Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization or SEO on the web refers to process of manipulating the underlying code and content of websites to help them rank higher in search engine results.
The higher your ranking in any search engine, the easier it will be for people to find your website. Your website will be exposed to many more people if it is listed higher in the search results, potentially boosting sales, resulting in a greater ROI, or exposing your message to a wider audience.
Google, being the main search engine used today, produces approximately 80% of all search engine queries. It only makes sense then, to try and optimize your website to rank higher in Google searches, not forgetting the other search engines of course.
There are 3 main factors Google looks for when crawling web pages. These are:
- Choosing keywords or keyphrases
- Getting other sites to link to your site
- Providing meaningful content
Keywords and Keyphrases
Keywords are words which, when correctly chosen and properly placed on a website, will help that site rank higher in search engine results. You should choose keywords which best represent the content on each page of your website. Most single keywords though, will have a large amount of competition when it comes to search engine rankings. After all, there are over 3 Billion websites out there today.
Rather than concentrating on keywords alone, it may be more effective to concentrate on keyphrases. That is, a few meaningful phrases, which still contain your keywords, which are more distinctive in nature to search engines.
While a keyword such as 'dog', may produce 10 million results, a keyphrase such as 'dog food' may produce only 100,000 results. Better yet, a phrase such as 'Purina dog food' may narrow the playing field even more. By reducing the search engine results to a lesser number, you are increasing the chances your website being listed higher.
Getting Other Websites to Link to Your Website
Getting other sites to link to your site is something search engines look for as well. The greater the number of links you have linking to your website, the more popular your site is, the higher it will rank in search engine results.
One method of getting others to link to your site is by a link exchange, whereby you contact the webmaster of another website and offer to put a link to their site on your website if they return the favour. It helps the ranking if the other website is related to the subject matter of your site, but not in exactly the same business.
Creating Meaningful Content
The method which will probably have the most impact on search engine results is creating meaningful content which other people will want to link to, and then share this information themselves. Creating a newsletter or blog on your site, with topical articles regarding a subject in your area of expertise is a great way to get others interested in linking to your website.
Noone can guarantee that your site will be ranked number one in search results, but by doing a little SEO on your website you can ensure that your site gets noticed by your intended audience.
