What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving traffic from search engines through targeting it for keywords. In general, most search engine optimization is directed at Google, as it has the most market share. So when this article (and most others) refer to "search engines", they are referring to Google.
The difference between good SEO and bad SEO can make a difference in the tens of thousands of dollars. Ultimately, SEO is simply good business, which is why it is critical to have experience in this field.
Keyword Optimization
The number one way to optimize a website is to target a specific keyword. A site needs to target a keyword. Think of what the subject of the website is and find keywords to target. The more general the keyword, the more results there are and then the more difficult it is to reach the top of the search engine results page, or SERPs.
So the kind of keyword that must be targeted is a "long tail keyword". This is basically a more specific term. For example instead of "buy computer", a long tail keyword is "buy cheap HP laptop". Long tails have fewer results, and the best long tail is one with many searches but few results.
Site can be optimized for the selected keyword simply by using it more frequently. The following section will be explaining how to implement on page SEO.
URL
Search engines will read the words in a web address and search for keywords. However, in most cases, a generic keyword optimized URL which may come off as spammy.
Title Tag
The title of a webpage should also use targeted keywords. For pages other than the main page, the subject of the main page should come before the website name. For example, "Contact: My Website" instead of "My Website: Contact".
Metadata – There are two metadata tags that need to be optimize – content and keywords. Google does not factor keywords into its algorithm because it was frequently used to keyword spam. Yahoo! still gives it a slight amount of importance, so the keywords metatag will only be useful for being ranked in Yahoo! and is necessary. For the content metatag relevant keywords must be added while not satisating it with keywords.
Headers – Headers are basically tags such as H1, H2, H3, etc., The lower the number, the more relevance the term will be deemed. So the most important terms should be tagged with H1 and the less important with H2, etc.
Tags – Particular keywords can be optimized for with tags such as b, i, u (bold, italics, underline). These three are roughly equal in added significance.
Image Names – Just like with URLs, the name of the image is also significant.
Alt Attributes – It is crucial to give every image an alt tag, as it is another opportunity to SEO a webpage. In general, a good way to tag the images is by labeling them "picture subject image". So if there was a picture of a laptop computer, an image could be tagged "Laptop Computer Image". Keywords can be added while increasing overall word count.
Things to Watch Out For
Optimizing a page excessively can adversely affect its ranking. The optimal keyword density is around 3% -4%, although given numbers may vary. Anything less and the page may not be deemed very relevant and any more and it will be marked as spam, sending it to the bottom of the SERPs.
Benefits of SEO
The better the SEO on a website, the better it will rank for certain terms, which will increase organic (search engine traffic). If SEO is not factored in to a website, the site will receive little or no traffic.
Useful Tools
Here are some tools to help optimize websites.
Google Analytics – This fantastic tool provides comprehensive tracking information for a website that is completely free, and it is highly recommended that it is implemented. A useful feature is the "keywords" feature which will show a site's organic traffic and what keywords visitors used to find your site.
Google AdWords External – A highly useful keyword research tool that I suggest you use.