Search Engine Terminology Know the importance of links, keywords and meta-tags.

Linking is an important factor in Search Engine Optimization. Without proper inbound and outbound links, or the establishment of a linking campaign, your great site may not be found by the search engines. You'll need to create ways which allow visitors to find you.

KEYWORDS

Search engines look for keywords and keyword phases in which to index your web pages.  So you must prepare each page for the search engines. When you are writing copy for each page of your website, use four or five keywords that you want to emphasize for that web page, and then weave the words into the copy. However, don't blatantly use the keywords over and over again (keyword stuffing), or the search engines will penalize you for it.  And, needless to say, your readers will click away, if the flow of the copy is so obviously stuffed with your keywords that it jeopardizes the quality of the copy.

META-TAGS

The two most important meta-tags are Title and Description. The Title and the Description Tags should both contain your most relevant keywords. Although the keyword meta-tags is not used by Google, other search engines may utilize them.

INBOUND LINKS

Inbound links are links on other sites pointing to your website, and they help to improve your search engine ranking. How do you get inbound links?  Write articles and place them on article directories for ezine publishers, newsletter publishers, or bloggers to pick up. Blogging to get one-way links to your site.  Again, that same article you wrote for the article directories can be put in your blog, and then submitted to a Blog Directory. 

OUTBOUND LINKS

An outbound link is a link on your website that points to another website. An outbound link proveds access to quality content for your readers. You redirecting them to it from your site. So, what does outbound linking offer you?  By carefully linking to other sites (relevant sites), you can increase your own relevancy.

SEO ContentKeeping Abreast Of SEO Trends.

One of the major developments in search engine optimization (SEO) is the use of keywords, both in the Meta tags of a site and throughout the website content. The density, placement and actual keywords themselves are hotly debated topics. Keywords play a vital role in any good SEO effort, but search engines like Google change their ranking algorithms on a regular basis.

It is difficult to determine what the keyword rules are when it comes to SEO content writing, but there are always common worst-practice factors that should be avoided completely. Search engines like Google will not only ignore your website content but they will actively penalize you for certain things.

Spam: The Big No!

Search engines do not tolerate spam. The practice of keyword cramming or keyword stuffing is something that does not go unnoticed, and you will face a penalty for using this technique. Keywords are important, but you also have to provide solid and informational text for your visitors.

What Is The Ideal Keyword Density?

The keywords within your text should account for no more than 5% to 10% of the total content. Avoid higher densities. Search engines do not want to display sites that are created for "search purposes." Their aim is to display websites that are geared towards visitors.

Play By The Rules.

Keeping the keyword density to this level is an art, which combines search engine optimization with informative content in a way that will appeal to your visitors. In order to do this it is important that you use natural keywords.

Natural And Artificial Keywords.

A natural keyword is one that you would use in everyday conversation. In the case of your website, if you were to sit down and write 500 words of informative content, you would find that certain words naturally appear several times. These are your natural keywords. Unfortunately natural keywords may not provide you with the results you require.

For example, a little keyword research may show that the natural keywords "divorce attorney" are very well searched, but there are 2 million websites geared towards this phrase. Further research may show that "Find Divorce Attorneys," may be a less popular with searches, but there are only 10,000 sites aiming for this keyword.

Replace Natural Keywords With Artificial Keywords.

Go back over the content you have written, and see if the term "Find Divorce Attorneys" appears within your content. If not, you'll have to make it appear to do so naturally. Find the locations where you used the keyword Divorce Attorney, and see if you can swap the phrases.

Begin With Artificial Natural Keywords.

Build a master list of your artificial keywords before you write your website content. Because you are already thinking of the phrases you want to use, you will naturally include them within the content of your site. You should be able to effectively optimize pages towards both search engines and your visitors, and this will improve your search engine ranking.

Advanced techniques we use include:

  • Appropriate Keyword Density
  • Playing By The Rules
  • Natural Keywords
  • Artificial Keywords

SEO ToolsSoftware tools to improve your search engine rank.

Before you start optimizing your site for search engines, there are some tools that you should arm yourself with. The most important step in any search engine position campaign is recognizing which keywords you should optimize your site for. There are several software programs that are useful for this, including Wordtracker, Optilink, Zeus, and Agent Web Ranking.

WordTracker. WordTracker's keyword research service provides a comprehensive database of the most popular keywords in a particular industry. It can help you recognize associated keywords that you may have never thought of. One of the differences between WordTracker and other tools is that it can spot subtle differences, for example singular and plural keywords, or often-misspelled ones, and tell you which versions are more popular.

Optilink. Optilink has become very popular because of the power it gives you over search engines. Every site that links to you boosts your ranking, especially if its content is relevant to yours. Optilink helps you to come up with strategies to improve your link structure, and get a better ranking. Here are some of the things it does:

  • Analyzes the link structures of your top-ranking competitors.
  • Tells you why your competitors rank well, so you can try to copy what they're doing.
  • Tells you what kind of rankings you can expect if you adopt similar linking strategies.
  • Helps to monitor sites you've exchanged links with, to ensure that they're still linking to you.

Zeus. Zeus has an excellent way of increasing the link popularity of your site, by exchanging with other sites that are related to yours, giving you a head start on your SEO. Zeus does the work for you, identifying sites that it thinks you should try to exchange links with. If you look for the sites yourself you'll often find it's not worth the time, but an SEO tool like Zeus lets you do it instantly. Once you've got links, you can manage and maintain them automatically.

Agent Web Ranking. Agent Web Ranking helps you to check your sites rankings. This helps you to see how your SEO efforts are working. Many people just optimize and submit, thinking the work is done, but they're wrong. You need to continuously check your site's rankings, and Agent Web Ranking is a reliable and quick tool for doing this.

Search engines can change the way they display their results. This means that most position reporting software gets outdated very quickly. It's not that much of an issue, though, as most software is provided on a subscription basis with updates included.

SEO Basics, Part 1Consistency is the key word.

The most important thing about SEO is that consistency is the key word. Because of that, it is important to understand that:

  • Search Engines rank web pages, not websites. You should have unique Titles, Descriptions and Keywords for each of your pages. Ideally, there should be only one page per keyword phrase you are targeting, highly focused on that keyword phrase. You can also target related combinations of your search phrase.
  • Your website has to be relevant to searchers, and not just the search engine. One very important aspect of SEO is that your site should be well-balanced. There many variables that matter when it comes to optimizing a site, there is not a specific area were all the effort should be on.
  • Less is more, when it comes to targeted keywords. If you have a typical small business site, focus on 5 to 10 keywords. Build your entire site around these keywords, and remember to create text content that is relevant to searches using these keywords. Put those keywords in your Title, Description, and Keyword areas.
  • Build content for people, and not for search engines. Content is king, and for a good reason. When two sites which are highly optimized in a particular industry are ranked for a particular key phrase, Search Engines evaluate them for relevancy. Keep your content relevant, and keep your site up-to-date, either by adding new content, or by editing existing content.
  • Tell me who links to you, and who you link to, and I will tell you who you are. Yes, linking is that important in SEO. You must have quality incoming links, and you must build them all naturally. Search Engines reward sites when their links are built steadily over time.

SEO Basics, Part 2Get solid Search Engine rankings.

The remaining suggestions relate to targeting solid Search Engine Rankings for particular number of key phrases.

  • Provide a road map of your website, and search engines will follow it. Called a sitemap, this very simple page contains links to every page on your website and serves one very important purpose: to get your sub pages crawled, and into a search engine's index.
  • Search Engines look for the robots.txt or sitemap.xml file, so make sure you have it. As its name implies, this file that tells search engine robots what to index. Only include files and directories that you want to be indexed. If search engines know what to do with them, then they can give them the proper ranking.
  • Submit your site to related categories in niche directories. Internet directories have become very important because they represent an easy path for creating inbound links. When you submit your site to related categories in your industry, you get that extra link factor -- quality. Links from these categories can have a very positive effect on the search engine rankings of your website.
  • Write articles about your site. It's a great way to build new content, and will help you get better positioning on search engines -- and quality incoming links as well. Always keep your articles as informative as possible. Write about the topics that your visitors are interested in, and don't forget to submit them to information portals within your industry. Make sure that you provide a link back to your website, so that all sites who publish your article will automatically link to you.
  • Become an authority in your field. Visit relevant forums and blogs. Join forums and blogs that are relevant to your industry. Use your expertise as a site owner in your industry to give information and advice. Of course, put your website address into the signature of your posts. Becoming an authority is simple: you know your industry, so when you share information with your colleagues and peers, they will come to trust you and your site.