Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization refers to the marketing technique of preparing a website (or web pages) to enhance its chances of being ranked well in the search engine result pages when a relevant search is undertaken. Search engine technologies are constantly evolving, and new algorithms are being deployed on a periodic basis. With ever-changing search engine technology, a good way to keep your site at the top place is by applying basic SEO techniques and constantly monitoring your website for improvements.

Ranking higher on search engines requires persistence and dedication, and it doesn't usually happen overnight. Even if you already have good placements on major search engines, they should be constantly monitored to maintain your rankings. The basic tips described below will help you improve your search engine placement.

Identify your keywords

One of the most essential aspects of SEO work is deciding on the keyword phrases. Think about what your intended audiences are looking for, and what they would type in the search engines to find your website. If you choose the wrong keywords, you will not be found by your intended audiences. Identify up to 50 keywords (and phrases), evaluate them for their competitiveness, and identify 5-10 keywords that you can optimize for your website. Use keyword analysis tool such as WordTracker and KeywordSpy to identify the keywords. It is practically impossible to optimize every keyword that you have in mind on a single web page. For best results, optimize one or two keywords on a page.

Title and Meta Tags

The title, meta keyword, and meta description tags play an important role in determining the relevancy of your webpage compared to your competitors'. In general, making them concise and optimizing for one or two keywords yields the best result. Although some search engines neglect META tags, it doesn't hurt to describe your keywords and description as there are plenty of search engines that still use them.

Relavancy

When a search engine ranks one site higher over another, it uses relevancy rules. Search engines use the following criteria for determining the relevancy of a web page on a particular keyword or phrase.

• Prominence: Prominence is determined by how early your keywords appear in your tags and in the body contents. The earlier it appears better off it is.
• Density: How many times have you used the keyword phrases in your webpage? More is not necessarily better, but it should balance the overall length of the web page. The keyword density is the appearance of your keyword phrases in relation to the total number of words on the page.
• Proximity: Keep your keywords near each other.
• Link Popularity: How many websites and webpages link to your website? The more the better. Check out your Google page rank by installing the Google toolbar.
• Use Root Path: Don't place important pages in subdirectories. Place your keywords on all important pages. If you have a directory structure in place, you may use Apache (IIS or web server) to rewrite rules to achieve the root path goal.

Add your website to directories

It is helpful to list your website in the directories such as dmoz.org and yahoo. Although it may take some time (and money for Yahoo) to list your website in directories, they are worthwhile doing it.