Search engine optimization (SEO) is a core part of internet marketing. It uses techniques that are search engine friendly to push a website higher in the results pages of Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and Bing, which leads to more traffic and stronger visibility to potential customers. Several methods exist, but the most effective is a focused SEO strategy.
What does SEO actually do?
SEO is the process of enhancing the volume and quality of site visitors to a specific site or web page through search engines. Its targets are twofold: increasing the number of visitors and raising the ranking of the site or page in results from Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and Bing. SEO focuses on organic search engine traffic rather than paid or direct traffic. Organic SEO usually raises the visibility of individual pages or websites without payment to outside sources such as advertisements, though this is not always the case. Certain techniques developed to raise organic traffic ranking can also be applied to paid advertising campaigns. SEO includes search engine optimisation, domain name registration, article submission, directory submissions, press releases and search engine optimization training.
How do search engines decide rankings?
Optimisation goes deeper than keyword density and page headings. Search engines use algorithms that determine or produce search results, and those algorithms change over time, just like other parts of programming languages. The algorithms rank sites by observing the frequency with which certain words or phrases appear, and they are subject to constant change as the search engines update them.
To rank websites, the algorithms examine several factors, including primary keywords, meta tags, anchor text and content.
- Keywords are the words targeted by an SEO campaign and should contain no repetitions and should not sound spammy.
- Meta tags are keywords that internet users will enter into the address bar when they want to learn more about a site. These tags give the keywords a place in the content of a web page, and keywords embedded in the meta tag also count towards SEO and raise the site’s popularity.
- Anchor text is any words that visitors will enter into a search engine in order to locate a particular website. This could be the name of the page or the specific website. It is also known as descriptive text.
Meta tags should be unique to each page, and the key phrases used should not be repeated on any other site on the Internet. All of this increases the chances of visitors finding the websites on the first search engine results page and increases the chances of search traffic being directed to those websites.
Why does usability matter for SEO?
To receive full benefit of search engine optimization, websites should be properly optimized for both the search engines and for human visitors. A majority of websites are not fully optimized for either of these and they suffer from a lack of traffic and ranking. Search engine optimization should focus on the usability of the website. Websites that are difficult to navigate or that have poor content will not draw visitors and will not help with the search engine optimization process. Poorly optimized websites will also be slower to load, which will prevent visitors from searching quickly or finding what they are looking for quickly. The key phrase or keywords used should relate to the information provided on the page.
What are the two parts of an SEO campaign?
Search engine optimization has two components. First, the keywords or key phrases must be relevant to the information being provided. The second part of the SEO process involves the optimization of the web page. It is essential that the web page is properly written for the intended audience and is optimized for the search engines. If the page is not properly written, it may attract a large amount of visitors, but those visitors will not likely become customers.
How long does keyword research take?
Many website owners think that search engine optimization is a difficult process that requires many hours of work. In practice it only takes a few hours of work for each keyword research project. Website owners need to remember that the key words or key phrases should relate to the information being provided on the page. Keyword research tools can be used to quickly locate key phrases that are most relevant to the website and the products and services being offered.