Introduction to Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a technique used to (positively) affect your website or webpage prominence on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Search engines generate huge amounts of traffic, since many people come to search for various information, goods, and services. If you show up in search engines for topics relevant to your product/service offering, you will generate quality traffic to your webpages.

Search engines are in the business of relevant search results. Having the best quality results is what makes search engines so popular.

How do search engines determine which sites get top placement? Each search engine uses an algorithm based on many factors that they feel make up a good page. These algorithms are closely guarded secrets, so no one really knows exactly what they are, but there are proven techniques that can give you a better chance to be found more prominently on them.

When getting into SEO, you need to know what you are up against. SEO is very competitive and getting placement for popular search terms is extremely difficult. In most cases, for anyone starting SEO, immediate results should not be expected. The more popular a certain keyword search is, the more difficult it will be to place for it.

That said, SEO is not impossible. It is something that anyone can achieve if they stick to their work, stay patient, and follow the best practices that have worked for many people in any industry. Follow the advice in our SEO tutorials and you too could find yourself at the top of the search engines!

In these following SEO tutorials, we will try to help clear up the SEO picture and give your webpages the best possible chance to show up on search engines based on the most recent and successful tactics.

The following factors are the foundation SEO. Without them, you have no chance of showing up for the searches you want to be found for.

Title Tags

Title tags describe the content of your webpage to the search engines. They are found at the top line of your internet browser. See an example of a title tag in the image on the left.

Search engines use them to quickly find the topic of a specific page. If your title tags don’t match the keywords that you want to be found for, or you don’t have them set up at all, the search engines will have a tough time giving the content on our page due credit.

If you want to be found for “apple pie”, and your title tags reference “new cars”, you have little chance to be found for “apple pie”. Make sense?

Content

The relevance and quality of the content on your page, in relation to the keywords/phrases you want to be found for, are considered the single most important areas you can focus on to influence the search engines.

The concept is simple: if you have well written content on the topic you want to found for, the search engines will reward you with better placement.

It comes back to search engines being in the business of relevant results, so taking the time write high quality content will give you the best chance to show up.

Web Page Structure

By creating a page that is easy for the search engines to crawl, you’re giving them immediate access to all your relevant content. This ensures that the search engines see everything they need to see.

It also shows them that the page is built in a high quality way that has the consumers (and the search engines) best interests in mind.

Stay away from flash, poor usability/navigation, slow load times, too many images, messy URL structure, etc.

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Page Links

The influence of links on search engines can get complicated, but it comes down to one basic concept: get your website links from the most relevant and authoritative pages pertaining to the keywords/phrases that you want to be found for, and search engines will view your website as more of an authority and reward you with placement for the topics you’re targeting

People often times think that all links are the same, but that just isn’t true.

There are definitely good links and bad links. You want to make sure your website is linked on the best possible, relevant, quality pages and websites.

For example, if you want to be found for “apple pie”, and you get a link on a page that is considered an authority on apple pie pointing back to you, then that link will be a lot stronger compared to being linked on a website whose topic of choice is “new cars”.

Conclusion

SEO is not an easy task. It’s important to remember: when it comes to SEO, there is no yellow brick road that will lead you to the top of the search engines overnight.

However, SEO can be highly profitable if it is done the right way. Keep in mind, there are no shortcuts when it comes to SEO, so taking your time and doing things the right way will give you the best chance to meet your goals. Don’t try to cheat the search engines – you will get caught and penalized, and possibly blacklisted (kicked out of the search engines).

These are the basics of SEO tactics and foundational points that anyone interested in SEO will need to start with. To learn more about these specific topics, follow along with the articles in this section.