Search engine optimization is an endeavor that should be uppermost in the minds of any serious blogger or webmaster. Good search engine optimization is a daily application, that if applied at every instance of opportunity will return an increase of traffic and a decrease of page ranking for your site or blog. A decrease in page ranking is a good thing, because the lower your page rank the more relevant you are, according to the search engines.
Let me say right from the afternoon that I do not claim to be an expert on SEO However, I do a lot of research and read numerous articles on the subject on a daily basis. Many of the articles are from experts, and those that I believe have value I repost on my blog for the benefit of my readers, as well as a record for my own benefit, to increase my search engine optimization skills.
It must be noted that apart from the importance of domain name and site description, the five simple steps that follow are key to effective optimization for search engines. I have decided not to elaborate on the above two simply because most people have already decided on a domain name and a description as they probably have a live site up and running. If not, you should seriously consider including your niche keywords in both the domain name and site description, because the search engines place a high priority on them.
What I have discovered by picking the brains of the experts are simple steps that I now use to keep my page ranking progressing, and to increase free traffic to my blogs.
Here are the five simple search engine optimization steps that I use on a daily basis.
1. Constant change. Post something, anything, every day. Fresh content, especially if it is original and relevant to your niche, is spider food to the search engine's spiders that crawl the web.
2. Keywords or key phrases. More spider food! Use them often. The search engines love them. A little goes a long way. Too many can work against you. Do not pad out articles with too many of the same key words or phrases. Stay balanced, and you will not fall over.
3. Meta-tags. Tag your articles and be sure to tag any pictures, graphics, or videos that you post. Tags are also keywords. The search engines do see them and will take them into account when crawling and evaluating your site or blog.
4. Links. Back links are like diamonds, and forward links like gold. If you can not get back links immediately, do what you can do and create forward links. Post snippets on your blog to articles from other blogs or websites and link to them. Write a comment on their blog or site and link back. If you like a particular author, comment often, build a relationship, and then ask if they could back link to your site.
5. Articles and videos. Create is many as you can over a year, and upload them to as many sites as you can. Always link back to your site or blog or you will waste the opportunity. Videos are gifts you give to others that keep giving back to you. Articles do the same thing, but in more of a slow release time-frame. People prefer to watch videos than read articles. Having said that, I am amazed at how many times I have found my articles and my videos posted on other sites, all driving free traffic back to mine.
If you do these five simple SEO steps daily, weekly, and monthly, you will find that your traffic will increase, and your page ranking will decrease. And guess what? It's all for free!
