'SEO for Dummies' ?

Danyelle · 08-17-2008, 08:39 AM

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum, but am reading all the great posts and learning a lot. Thanks for being such a wealth of info.

Is there a site you know of or a place I can look for step by step or easy to understand SEO info?

Thx,
Dani

Andyhenry · 08-17-2008, 08:57 AM

Hi Dani,

SEO is a subject that you can take 2 ways.

1 - Simple and easy

2 - Complicated and intensive

Unless you're running an seo business or you're in a massively competitive market where it's extremely difficult to get any visibility - I would go with simple.

The simple version:

No-one really knows what the search engines care about (it changes regularly), so just stick with the basics.

The basics:

Getting seen in the search engines comes down to 1 thing.......

Keywords

There are 2 sides to this.

1 - Content

2 - Links

In order for surfers to find your site you need to have one of those 2 things - both is ideal.

So, this means you should have the words that you want to be found for on the pages of your website, and also used in the links that point to your pages from other peoples websites.

Then it's just a matter of time. If you keep adding content and links, you'll eventually be found. You can get into the search engine index within a few minutes, but for consistent search engine visibility you want fresh unqiue content and links from web pages that already have lots of links to them.

Ultimately the end result you want is traffic, so don't waste your time trying to get low quality links just for the sake of it and just do some research on other websites that get the sort of traffic you want.

You can use Googles Page Rank value (look it up on google, and download their toolbar) in order to get a feel for if a website/web page has been given a lot of value (Page Rank) by Google. This isn't definitive so just use it as a quick guide to get started on high PR sites.

That's it.

The more keywords and phrases people use to search for things in your market, the more opportunities you have to be found. More content and more links = more visibility and more traffic.

Top sources for links are:

1 - Finding high PR websites that link to you because you have good relevant content.
2 - High PR sites where you can post information and include a link (Amazon, Blogs, website directories, article directories, press release sites etc..)
3 - Internal pages of your own site that point to other relevant pages of your site using keywords.

That should be more than enough to get most businesses great visibility.

If you go for looking into advanced SEO strategies you can end up chasing your tail doing things which are speculative and may or may not help and may even have an adverse effect or get you de-indexed, so I would advise not to go there.

You almost certainly do not need to spend any money on a product if you're just starting. There's so many simple things you can do.

Andy

Danyelle · 08-17-2008, 09:03 AM

Wow Andy! Thanks for the speedy response. I really appreciate it.

Anup Mahajan · 08-17-2008, 09:03 AM

Hi Dani,

Andy has really given all that you need to know about SEO. Focus of posting good content and building high quality backlinks to your site.

One resource that I found useful for SEO was
Search Engine Optimization - How it is Done

You'll learn a lot from it.

Cheers,
Anup

lakshaybehl · 08-17-2008, 09:04 AM

Andy... that was greatly explained!

Michael Mayhew · 08-17-2008, 10:56 AM

Here's a couple great free resources.
SEO and SEM Kurt Melvin's Big Page of Search Engine Optimization Strategies.
15 Minute SEO List - Learn how to SEO

Danyelle · 08-17-2008, 11:05 AM

Thank you both for the links!

xmx · 08-17-2008, 11:54 AM

I have listed some SEO resources in this section of my site:

Earn With Google

Perhaps in your case the best resource could be Brad Callen's
SEO Mindset.

He offered it with a big discount in the WSO forum some
months ago, and I bought it at that time, very complete.

Gian

Andyhenry · 08-17-2008, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Mayhew

Here's a couple great free resources.
SEO and SEM Kurt Melvin's Big Page of Search Engine Optimization Strategies.
15 Minute SEO List - Learn how to SEO

Good call Michael - however Kurts page should come with a warning - "information overload warning, you could lose the next few hours checking it all out"

and Kurt is one of the only guys I'll listen to seo advice from.

Simon_Sezs · 08-17-2008, 03:54 PM

The dumbed down version of SEO that works....

A good place to start is your internal linking structure. Most people who build sites focus mainly on getting backlinks from other sources and completely ignore the fact that internal structure is a form of a "back link" as well.

Google is just trying to determine what your site is really about. You can help them along the way by giving them internal links pointing to a page within your site. BTW, this is known as keyword sniping and works in low competition keywords.

Most people try to overthink SEO. If you are new, I suggest you go after a low competition keyword first (like lasik surgery in Kansas City)....you know, google the keyword and see what comes up...if it is less than 500,000, give it a go.

Find a low competition keyword.
Name your domain the keyword.
Write 5-6 pages (posts) using your keyword or a LSI expression in the title tag.
Anchor text your keyword in the first paragraph and embolden it. Do this for all of your pages and point it to just one page on your site.
Now, everyday, submit your website to a directory, write an ezine article...whatever....but use the keyword itself or a similar keyword.

Chances are good that you will be in the top 10 within a couple months for your keyword.

That is the simplest path to getting there and a good place to start b/c it helps you understand SEO a little better WHILE you are actually seeing results. P

As you get better, you will be able to compete more and more with higher competition keywords.

Good luck.

johnmaikke · 08-18-2008, 09:35 AM

Can anyone recommend a good seo person or company that i can outsource to.

amadoalano · 01-06-2011, 04:19 PM

SEO or search engine optimization is a technique used to make your Web pages more useful for your customers while making them more transparent and understandable to search engines. SEO is an inexpensive way to help your Web site get more page views by creating Web pages that rank highly in search engine results.

Genesis1 · 01-06-2011, 05:07 PM

Andy gave a great explanation on how to start SEO, But it is easy how it sounds and very hard when you start it

warriorspirit786 · 01-06-2011, 05:09 PM

Excellent post Andy,thanks for enlightening us newbies.

Terry

Bingo123 · 01-07-2011, 01:28 PM

I think Andy hit it on the head. Don't overcomplicated it. Just chose your keywords, and then start building links to your site. Ideally you want to get links from pages which have a high page rank. This counts for a lot more in Googles eyes. Put simply, that's really all there is to it.

08-17-2008, 08:39 AM	#1
Danyelle new kid on the block Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 37 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	'SEO for Dummies' ? Hi All, I'm new to the forum, but am reading all the great posts and learning a lot. Thanks for being such a wealth of info. Is there a site you know of or a place I can look for step by step or easy to understand SEO info? Thx, Dani

08-17-2008, 08:57 AM	#2
Andyhenry Beware - Straight Talker War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 9,501 Blog Entries: 26 Thanks: 1,225 Thanked 4,702 Times in 1,582 Posts Social Networking	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Hi Dani, SEO is a subject that you can take 2 ways. 1 - Simple and easy 2 - Complicated and intensive Unless you're running an seo business or you're in a massively competitive market where it's extremely difficult to get any visibility - I would go with simple. The simple version: No-one really knows what the search engines care about (it changes regularly), so just stick with the basics. The basics: Getting seen in the search engines comes down to 1 thing....... Keywords There are 2 sides to this. 1 - Content 2 - Links In order for surfers to find your site you need to have one of those 2 things - both is ideal. So, this means you should have the words that you want to be found for on the pages of your website, and also used in the links that point to your pages from other peoples websites. Then it's just a matter of time. If you keep adding content and links, you'll eventually be found. You can get into the search engine index within a few minutes, but for consistent search engine visibility you want fresh unqiue content and links from web pages that already have lots of links to them. Ultimately the end result you want is traffic, so don't waste your time trying to get low quality links just for the sake of it and just do some research on other websites that get the sort of traffic you want. You can use Googles Page Rank value (look it up on google, and download their toolbar) in order to get a feel for if a website/web page has been given a lot of value (Page Rank) by Google. This isn't definitive so just use it as a quick guide to get started on high PR sites. That's it. The more keywords and phrases people use to search for things in your market, the more opportunities you have to be found. More content and more links = more visibility and more traffic. Top sources for links are: 1 - Finding high PR websites that link to you because you have good relevant content. 2 - High PR sites where you can post information and include a link (Amazon, Blogs, website directories, article directories, press release sites etc..) 3 - Internal pages of your own site that point to other relevant pages of your site using keywords. That should be more than enough to get most businesses great visibility. If you go for looking into advanced SEO strategies you can end up chasing your tail doing things which are speculative and may or may not help and may even have an adverse effect or get you de-indexed, so I would advise not to go there. You almost certainly do not need to spend any money on a product if you're just starting. There's so many simple things you can do. Andy
	Are you new to IM? Read this: Get The Real Truth About SEO In 2012 Last edited by Andyhenry; 08-17-2008 at 12:42 PM.

08-17-2008, 09:03 AM	#3
Danyelle new kid on the block Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 37 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Wow Andy! Thanks for the speedy response. I really appreciate it.

08-17-2008, 09:03 AM	#4
Anup Mahajan Firm Believer In Karma War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 795 Thanks: 71 Thanked 106 Times in 50 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Hi Dani, Andy has really given all that you need to know about SEO. Focus of posting good content and building high quality backlinks to your site. One resource that I found useful for SEO was Search Engine Optimization - How it is Done You'll learn a lot from it. Cheers, Anup
	Join the Apps Revolution, Convert your website to Android App => Click Here

08-17-2008, 09:04 AM	#5
lakshaybehl Business Man War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Globe Trotter from Delhi, India Posts: 1,962 Blog Entries: 12 Thanks: 266 Thanked 468 Times in 148 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Andy... that was greatly explained!
	WARNING EXPLICIT: This is ugly... and this is the distilled truth ~~Traffic And Conversion - Lakshay Behl's Blog \|\| Myspace \|\| Facebook \|\| Tweet Me~~

08-17-2008, 10:56 AM	#6
Michael Mayhew Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Nashville, TN , USA. Posts: 3,272 Thanks: 61 Thanked 130 Times in 96 Posts Social Networking	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Here's a couple great free resources. SEO and SEM Kurt Melvin's Big Page of Search Engine Optimization Strategies. 15 Minute SEO List - Learn how to SEO
	12 Year Old Domain For Sale. PR3. Wholesale Pricing. http://www.webmasterautomation.com/

08-17-2008, 11:05 AM	#7
Danyelle new kid on the block Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 37 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Thank you both for the links!

08-17-2008, 11:54 AM	#8
xmx Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Lugano, Switzerland. Posts: 1,755 Thanks: 8 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Social Networking	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? I have listed some SEO resources in this section of my site: Earn With Google Perhaps in your case the best resource could be Brad Callen's SEO Mindset. He offered it with a big discount in the WSO forum some months ago, and I bought it at that time, very complete. Gian
	Gian L. Ruggeri Recommends: Make Money With Google: AdWords - AdSense - SEO/Traffic - Keywords And Check Out The News On The BLOG

08-17-2008, 03:54 PM	#10
Simon_Sezs Blackhat in a WH World Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Tennessee Posts: 343 Thanks: 2 Thanked 13 Times in 10 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? The dumbed down version of SEO that works.... A good place to start is your internal linking structure. Most people who build sites focus mainly on getting backlinks from other sources and completely ignore the fact that internal structure is a form of a "back link" as well. Google is just trying to determine what your site is really about. You can help them along the way by giving them internal links pointing to a page within your site. BTW, this is known as keyword sniping and works in low competition keywords. Most people try to overthink SEO. If you are new, I suggest you go after a low competition keyword first (like lasik surgery in Kansas City)....you know, google the keyword and see what comes up...if it is less than 500,000, give it a go. Find a low competition keyword. Name your domain the keyword. Write 5-6 pages (posts) using your keyword or a LSI expression in the title tag. Anchor text your keyword in the first paragraph and embolden it. Do this for all of your pages and point it to just one page on your site. Now, everyday, submit your website to a directory, write an ezine article...whatever....but use the keyword itself or a similar keyword. Chances are good that you will be in the top 10 within a couple months for your keyword. That is the simplest path to getting there and a good place to start b/c it helps you understand SEO a little better WHILE you are actually seeing results. P As you get better, you will be able to compete more and more with higher competition keywords. Good luck.
	"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Ben Franklin

08-18-2008, 09:35 AM	#11
johnmaikke Warrior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Atlanta Ga. Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Can anyone recommend a good seo person or company that i can outsource to.

01-06-2011, 04:19 PM	#12
amadoalano Warrior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? SEO or search engine optimization is a technique used to make your Web pages more useful for your customers while making them more transparent and understandable to search engines. SEO is an inexpensive way to help your Web site get more page views by creating Web pages that rank highly in search engine results.
	directory submission site \| directory submission

01-06-2011, 05:07 PM	#13
Genesis1 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 117 Thanks: 2 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Andy gave a great explanation on how to start SEO, But it is easy how it sounds and very hard when you start it
	FREE Website Development and FREE Trafic & Sales Generation! - Limited-time offer top insurance companies

01-06-2011, 05:09 PM	#14
warriorspirit786 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 449 Thanks: 2 Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? Excellent post Andy,thanks for enlightening us newbies. Terry

01-07-2011, 01:28 PM	#15
Bingo123 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 354 Thanks: 6 Thanked 34 Times in 32 Posts	Re: 'SEO for Dummies' ? I think Andy hit it on the head. Don't overcomplicated it. Just chose your keywords, and then start building links to your site. Ideally you want to get links from pages which have a high page rank. This counts for a lot more in Googles eyes. Put simply, that's really all there is to it.