Search Engine Otimization: SEO Basics

What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Seo is difficult to define, since different seo consultants have different opinions on exactly what is involved in seo. Different consultants define seo differently. The industry is still fairly new and not all agree as to what is and isn’t included in seo. A general definition for seo can be: optimizing a website both on page and off page in order to achieve a better organic ranking in search engines and consequently driving more traffic to your website.

SEO consists of four main areas: keyword research and selection, site building, on page optimization, and link building. In this article we’ll briefly discuss each in turn.

One thing needs to be clarified before continuing. There is no magic formula that will get your page to rank number one on any of the search engines. There isn’t an optimal keyword density or a perfect place to use keywords. And if there were, don’t you think all the other sites that came before you would already be using that magic formula? SEO is about developing a strategy and tactics to help the pages of your site rank well enough to bring traffic to your site. For some keywords it will be relatively easy to get your pages a high rank, for others it will seem impossible. Good seo takes time and effort. Instead of looking for a way to be number one tomorrow, you’ll be better off simply working to bring in more traffic to your site next month than you are this month.

Keyword Research and Selection

Seo begins with keywords. Choosing the right keywords is perhaps the most important part of your optimization efforts. Begin to identify keywords simply by brainstorming. Write down as many keywords as you can think of and then look for more. There are keyword suggestion tools you can use to help build your list. Two of them are the Overture Keyword Selector Tool and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Both offer many suggestions for other keyword phrases you can use on your site.

Site Building for SEO

The way you structure the pages of your site and the way you code your pages will have a great impact on your seo efforts. Before any of your web pages can be found for a given search it needs to be indexed by the search engines. While you should always think about real people first when developing a site, you must also make sure that search engines can spider your site and find and index all of your pages.

On Page SEO

On page seo includes everything you can do on a given page to increase its chances of being found in a search engine. It includes all of your content and the way you present that content. It includes where, how, and how often you use your keywords on your page and even what other pages of your site and other sites you link to and how you link to those pages.

Link Building

Link building is the one thing that is likely to have the greatest effect in your seo efforts. That doesn’t mean you should ignore any of the above, but in the end it will be the number and quality of links pointing to your site that will be what gets your web pages found by search engines. It certainly will be the case for competitive keywords, and without many quality links pointing to your site you will not be able to consistently rank high for any competitive keywords.

Keywords, site building, on page content, and link building are the four pillars of seo. This is just a brief introduction. There is a lot more to know about seo, but this is the starting point. This knowledge forms the foundation of further study and experience.

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