What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Exactly what is search engine optimization and what benefit’s do we really get from its use? Search engines will always provide a greater volume of traffic to websites or blogs that have deployed SEO optimization.

Not sure what Search Engines are? Bare with me a moment

Search Engines are software tools designed to index content contained on web pages throughout the internet so as to provide a fast search and delivery of relevant information as close as possible to the searchers keyword search criteria.

Google, MSN, Yahoo and Ask Jeeves etc are all examples of Search Engines in use today.

Finding information today on the internet has been really simplified by the introduction of Search Engines. You simply go to the search engine site and enter your search criteria (Keywords) and within seconds a host of relevant information is returned.

Let me give you an example;

Assume we have chosen the Google search engine and completed our keyword entry into the search bar and clicked on the Google search button.

Immediately after clicking the Google search button a list of websites containing relevant content is presented. Of the website links listed, there are two distinct types; those at the top on a pink background and on the right hand side are what are known as Sponsored links.(paid for)
Those remaining on the left are known as Organic links. (free)

Free links are achieved by adding regular relevant content to your website and deploying a good SEO optimization strategy. To get your free website link appearing on the first page means that you have been rated very highly by the search engine.

By making every effort to achieve that first page ranking on the search engine listings, and maintaining your position there; you will be adopting a really excellent marketing technique that will provide a regular flow of Free traffic to your website, plus increase sales and income, regularly, month after month.

Clearly then, as you can see, SEO optimization is very important and will play a major role in your on-line success.

So, you should now understand why we might need SEO, but how can a website achieve good SEO?
A great question, particularly if you are just starting out on SEO.
Regrettably, SEO is too broad a subject to cover in this article; but I will give just one basic example that will illustrate how SEO interacts with the search engines. This example is really easy to implement and an absolute peach of a tactic to deploy:

To use it, just edit the text within your website, and articles if present; and include highly searched for, related keywords that mostly represent your website or product offer.

To identify these keywords, you can use for example the Google Keyword Analysis Tool located at:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Or, if you want to see the distribution of keywords used per month across the three major search engines…..Google, Yahoo and MSN, then I recommend you using the SEOBOOK.com tool located at:
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword

NB…. You will need to register at SEOBook.com first (which is Free) before gaining access to the above tool.

After logging into SEOBook you will also have access to free SEO training together with $300 worth of FREE SEO tools. So get yourself along there and register.

But there are many others available. I would suggest you give them a try and find the one that best suits you.

Making sure you include your Master Keywords within your webpage or article, means especially in your title tag, your main headline and at least a couple of times in the copy of your page. Aim for about a 1%-3% keyword density.

But build up slowly…if you exceed the search engine threshholds you will be
slapped with a low quality score totally negating all your efforts. This will be perceived
as an attempt to fool the search engines into believing that good relevant content is present.
So be careful!!! “Test and observe the results before change” is the key.

Implementing the above, your website will be listed in the search engine results every time the user searches for your keywords, and, given that you have implemented a successful SEO optimization campaign, then your website will appear on Page One of the results.

Remember, achieving Page One of the search engine organic results will give your business FREE advertising and repeated exposure; delivering a massive volume of visitors to your website increasing your customer base, and revenues, exponentially.

Good luck with all your future SEO campaigns, I wish you, and your business every success.

Best Regards
Mick Gray