Your WordPress Blog Posts [Plus a Checklist]
Sooner or later, you'll be faced with using WordPress to create blog posts. Sergey Stefoglo goes through the ins and outs of uploading and optimizing posts with the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress, offering a downloadable checklist to help make sure you've hit all the marks.
8 Old School SEO Practices That Are No Longer Effective
Are you guilty of living in the past? Using methods that were once tried-and-true can be alluring, but it can also prove dangerous to your search strategy. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand spells out eight old school SEO practices that you should ditch in favor of more effective and modern alternatives.
How Long Do Backlinks Take to Show Effect?
The eternal question: How much time does it take for a link to affect rankings? Kristina Kledzik breaks out the entire process from start to finish.
How to Make the SEO Case to Small Businesses
Belief in the process can be the make-or-break factor when it comes to convincing small businesses they need SEO. Overcoming skepticism can be daunting, but there are strategic ways to go about pitching your case to potential clients that will smooth the way for you. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand covers a 5-step process to making the SEO case to those small and medium businesses that need a little extra push to help you help them.
Why Now, More Than Ever, SEO Is Not Just About Google
As SEOs, we tend to hyper-focus on every little thing Google does. It's important to keep in mind that it's bigger than optimizing for a single search engine. Roy Hinkis is here to explain why.
Be Your Site's Hero: An Audit Manifesto – Next Level
SEO comes with a lot of "whys" that can be difficult to answer. Jo Cameron is here to remove some of the mystery and level up your site audit skills with the help of ace tips, Bonnie Tyler, and a hefty toolkit in the newest installment of our Next Level educational series!
The 2016 State of Link Building Survey - Results & Analysis
There have been some surprising shifts in how the marketing industry's changed its views of link building since 2014. Nicholas Chimonas breaks down the results of 2016's State of Link Building Survey for us.
Are Keywords Really Dead? An Experiment
Keywords or concepts? Wondering about what works in the now, Sam Nemzer devised an experiment to discover what the SERPs have to reveal about how Google interprets different yet synonymous keyword phrases.