DIY SEO: how to optimize your site yourself (and the limitations of it)
Do-it-yourself SEO may seem like a complex undertaking, but it is an opportunity within reach of everyone (or almost everyone), even without a large budget or advanced skills. If you run a small business or online store, you know how difficult it can be to attract visitors without spending a fortune. The good news is that there are (fairly) simple strategies and affordable tools to start getting real results on your own. With commitment and curiosity, you can improve your site’s visibility. And, if you see fit in the future, there’s nothing to stop you from relying on a professional to take it a step further. For now, let’s begin this journey together.
DIY SEO: what is meant and how to do it
By DIY SEO we mean the search engine optimization activity performed by individuals or small businesses without the direct support of a specialized agency or SEO consultant.
In this approach, which is suitable even for SEO beginners, the website owner personally takes charge of improving his or her site’s search engine ranking using tools, guides, and resources available online. That’s all pretty straightforward so far, but where to start in order to optimize one’s site independently? Here’s what we’ll talk about briefly in this article, to help you get some guidance about what guidelines to follow:
- Domain overview
- Competitor analysis
- Keyword research and search queries
- Technical SEO
Domain analysis
When dealing with SEO, the first step is to understand where you are: how visible is the site on search engines? The Domain Overview in SEOZoom is an essential tool for getting a complete view of the performance of the monitored site. Through an intuitive dashboard, it allows you to analyze key data related to the domain and keywords in your project, offering concrete support to improve your SEO strategy. Let’s discover features and functions of this tool.
At the top of the overview you find summary information on estimated traffic, an assessment of monitored keywords (growing, stable or declining) and key metrics such as Zoom Authority , which estimates the authority of a website, with a numerical value on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100. This data provides a quick understanding of the domain’s status and opportunities for optimization.
The next section focuses on strategic tools useful for managing SEO more effectively. The SEO Checklist helps monitor key elements to be optimized, while the SEO Optimization tool identifies technical errors on the site. The Quarterly Plan allows you to plan future activities based on emerging search trends, while the Improve Content feature analyzes page performance and suggests improvement actions. Finally, Competitor Check provides a quick overview of competitor performance.
The dashboard also includes several charts that provide a visual representation of performance and operational tables dedicated to the site pages and keywords monitored. These identify pages that are gaining or losing traffic, those that are performing best, and offer suggestions for new content based on competitive keywords.
With such a clear and comprehensive domain overview, nothing (or almost nothing) can escape you!
Study the competitors
A key step in defining your SEO strategy is to study the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for the keywords you are interested in. This allows you to better understand the competitive landscape and identify opportunities to improve your position. Why is it important to identify competitors?
When analyzing search results, consider as competitors not only those who share the same business model as you, but also those who compete on the same keywords while offering different content or services. For example, a blog that answers the same queries as your potential customers or an e-Commerce that offers products related to yours.
Studying your competitors gives you a clear view of the market in which you move. You can understand what is working and what is missing and leverage this information to optimize your SEO strategy and improve your ranking. It’s work that takes time and attention, but the results can really make a difference.
What to watch for in competitors
- Strengths and weaknesses: Identify what they do better: more comprehensive content, quality images or interactive guides. Notice where they are lacking, such as outdated content, confusing site structure or slow loading times-these can be your competitive advantages.
- Type of content: analyze the formats they use (articles, videos, infographics) and the topics they cover. Use this information to enrich your offering with similar or improved content.
- Site structure: look at how they organize pages: clear hierarchy, well-defined categories, FAQs, call-to-actions, and useful internal links. Adopt best practices to improve your user experience.
- Backlinks and popularity: what is their authority level and which sites link to them? ? You can use analytical tools such as Ahrefs and SEOZoom to check how many and what backlinks they receive. Consider whether you can get backlinks from the same domains.
- Reviews and local reputation: analyze the reviews on their Google My Business tabs: what do customers like and what do they criticize? Use this information to improve your services and better respond to market needs.
Doing an SEO audit is not enough if you just look at your target market. Analyzing your competitors is key to understanding who is taking a slice of visibility that could be yours. With SEOZoom you can find out who your real organic competitors are, the ones who share the battle for top positions on Google with you. It’s a chance to see where to improve and, why not, get inspired to grow.
But let’s face it, there’s a thought that so many of us share: “How can I get to the top of Google if Google always seems to reward the same sites?”
We know it well, there are those giants that seem invincible, always there, dominating the top positions for any keyword, indeed, for entire clusters of keywords. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? So how do we avoid wasting time and energy creating content that will never have a chance?
That’s why SEOZoom’s Opportunity Finder was born . This tool, as the name suggests, is a great ally for finding topics where you can really make a difference. It helps you discover those niches that are still accessible, where Google will give you a chance, and where you can finally get the visibility you deserve, without letting the usual giants discourage you.
Explore more relevant keywords and search queries
A key element in improving SEO ranking is keyword research. This step helps you understand what terms potential customers use to search for products, services or information. It is a common mistake to assume that we know exactly what our audience wants: consumers often use different terms than we imagine or our competitors use. Why is keyword research important?
- Understanding the language of the audience: keywords are a window into users’ needs and intentions.
- Estimating demand: we can find out which words have significant search volume, focusing on what generates real interest.
- Identify opportunities: less competitive or more specific terms (long tail keywords) can offer excellent opportunities to improve positioning.
What tools to use?
One basic option is Google’s Keyword Planner , which is especially useful for those working with ads. However, the data provided by this tool, such as competition and difficulty, are primarily geared toward ad campaigns.
For a more targeted analysis for organic positioning, there are tools designed to delve deeper into SEO research, such as our SEOZoom platform,with which we can explore the best performing keywords and discover those that generate the most traffic on our competitors’ sites.
With this tool, we can analyze keyword rankings, monitor traffic trends, and discover opportunities for growth. For example, we can identify related or undervalued keywords that can greatly benefit our site’s ranking with little effort. In addition, we can structure an effective editorial plan by including future content, choosing topics that have the potential to attract a targeted and qualified audience.
Understand users’ desires to optimize site structure
When we can understand what users’ wants and needs are, and thus their search intent, we can adapt our strategy to best meet them, thereby improving both the visibility and usability of our site.
How to identify and enhance strategic pages
- Identify the most important pages: which ones represent your main products, services or content? These pages should receive the highest priority in terms of visibility.
- Put the in the navigation menu: the menu is the main access point for users. Strategic pages should be easily accessible from here
- Make pages clickable from the homepage: if a page is a priority for your business, make sure it is linked directly from the homepage. This improves its internal authority and makes it easier for users to access.
- Optimize link juice passage: Make sure internal links are relevant and add value to the content. A well-linked structure helps search engines understand the hierarchy and importance of pages.
Publish optimized content
Optimizing content means structuring it so that it is useful and relevant to users and, at the same time, easily understood by search engines. This involves using the main keyword naturally, avoiding keyword stuffing, and including the keyword in the main title (H1) and secondary headings (H2, H3). It is important to enrich the text with related terms, integrate visual elements such as images and videos optimized with descriptive alt tags, and curate meta tags such as title and meta description to improve visibility and click-through rate. Tools such as Yoast or Rank Math can support you in technical optimization if you use platforms such as WordPress.
Delve into the technical aspects
In addition to content, an effective DIY SEO strategy must include technical optimization of the site. Here are some key points to consider:
- Use HTTPS: This is a ranking factor recognized by Google and ensures the security of data transmitted through our site.
- Improve site speed: fast pages provide a better user experience and are rewarded in search results.
- Fix crawl errors: identify and correct any errors reported in reports from tools such as SEO Spider from SEOZoom or Google Search Console.
- Optimize site structure: Make sure the site is easy to navigate for both users and search engine crawlers.
Limitations of DIY SEO
Doing SEO yourself requires time and some organizational skills. If you run a complex business or have few resources at your disposal, it may be difficult to get significant results quickly. In addition, some aspects of SEO, such as solving complex technical problems or implementing advanced link building strategies, require specialized skills that you cannot always acquire quickly.
Practical example:
“Imagine you have an e-Commerce with hundreds of products. Optimizing product descriptions is a good place to start, but to really climb the SERPs in a competitive market you may need more advanced strategies, such as a technical site overhaul or a backlink acquisition campaign.”
When to turn to a professional
Knowing when to ask for help is essential. It might be the right time if, despite your efforts, your site is not improving, you operate in a very competitive industry, you manage a complex site with many pages, or you face advanced technical problems, such as penalties or crawling errors. Adding professional support does not mean failing at DIY SEO, but rather recognizing that your site could benefit from an extra gear.
Essential tools for monitoring and optimizing SEO
How do you monitor your site’s performance? Here’s a quick overview of essential tools.
- Google Analytics: the starting point for anyone who wants to understand where their site traffic is coming from and how users are behaving. It shows you which pages attract the most visits; which channels users are coming from (organic, social, referral, direct); user behavior, such as average time on page and conversion rate.
- Google Search Console: This tool is essential for everything related to your site’s presence on search engines. You can check which keywords are bringing traffic; check for crawling or indexing errors; receive notifications about technical problems or penalties.
- SEOZoom: If you want to go beyond basic data and get a complete view of your SEO strategy, this platform is an allyperfect for those looking for an intuitive yet in-depth tool to optimize content and improve performance. It helps you monitor keyword rankings and find new opportunities; analyze competitors and understand where you can do better; and track your site’s performance in terms of organic visibility.
- Screaming Frog or Sitebulb: great for spotting technical problems that could penalize your site such as: broken links, 404 errors or redirect problems ; slow loading times; errors in meta descriptions or tags.
Keep your site updated: consistency makes all the difference
Doing DIY SEO does not necessarily mean turning your business into a content machine. For many industries, such as e-Commerce, producing new articles or updates every day is neither realistic nor necessary. However, keeping your site up-to-date is essential to remain relevant in the eyes of both users and search engines.
Plan for periodic updates
Instead of publishing continuously, create a useful content strategy to update the site on a regular basis with content that adds value, such as news, insights, and new industry-related products/services. The goal is always to create content that is interesting and relevant to your audience.
Why is updating the site important?
- Fresh content helps improve SEO ranking and maintain relevance over time.
- A constantly updated site conveys reliability and professionalism and increases user engagement and entices them to return.
Updating content is not the only SEO tactic that is often (mistakenly poorly) practiced. Learn about other strategies in this article: Underrated, but useful and easy to use: four SEO tactics to rediscover
Can I do SEO on my own?
The answer is yes, but the real key is knowing how to balance autonomy and professional support.
With the right tools and a methodical approach, we can get real results and improve our site’s visibility. To support you in this initial (and even advanced) phase, SEOZoom has over 40 tools to manage every aspect of SEO, from backlink analysis to keyword planning and performance monitoring. The platform allows you, therefore, to confidently tackle DIY SEO, offering visitors an ever-improving user experience.
