Search Engine Optimization

One of the most discussed and analyzed topics on
the internet is search engine optimization (SEO).
Discussions on SEO forums often get heated as
members argue about which tactics work best.

Search engine optimization is merely the art of
making your site friendly to the search engines
so you will rank well for keywords related to
your niche.

As a website owner you want search engines like
Google, Yahoo, and MSN to rank you highly. For
example, if your website is about wines from
California, you want to show up on the first
page of results when someone searches for
"California wines."

Top rankings for popular keywords can bring
hundreds of visitors to your site day in and
day out.

Unfortunately, there are many opinions on how
to achieve top rankings, and these opinions
often conflict with one another. Google and
other search engines carefully guard the
algorithms that determine ranking to prevent
manipulation. But through trial and error,
clever minds have reverse engineered the
process to identify several factors that
help websites rank well.

The key is to make it easy for search engines
to figure out what your site is about. Let's
look at some ways to make your site friendlier
to the search engines.

SEO Tips

Each page of your site should target a different
keyword. Go back to our wine example. You'll likely
have pages on red wines, white wines, wine tasting,
wine tours, etc.

Each page should target a single keyword phrase
and that keyword should be featured prominently
throughout that web page.

You'll want to place your keyword in each of the
following places:

-In the Title of your page (preferably at the
very beginning)
-In the Description
-As the Header (H1) of the page
-In the "alt" tag embedded in an image
-In the anchor test of a link
-In bold somewhere in your text

You'll also want to use your keyword phrase
throughout the text. But do so carefully. You
want it to appear natural. Going overboard and
packing your keyword phrase all over the place
is called "keyword stuffing" and could cause
the search engines to drop your site altogether.

These simple on-page SEO tips will help you get
top rankings for many long tail keyword phrases.
But for more competitive keywords you'll need
some help...lots and lots of backlinks!