2 Shares

What is SEO ?

An Introduction to Search Engine Optimization

I’m often asked, “Pj, What IS SEO ?” Search engine optimization, which is commonly referred to as SEO is a complex process which does one thing; this one thing is to control where your website is going to rank within the rankings of the millions of other websites which are also found online. If you maximize your search engine optimization efforts then you are more than likely going to see your site climb to the front page of major search engines like Google. If you don’t take the time to thoroughly research and implement all of the many things which go into this important task then more than likely your site is going to be lost among the sea of other websites online. Consumers typically use the links provided within the first couple pages when a query is entered into the search engine; if your site is not on these two pages it will more than likely be overlooked. Therefore, you need to do all that you can to help your chance be recognized by the major search engines.

What is SEO – Content

A good way to look at the process of search engine optimization is this; no matter how well laid out your site is or if it has beautiful graphics and awesome videos, if the text within the content is not relevant to the most popular search terms related to your product or service, it is not going to be indexed by the search engines. The majority of what search engines look for is in the way of text, this is why your keyword choices are so very important. The search engine will crawl the websites using a software program that looks for relevant information. Once this information is found it is then indexed and stored in their database.

Basically it determines which keywords are the most relevant to your website and will remember this information and use it when a query is performed by the consumer. The key is to make sure that your page is indexed in a way that is accurate in order to help you to get higher search engine rankings and in turn more traffic to your site. Typically the more traffic your site has the more sales you are going to generate; this is the ultimate goal of search engine optimization. You want buyer traffic to be generated to your site through the use of search engines.

What is SEO – Keywords

One thing that you will need to keep in mind about search engine optimization is that when a consumer performs a search using a strong of keywords; the search engines then process this string in order to determine which websites are the most relevant match; this is determined by the density and placement of carefully chosen and placed keywords as well as metatags and links. You will have to be very aware of any and all changes which are made by the search engines in regards to calculating the relevancy of websites in order to keep your website ranking at the top. Staying on top of SEO techniques is one thing that all website owners should be very dedicated to; this is because it can make a huge difference in the success of failure of a website. No matter how well laid out your website is or how great the product or service you are offering; if consumers cannot find your website it is not going to be profitable.

Learn Search Engine Optimization

One problem that many website developers face is that the major search engines such as Google, yahoo and Bing all look for slightly different things when they are calculating the relevancy of a website. If you are planning to try to reach the top of more than one major search engine then you are going to need to be keenly aware of these differences in order to optimize your sites very carefully so that they are optimized for more than one search engine. Some of the main differences between some of the main search engines are that Google ranks links very important with keyword placement taking a secondary role; Yahoo or Bing look primarily at keyword placement and density when determining the relevancy of the site.

What is SEO – Aged Domains

Another difference which many people do not realize is that older more established sites receive preference by Google; therefore it may be harder to get your website to the first page of Google then it would be to get this same webpage to the first page of Yahoo or Bing. Therefore if you are just starting out be sure that you optimize your website so that it follows the SEO requirements for both Google as well as other search engines; this can help you to achieve higher ranking faster until you are able to move up the Google rankings.

Whichever method you decide to use, one thing is for sure; search engine optimization is a very important step to the success of any online business and should not be taken lightly. Devote as much time as needed to understanding and learning all of the different tactics and techniques which are commonly used in SEO. There are many different things which you will have to learn before you are going to fully understand the in-depth nature of this complex process. For example,

What are the best keywords to choose?
What is the best keyword density?
Where metatags should be placed?
How do your work the keywords into your content?
What are the On-Page SEO Factors?
What are the Off-Page SEO Factors?

What is SEO – Search Engine Results Rankings

Once you understand the relevancy of all of these things and how they all tie into your websites rankings you are then ready to optimize your website so that it will be noticed. However, be prepared to put in many hours to this task now as well as in the future. Due to the changing standards of the search engines you are going to need to stay on your toes if you expect to keep up with changes as they are made. This is very important to your success; just because you have made it to the top does not mean that your efforts should be diminished. You are going to need to devote time daily to ensuring that your website stays on those top pages