Search Engine Optimization – A Must-Have Online Marketing Method For Website Owners

Some visitors will visit your site because you wisely included it in your business card or added it to your email signature, but most of your visitors will come from search engines.

If you want people to find your personal home page when they search for your name, and for some reason your site is not showing up in the most popular search engine results, at worst it will be a little less famous and a little most disappointed.

But it is much more serious if you are responsible for maximizing the number of potential customers who visit your business website, so that they can purchase items from your business catalog online. If for some reason search engines show your competitors’ sites before your company’s, then it could mean the difference between your business making or losing money and you being promoted to a corner office or demoted to a corner. of the street.

The tremendous popularity of search engines among Internet users is the main reason why commercial companies, especially those whose income is derived mainly or exclusively from online sales, are willing to invest significant resources in fine-tuning their websites. to get the best rankings within search engines. listings. This practice, and now profession, of “search engine optimization” (SEO), is a critical component of online marketing.

How the search engine works

There are hundreds of factors that go into when search engines rank websites in an organic search. Amazingly, they can analyze billions of data in as little as 0.5 seconds! The actions you take to optimize your site will have a direct effect on your SEO ranking. Components such as H1 tags, words used in your website meta description, content and keyword density, permalinks, and backlinks are some of the many things you can take advantage of to improve your rankings.

H1 Tags: These are the largest headings you use to headline your content. For example, the H1 of this article would be the title “Search Engine Optimization Basics.” This article page can appear in Google search results when someone searches for keywords that are present in the H1 tag like ‘SEO’ and SEO Basics’. Make sure your H1 tags are relevant to the keywords you want to appear for.

Keyword density: This is the number of times the keyword your audience is searching for appears on your website. Make sure to mention your keywords, not just in your H1 tags, but also in the body of your content. While you want to include your keywords frequently, don’t over-saturate your content. Remember, Google will also consider using synonymous keywords.

First, develop a list of all the phrases you can think of that people might use to find your site, concise phrases that best describe your business. Then refine that list to the two dozen most likely sentences. If you’re having trouble building a keyword list, take a look at Wordtracker, which is designed to help you optimize your keyword list. Right now, they offer a free trial.

These keywords can and should be located in the text of each page, which is visible to anyone viewing the page in a web browser. Also, keywords can be placed in image titles, subtitles, image titles, alt text attributes (), page titles, and anywhere else that seems appropriate.

Meta description: This is the description you provide to search engines in your HTML tags . The meta description that you use for your website should also include the keywords that you want your target audience to search for.

You should keep this in mind when wondering why some or all of the search engines seem to be ignoring your new website. It is simply a needle in a huge haystack. But don’t lose hope

Permanent links: Refers to permanent URL links that are specific to your website. It is advantageous to include your keywords in these permalinks to be considered for a higher ranking on Google. For example, if you have a landscaping website and you want your consumers to find the keywords “lawn products”, it would be optimal if you had a page with a permanent link such as: http://www.gardening.com/lawn-products .

Backlinks: This is when other websites link to yours by providing viewers with your website URL. For example, if Forbes mentions your business on your website and includes a link for your readers that leads to your website, this would be considered a backlink. The more of these you have, the better your chances of ranking higher on your keywords. However, the source of your backlinks also plays a factor in ranking. Google values ​​quality and the higher the source your backlink comes from (i.e. Forbes, NY Times, .gov addresses, etc.), the better your chances of ranking higher in engine optimization. search.

Desktop vs. Mobile Search Engine Optimization – Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

Search engines are constantly evolving and changing their algorithm to keep up with constantly developing new technology. With the rise of the mobile device, more and more people are searching on the go. Google has noticed the increase in mobile traffic from its users and has implemented a new addition to its search ranking metrics. If your website is not mobile friendly (responsive, optimized to be viewed on various mobile screen sizes), Google will rank your website lower in search rankings. However, this will only affect your mobile search rankings. Search rankings from a non-mobile device, such as a desktop or laptop, will not be affected. This is something to keep in mind if you know that your specific target market is more likely to search for your keywords on a mobile device (i.e. your product is a mobile app).

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Site design and other factors

While incorporating well-targeted keywords within your site is recognized as the most valuable SEO technique, there are other elements that pay off: smart site design, reciprocal links, and engaging page content. To make your site as welcoming as possible to search engine spiders: organize pages and links in a logical hierarchy, opt for CSS divs instead of nested tables, use text instead of images for links from navigation (or at least have flawless image alt values) and include a sitemap (which serves as an index of links to your pages) if the site has more than a dozen pages.

Proper reciprocal linking is when two or more sites link to each other, a natural result of the surrounding content of each site. This is quite different and much more effective than so-called “link farms”, which are simply pages without content that contain nothing but links to the sites of paying customers. Search engine companies figured out that trick a long time ago. Consequently, paying someone to link to your site, among thousands of others, would not only be a waste of money, but it can quickly get your site penalized in search results or even blacklisted for full.

The best way to attract new visitors to your site, whether they are humans or spiders, is to offer free quality content. This will encourage human visitors to check back frequently for new content and also to post links to your site on their own sites and on their blogs. This invariably increases the search engine’s estimation of your site. Having fresh content that matches your specific keywords and phrases will also result in higher rankings from search engines, because they always examine the words within the context of the surrounding material.

Your SEO strategy should be a long-term process

Getting placed on the first page of a Google search doesn’t happen overnight. Your SEO strategy must be an ongoing process. As technology develops, search engines also adapt to these changes by altering their algorithms that define how your website is ranked. Stay on top of your SEO strategy and make sure it is up to date.

Your SEO strategy will be of great help to you and your business with proper maintenance. Not only will you have your current customer base, but you can passively increase traffic to your website by being present in the top 5 searches for your keywords. Customers can easily find you and your business when looking for relevant information related to your business. A good rule of thumb to stay on top of your SEO strategy is to research the tactics used by your competitors. Google your own keywords and see who ranks in the top 5 searches, then analyze their websites to see how and why they rank high.

Search engine optimization is an increasingly important component of smart website promotion. While an article can only address the main topics within SEO, you can probably already see how important these methods are to improving your site’s ranking in search engine rankings and therefore in the eyes of Internet users for whom “Google” is now a verb. .