Digital Musings

Written on July 4, 2007 – 6:00 am | by DM |

Although many articles have been written about the importance of SEO, the information given below is aimed at helping a new guy gain a foothold in this Bad Bad SEO Battle!

According to recent study on search engines by Iprospect.com 57% of the internet users surveyed, reported that searching the internet has become more important for their use of the internet as opposed to last year.

According to others studies, 80% of the Internet users start their surfing for any topic by first searching for a relevant website.So its important for a newbie to understand that Search Engine Optimization is vital for him, if he wants to bring new and quality traffic to his website.

Now for a newbie to get into SEO can be a bit tough as there is a plethora of information and jargon one has to understand before one can really start doing something.This is a on going process as well, as Search Engines keep on updating their rules time and again.

When one has just started out on Search Engine Optimization, he/she just needs to follow these basic steps first and rest will follow:

1) Selecting the Correct Keywords (Keyword Optimization)

2) Optimizing your pages for your selected Keywords (Web page optimization)

3) Getting Quality Inbound Links (Off site Optimization)

The systematic approach to SEO is explained below:

Part I: Keyword Optimization.

The First step in Search Engine Optimization is to select the correct keyphrases/keywords for your website.

The right keywords are those which describe:

1)The Purpose and content of your site.

2)Allow your site to show up as close as possible to the first page results.

Most of us think of getting a rank in Google Search Engine, first as it is the most popular one. So why not use a tool given by Google to analyze our website and get the relevant keywords. Not only this tool would fetch you a list of related keywords for your website but als, show the trends of search for last few months. With this tool hand, we don’t need to look any where else.

Google KeyWord Tool After you have selected a relevant phrases, you will take your selected keyphrases/keywords and optimize your pages heavily for them. This involves placing them in strategic locations in the title, headings and body of each page, as we will see in:

Part II: Web Page Optimization.

• Keywords in the web page title:
  • Create a descriptive title for your page: Your web page title is very important because it is what the search engines display as link text as the result of a search. The title must include your main keywords, while at the same time it must describe your business very well and should entice readers to click on it.
  • Unless your business is big and well known (like Microsoft or Coca Cola) don’t start your page title with the name of your company. Start your title with the words search engine users will most likely use (your keywords)
  • Put your main keywords at the beginning of your page title (keyword prominence) and keep your keywords together (keyword proximity).
  • Put your second keyword somewhere else in the title.
  • Make the title short (8 words or less).

• Keywords in the body of your page: It is important to use your keywords heavily on your page, since this will help the search engine determine the topic of your page. Follow these tips as much as possible, since they will help search engines determine your page’s relevance to your chosen keywords:
  • Use your keywords several times, and place them as close to the top of the page as possible.
  • Place your keywords between Header Tags (H1, H2 or H3) in the first two paragraphs of your page.
  • Place your keywords in bold type phase at least once.
  • Repeat your keywords often to increase your keyword density. Repeating your keywords between 5 to 10 times for every 100 words in your page is considered effective.
  • Since you have to repeat your keywords often, you must be especially careful not to make your text sound awkward. Your visitors should be able to read your page fluently and effortlessly. Remember that ultimately it is your readers who will decide if your page is worth the time they spend on it. A pleasant experience will make them more likely to come back.

• Keywords in your Keyword Meta Tag: Search Engines nowadays rarely use the Keyword Meta Tag any more (and Google completely ignores it).However, place a list of your main and secondary keywords in the Keyword Meta Tag of your page, just in case search engines decide to use them again in the future.

Part III: Off Page Factors

Once you have selected your keyphrases and optimized your pages for them, the last step is to make sure that you get linked from the best directories, and from lots of quality sites with a topic related to your site’s. The best search engines, and in particular Google (who alone can deliver 80% of the search engine traffic to your site) “crawl” the web looking for links to your site. They interpret a link to your page as a vote, and the more links (votes) you have coming from quality sites the higher your page rank will be, and the higher the possibility that your page will achieve a good position in the search results pages. It’s that simple. Following these four steps is the best way to get the quality links you need:

1. Get listed in DMOZ: The Open Directory Project ( http://www.dmoz.org ) is the world’s largest directory. It is maintained by voluntary editors who review your site prior to inclusion. Being listed in this directory is important because it is used by Google and America Online to build their directories. Getting listed is free, but it may take a few weeks or even months to get listed, which can be a bit frustrating. However, there is a strong believe among search engine optimization experts that an Open Directory Project listing can significantly increase your page rank in Google, so you must take the time to submit your site and do it right (list your site in the right category and strictly follow their submission guidelines). For how to get listed in the Open Directory Project go to: http://www.dmoz.org/add.html .
2. Get listed in Yahoo!: Submissions to Yahoo! are no longer free for commercial sites (your site can be reviewed in about a week for a fee of $299 although inclusion in the directory is not guaranteed. However, if you do get accepted, the $299 fee will be due every year if you want your site to continue to be listed). A link from Yahoo.s directory is still one of the best links you can get, and it is worth the money you spend getting listed. For tips on getting listed in Yahoo! go to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ .
3. Submit articles: There are many sites where you can publish articles in your field of expertise. This is a great way to establish yourself as an expert and to drive quality traffic to your site. The key is to include your resource box at the end of your article. A resource box is a small paragraph with a brief description of you and your business, where you include a link to your site. This way, every time somebody picks up your article and publishes it in their website or newsletter, your link will be there for readers and search engines to see and follow. For tips of getting traffic by writing articles you can visit: http://www.theinternetdigest.net/archive/write.html .
4. Exchange links with reputable sites: You must try to find quality sites that are compatible to your site’s topic (not direct competitors), and ask the webmaster for a link exchange. This will give you highly targeted traffic and will improve your score with the search engines. For tips on a good link exchange campaign, visit: http://www.theinternetdigest.net/archive/inboundlinks.html

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