Search Engine Optimization

In my role as a search engine consultant, many people ask me what search engine optimization (SEO) is all about. Well, here's an explanation!

Search engine optimization is a relatively new business area and one which, as the name suggests, is very closely related to search engines.

As many people will know, search engines represent a type of service provided online to help internet users find information as quickly and easily as possible. Popular search engines include the market leader, Google, plus the likes of Yahoo and MSN.

When you type in a search on one of these search engines, you are then presented with a list of results. The software behind the search engine effectively finds what it considers to be the best matches for your chosen search.

So, where does search engine optimization fit in here?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about trying to get a website to appear more highly in the search engine results.

Achieving this can be done in a number of ways, but will usually include a range of techniques. Typically, a search engine consultant might look to make changes to the structure of the website, to the way in which content is presented and to the underlying website code.

The consultant may also adopt a range of "off-site" techniques - these might include increasing the number of other sites that link to the target site.

In effect, the target of search engine optimization is to increase the number of visitors to a particular site, by improving the site's search engine rankings.

Increasing the number of visitors should, if done properly, increase the number of sales made on the website.

This scope for improving income is what has put the best search engine optimization experts in high demand.

You can find out more about improving your web presence by visiting where Keith Barrett is employed as a search engine consultant. This article may be used by any website publisher, though this resource box must always be included in full.

Search Engine Optimization Tips

Search engine optimization (SEO) seems to be shrouded in mystery for many people. Perhaps this is a good thing, as if you don't optimize properly and according to "the rules" it's very possible that the search engines will stop indexing you all together. So, the aim of this guide is to help you do the simple things that provide the largest return on investment. But first some background on how search engines work, and why search engine optimization is a good idea.

SEO Background

To index the huge number of webpages online (30 billion plus) the search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN, have created, or acquired, complex algorithms designed to comb through the web and deliver relevant results. These algorithms have always been closely guarded secrets, but by looking closely at the results page, and running "tests" on the system, many people have determined what it is they're looking for. This in turn gave rise to search engine optimization as we now know it. As for why SEO is important, depending on the source 75-90% of people find the websites they're looking for using a search engine, so the importance is easy to see.

Give The Search Engines What They Want

In the constantly changing world of search engine algorithms, I can't give you exact details. However, there are some important things that will most likely never change. When it comes to your website, there are two major things search engines look for, the first is your onsite content, and the second is how your website is seen by the rest of the internet. The easiest things to do involve your onsite content, so we'll start there.

Content

The most important words on your website are in the title. Make absolutely sure that your title contains the keyword, or keyphrase that you'd like people to search for. A good way to do this is to follow this formula: "Website Name - Keywords/Keyphrase". Continuing on, your headings, the h1, h2, h3, etc. tags, are also very important, so try to have them include your keywords as well. However, in the case of headings use them as they were meant to be used. Don't use headings as normal text, and don't have multiple instances of h1 headings. Search engines caught wind of this early on and penalize sites that abuse it.

Another important item is the anchor text used in links. The anchor text is the actual underlined text that goes between the "a" tags, and it should reflect your keywords and keyphrases instead of something like "click here." Then of course is the high quality, unique content you've added to the internet community. Make sure your content includes your keywords and phrases so the search engines know what your website's about. It seems as if ideally your keyword frequency and density should be somewhere between 3% and 7%. So, let's say your keyphrase is "car repair," then this phrase should be repeated 2-3 times for every 100 words. On top of that, you should be shooting for over 200 words per page which seems to be a standard among all search engines.

Offsite Optimization

Onsite optimization can take you a long way, but to really drive your traffic up you'll need to concentrate on link building. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as working with your content. The search engine algorithms have changed recently to include backlinks in the formula they use to rank your website. What this means, is that the more high quality, relevant backlinks you have to your site the more important your website is considered by Google, Yahoo, etc. The key here is high quality and relevant backlinks, as opposed to those found in link exchange farms. There are a few good ways to do this. The first, and simplest thing to do, is to submit your website to online directories.

Try to pick reputable directories that take free submissions such as the Open Directory project, and LinkCentre. Another great way to build backlinks is to write articles like this one. There are tons of websites that take article submissions and allow other webmasters to use them. However, to use an article the webmaster must also place the author's information which the author defines. It's a great idea to place a link, with good anchor text, back to your website in this section. Assuming your website presents valuable information to other users, you might also try contacting other webmasters directly.

Let them know that your website can serve as a great resource for his users. Depending on the size and popularity the website, you may or may not get linked. If you don't, shake it off and keep plugging away. My last little tip on search engine optimization is to be persistent, and patient. Search engines, specifically Google, have begun to value backlinks on the basis of longevity, so the longer a backlink survives the more valuable it becomes. This may mean it will take months to obtain a top ranking, but keep plugging away, your efforts will pay off.

Organic Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization can be broken down into two separate yet intertwined categories. Non-organic or paid search optimization and organic, or unpaid search optimization. Paid search advertising relies on purchased search phrases to drive visitors to a website, while organic search optimization focuses on developing web sites that are naturally search engine friendly and appear in the unpaid or "organic" search engine results pages. (SERPS)

Successful organic optimization combines technical know-how with persuasive marketing. Organically optimized web sites contain content that visitors find informative and relevant to their searches. Content is further optimized for search engines by incorporating relevant key phrases or words into the site's literature. Organic optimization is holistic in approach. Every aspect of a web site is analysed for it's level of search friendliness. Aspects like the site's title, meta-tags, editorial copy, structure and design, usability and function are all taken into consideration.

These aspects and many others are equally considered when optimizing a web site. There are, however four main points of interest:

1. Key Phrases: One of the first steps in organic optimization is determining which key phrases are to be targeted. This is determined by researching which words or phrases a target audience is most likely to search for. These target keywords are then incorporated into the title, description and content of a web site. It is important to note that the overuse of keywords in a web site can result in a search engine's indexing software to considering a site as abusing or spamming the search engine and can result in that site being removed from the search index. Generally a key word should appear five to eight times within a site's editorial content and content should consist of between 200 and 400 words.

2. Site Structure: Search engines are somewhat limited in the way they can index a web site. Search engine robots or spiders are chiefly concerned with determining two things, what is this web site all about and where should this site show up in the search engine results. Often the way in which a web site is constructed can have negative results in how effective these search spiders are. It is important to understand how search engine indexing works in order to create web sites which are fine tuned for optimal search results Search spiders look primarily for text content when judging how a site is to be indexed. Sites which are built entirely of graphic elements or flash are not search friendly. Sites which feature an overuse of javascript and other dynamic content are not search friendly. A multitude of factors are considered when optimizing for the search engines. Since different search engines follow different rules, and the rules often change, it is unlikely that every aspect of a web site will be perfectly matched to every search engine. The important thing to strive for is eliminating the elements of a site that are known to cause problems, and emphasizing as many search friendly aspects as possible.

3. Usability: A site which is difficult to navigate, slow to load, or leaves a user wondering exactly what the site is all about is a site that is not going to perform very well. The flow of information within a web site must be logical and intuitive. Optimizing a site for performance is critical to its overall level of success. After all, what is the point of having a web site that ranks well in search engines if nobody can use it?

4. Inbound Links: The amount of inbound links to a web site has a direct effect on the search engine page ranking of the site. Virtually all of the popular search engines have methods of calculating the link popularity of any given site. This makes inbound links an important area of organic optimization. The quality of the inbound links can matter more than the quantity. Search engines place more importance on relevant links from sites which they consider to be authorities on any given key phrase. Search engines strive to provide the most relevant results possible by filtering out meaningless or "junk" links to a website. In some cases, large numbers of irrelevant inbound links are seen by the search engines as abuse or spamming. Practices such as "link farming" and "free-for-all" link pages are frowned upon.

As the popularity of paid search advertising grows so does the need for organic optimization. While paid search campaigns can offer short term exposure, organic optimization involves steady, long term results. And as the costs of paid search advertising continues to climb, organic optimization offers the assurance of appearing in search pages for natural searches. By combining aspects of search engine technicalities, site structure and usablity, organic optimization not only focuses on search engine results but offers the end user of a site a quality experience.

Introduction to Search Engine Optimization

By Avinesh Prahladi

Search engine optimization is a method to evaluate and assess your website and it assists the search engines to read, and comprehend it. It is not all about rephrasing or altering the look of the website. It is a procedure where slight changes are made so that the content is more noticeable and the search engines can view and interpret the website easily. SEO cannot be termed as spamming as it is a method under which the search engines are assisted so that in return they can provide you assistance in the coming time.

For the past couple of years the procedure of SEO has been frequently put into use. Websites are being created using Java and Flash which the search engines are not able to comprehend and overlook. In a situation where the content of the website is overlooked by the search engines subsequently they are not able to index your website. If your website is not indexed then nobody can look for it in the search engines like- Yahoo, Google, and MSN. If your website is not visited by the target consumers then there is no use of putting efforts and capital in creating a website.

Search engine’s main purpose is to provide the potential results to the visitors and if for some reasons they are not able to index any particular website they might be loosing a great amount of content that the visitors are expecting. SEO bears so much importance that Google offers rules and regulations to opt for a SEO service.

How SEO functions?

There are majority of the websites those are not well functional on their topics. The keyword directory which has about fifty or more phrases in a particular page and the business that contains four individual submissions, websites make an effort to aim at all the four in a single time. Probably the website was targeting a search phrase that nobody is searching. SEO assures that every page of your website stays centered and consequently observed as an influence on the particular topic.

Free of cost search engines

On the internet search engines are free of cost. Google itself and the websites taking services of Google’s results make about fifty percent of the internet search market themselves. If you are only targeting Google then you are loosing your fifty percent of the business profit. SEO should be for all search engines, not just Google and at the same time keep constantly evaluating the search engines so that your website (or websites) remains at a decent rank. This way you are increasing your website consumers by making minimum efforts.

Pay Per Click Advertising

The results that are displayed on Yahoo and Google are known as sponsored links. Entirely depending how much is your budget, you can appear anywhere on the lists. There are companies who provide assistance in conducting effective pay per click advertising operation.

Linking

Search engines consider that keeping a link with your website will be beneficial. If you don’t contain an inbound links then the search engines won’t list your website. Higher number of inbound links will get your website decent ranking. It is recommended that be cautious of free for all (FFA) which is exclusively made to link. Search engines block these websites those are linked with these farms.

Choosing a SEO service

It can be verified by rankings of the website in the search engine. You should opt for those websites which has a ranking in the top ten because of its keywords. Imagine if a SEO company which can place a website in the top ten ranking at the same time when the opponents are professionals in this field, now you can very well assume what treatment your website will get

Five Steps For Basic Search Engine Optimization

By Tony Williams 

The comparatively low cost of building a Website makes it one of the most cost effective ways of promoting a business. Even the smallest business can benefit from an online presence; provided it is an effective one.

One of the basic necessities of promoting your business with a Website is that it must be able to be found on the search engines. Without this simple thing your site is effectively invisible to the general public and may as well not even exist. Disillusionment can soon set in when the company Website does not appear to be 'performing' or bringing in any customers.

For this reason, it is essential when contracting a Web designer to ensure they have some knowledge of search engine optimization. There are many who don't. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is not some black art (although many would have us believe so) and there are many simple tips and tricks that can easily be carried out to optimize a site.

Here are my five steps for basic search engine optimization...

1.Optimize your site around the most popular keywords – A keyword or keyword phrase is what a user will type into a search engine to look for the information they need. So spending some time anticipating and researching the keywords related to your business will not only be worthwhile; but is a vital step towards the success of your Website.

2.Know your target audience – One of the basics of marketing is to advertise to the people who are likely to be your customers. This applies also to your Website, so make sure it is built to be appealing to them.

It is also a good idea to look for ways of getting your existing visitors to keep returning to your site such as a regular newsletter, promotions, giveaways, etc. Again; knowing your target audience will be a big help in deciding the most effective methods.

3.Don't give up on your existing Website – If you already have a site that is not performing as well as you would like, don't abandon it. Instead get the site looked at by a professional and find out what improvements can be made.

There will more often than not be more value to search engines in an existing site than in a brand new one.

4.Make sure your site is designed to be 'user friendly' – There are many superb guides that go into great detail about effective Web design. But some of the more obvious things to consider are: Colour schemes, easy navigation, page layout, text sizes, etc. Without a user friendly Website your visitors will not stay long enough to find out what your business is all about.

5.Add content to the Website regularly – A site that is updated regularly encourages repeat visitors and also gets looked upon more favourably by search engines. A simple way of adding fresh content to a site is to incorporate a blog. This can then be posted to on a daily or weekly basis.

Following these five steps for basic search engine optimization will help to ensure that your Website gets noticed and attracts the customers you need for your business. Good luck!

Danny Sullivan & The Formation of a Local SEM Organization

By Todd Mintz

It´s true that Danny Sullivan is indirectly responsible for the formation of SEMpdx (Portland´s SEM Organization). At the 2006 SES Seattle Conference, in a conversation with Anvil Media´s Kent Lewis, Danny inadvertently (for he´s too nice a guy to do something like this deliberately) slighted our Rose City. When Kent relayed Danny´s comments to Scott Orth, the desire to form a local SEM organization that would be the envy of much bigger marketplaces was born. One year later, I can state unequivocally that being one of the founding board members has been an extremely valuable, enriching experience.

The purpose of my writing this article is to attempt to show others the value of what we´ve accomplished and hopefully encourage like-minded SEM´s in other communities to form their own local organizations. I know that SEO Meetups are forming many places and it´s wonderful that folks are getting together to talk shop and drink beers. However, Dallas / Fort Worth, New York, and New England are the only regions that I know about that seem to be doing what we´re doing in Portland (and if I´ve slighted your organization, it´s due only to my ignorance).

So, why are the benefits of such groups?

• Exchange of ideas. SES Seattle 2006 was the first time I ever had an in-person conversation with another SEO (and I had been doing SEO since 2000). An SEO who doesn´t go to conferences has not likely met many (if any) fellow professionals. It´s really nice to hang out with people with whom you can openly share your work experiences and who understand what the heck you are talking about.

• Business Referrals. Not everybody is an expert in all facets of SEM. Many SEMpdx members have more clients than bandwidth. It´s nice to be able to refer out potential clients to trusted sources.

• Competitors Can Be Friends. All the original SEMpdx board members were with difference agencies at the time our organization was formed (though two of us are now corporate). Competing with each other for business is a little less onerous when you have strong relationships with your competition (and when they can also be a referral source for you).

• Educating Our Community. Each board member knows that once our Portland Business Community sees the value of search engine marketing, they will be more likely to invest in the search process. To further this aim, SEMpdx hosts a series of monthly events along with our annual day-long Searchfest where business people interested in learning more about search can learn from the best minds in our industry.

• Recruiting New Search Professionals. Our members who run multi-person agencies have to turn business away because they can not find enough qualified people to hire. There is an extraordinary lack of search personnel. We are using our organization as a magnet to attract potential employees (and any Portland people who are looking for search careers really should start hanging out with us).

• Giving Back To Our Community. Each year, we designate a local non-profit to get a percentage of our revenues, plus we collectively offer our professional services gratis to that charity.

• Increased Individual Visibility. Because our organization has become highly visible, each Board Member has become much more visible in the Portland business community, as well as in the global search community.

So, it´s great first step to organize and attend a local SEO meetup…however, the benefits of forming a full-fledged local organization can personally and professionally profitable for all involved.

Are Anti-Glare Search Engines Really To Glare On?

The buzz surrounding the anti-glare search engines is on! With a number of anti-glare search engines like Blackle introducing a new theme of using a black screen for saving energy, people are curious to find out the truth about its claim. According to an article published by Mark Onktush in January, 2007, turning Google page black would save 3000 MWh per year!

Interesting as it sounds, there are actually a number of aspects to be taken into consideration prior to resting a complete belief in the theory of the anti-glare search engines. Mark, in his article, claimed that Google could actually save 750 MW hours a year using a black screen. This, in fact, is true for cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, which consume more power. The black screen would definitely use around 15 watt less in CRTs. But what about LCD monitor users? To be precise, Mark had himself claimed that around 25% of people use CRT monitors. If such is the case, would a black screen really be a great help for LCD users?

As said earlier, the CRT users would save around 15 watts less energy than their LCD counterparts, amounting to 1,917,750 kWh (511,400,000 hours x 25% x .015 kW). This is definitely good news for CRT users. However, there is a flip side to it as well. The LCD users can hardly benefit from a black screen for they use a black lit display, selectively blocking out certain wavelengths of light. It is surprising to find that an LCD monitor actually consumes an extra watt when switched on to black screen. However, the CRT users would definitely be benefited by setting up anti-glare screen as their home page.

The concept of anti-glare search engines or Black Google has been criticized widely. But it would not be altogether correct to negate the whole issue by claiming it as worthless. People should appreciate the fact that importance is being placed on health issues of the users. Anti-glare screens are easy to read as they negate straining of the eyes. Energy saving or not, users certainly feel easier to read on a black screen than their colored counterparts. The debate on anti-glare search engine has gained from strength to strength. In spite of multiple criticisms, we sincerely believe that the concept should really be worked upon and bettered.

3 Top Ways to Search Engine Optimization

By Sean R Mize 

The track of the number of websites on the World Wide Web is a Herculean task. And searching for a particular website in this jungle of websites is an even harder task. To make your site stand out you must have your site search engine optimized. Here are three top ways to search engine optimization or SEO.

First way to search engine optimization is to make a good professional website in which the content is updated regularly and the content is search engine optimized. This can be done by giving some consideration to the keyword and keyword density in the word content. The search engine detects the website that is keyword rich and regularly updated.

Second way to get search engine optimized is the use of RSS feed. By the RSS feed you can have your website link to all the major sites and have your updated content sent to the subscribed users immediately. Also this will give your website a dynamic nature which in turn will increase your search engine rating. The use of RSS feed also give your website a professional look that will help you increase your public presence.

Third way to go for search engine optimization is to submit your website link to the search engines and web directories. You can also pay for some keywords that best describe your website. This will help you improving your search engine rating. Here the keyword should be chosen carefully as you need to pay for the keywords. So make a list of keywords and then bid on the keywords according to the applicability list of the keyword.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Unethical Search Engine Optimization Explained

By Keith Barrett 

If you've ever thought about hiring a professional search engine optimization (SEO) consultant or read about SEO as a subject then you may have seen the term "black hat" mentioned. Let's take a closer look at what black hat SEO really means.

To begin with, we'll revisit what is meant by the term search engine optimization (SEO). SEO refers to methods that improve search engine rankings for a particular website. Techniques can vary but will often involve making the most of the website by ensuring that its content and structure appeal to search engines, as well as visitors.

There are various schools of thought on how best to carry out such optimization. As far as the major search engines are concerned, there are ethical methods of improving search engine rankings and unethical methods.

Within the professional search engine community, ethical techniques are known as "white hat", while techniques that are viewed as unethical have been labelled "black hat".

White Hat SEO involves making the best use of the structure and content of the website to improve rankings. Black Hat techniques will often involve attempting to fool a search engine into believing that a particular website is more relevant or highly regarded than it actually is.

Examples of Black Hat methods might include cloaking, which is where a search engine is effectively shown a different version of a website to visitors. Other techniques would include employing hidden text and links.

Although Black Hat SEO can have some impressive results, the major search engines are constantly attempting to clamp down on such methods, banning websites who employ them.

For long-term results, ethical White Hat methods are the most effective.

You can find out more about improving your web presence by visiting Search South, where Keith Barrett is employed as a search engine consultant. This article may be used by any website publisher, though this resource box must always be included in full.

A Professional Web Promotion Service

Are you looking for a professional website promotion service? What do you expect from a web promotion service, for example do you expect your site to reach the top ten of the rankings, top five or even number one? How do you ensure that you have chosen the right company to carry out your web promotion requirements?

I have had sites on the net since 1999 and have had many negative experiences when choosing a company or a person to promote my websites. I have now learnt from these experiences and am now hoping to educate the readers of this article to ensure that they do not make the same mistakes. I have now learnt how to successfully promote my own websites and have helped many other people to attain top five rankings on some of the major search engines such as Google.

I personally believe that a web promotion service should include:

Personal web promotion tuition

As well as promoting a site, I think the company should explain each step of what they are doing and why they are doing it. This is a way of educating their client in to how to promote a website.

For example if they believe in one-way links they could show where they have obtained and placed the backward link and explain why they have done this, the benefit it could bring and all of the aspects of page rank.

If they use article marketing as a form of web promotion, again they could explain the benefits of writing articles and about which article directories they submit each article to.

Monthly ranking reports

For each keyword they are attempting to promote, the web promotion should send a monthly report to their client to show the current ranking of the website.

Search engine optimisation

The web promoter should also be able to advise on how the webmaster could change his/her website to help to make it more search engine friendly. This could include ensuring that all of the main keywords are on the homepage(I am often amazed at how many websites do not already have this in place) and to advise about the importance of adding fresh unique content to the site on a regular basis.

Stephen Hill runs The How To Stop Stammering Centre, he has a number of websites including:

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