SEO
Clients often ask me get higher search engine rankings. I work in the field of internet advertising, so I have been exposed to all types of ways to promote websites. However Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a very broad topic that would require numerous articles. So I want to share the first and most basic step that needs to take place in order to improve a websites search engine ranking; keyword optimization. Here are the basic steps you need to take toward promoting your website better in search rankings.
Instructions
1. UNDERSTAND HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORK:
Search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, and others scan the text in your site to understand what message your site is trying to give the general public. This scanning, also called crawling, searches your site word content, image tag content, keywords and meta tag info. When you think about search engines, I want you to think of search engines as readers that only can translate text. When you think about your website, I want you to think of it as a text book the search engine is reading. If you think in these terms, it is easier to try and clean up your site for text based searches, and to understand the importance of keywords.
2. WHAT IS A KEYWORD:
I do not want to assume that you already know what a keyword is. If you do, great - you still should read this to job your memory. A keyword is a word or words used by search engines to search your site for information relating to a certain topic or message. A keyword can be a single word or phrase. Examples of keywords you might find on a comedy site are: humour, standup, comedian, laughter, jokes, comedy, etc.
3. IMPORTANCE OF OPTIMIZING YOUR SITES KEYWORDS:
It is important to start with optimizing your sites keywords and content as the most basic and necessary step toward getting search engines to even acknowledge your websites existence. Search engines do not care about great flash intros, design, and interactive sites. All they care about is how easy your site is to read, find info, and then tie that info to relevant user searches.
4. WRITE DOWN AS MANY KEYWORDS AS YOU CAN THINK OF:
So to get started, you need to think about the keywords, terms and phrases, that best describe your website, services, products, and content. Write these phrases down on a piece of paper and write down as many as you can think of that are relevant to the overall purpose of your website, business, or idea. We are not looking for the best right now, so do not worry about trying to put a lot of thought into these. Just write down everything that comes to mind, and do it quickly. You will be surprised how many words, phrases, and terms you probably wrote down. If you are stuck, do a search for "keyword tools" on google, and use these to help you generate ideas. One example can be found here: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com
5. RESEARCH OTHER KEYWORDS:
Now that you have your initial list or keywords, you want to go to google or your favorite search engine and research sites that have the same content as you, or businesses that sell the same products and services as you. View their page source code to see what Keywords they have entered. To do this, go to a competitor webpage, then click on "VIEW" on your internet toolbar, then click on "SOURCE" and look at their keywords and write them down.
Once you have done this, research your keywords using Free tools available on the internet. I recommend the use of the following tools:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com
Overture
Wordtracker
Adwords analyzer
You type the keywords you want into the form and they return results for you to use.
6. NOW WE NEED TO OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE PAGE CONTENT:
You are done optimizing your keywords now. Refer to my next article called "optimize your page content" to take care of cleaning up your sites page content and getting you on track for better search engine results!
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