You Must Understand Basic SEO
Posted 6th May 2010 at 05:55 AM by royrev
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO as it's usually called, is a technique online marketers use to optimize their websites so they can climb higher in Google's ranking and make it to the first page of results when searchers type in their search words.
This process is such a critical technique that many online marketers make SEO a primary element of their marketing campaigns. You can find ebooks, forums and other advice dedicated to explaining Search Engine Optimization, some useful and some not. Let's look at a few very basic techniques that you need to understand before you can successfully optimize your own webpages.
Keywords and keyword phrases need to be your first priority. Those keywords should be words or phrases that reflect the contents of your website. You can do this selecting to your advantage when you figure out what terms your potential customers are using in the search engines to find the content on your site.
When someone does a Google search with keywords, they will get a listing of webpages matching the keyword inquiry. The sites found that match the keyword or keyword phrase are called SERPs, which stands for Search Engine Results Page.
To start with, pick out several keywords or keyword phrases that you think
your potential customers would use to find webpages like yours. For example, if your niche is crafts, drill down to find terms that are not so broad. You want to find keywords that reflect what your site is about, like candle making, macrame instructions, or scrapbooking for kids.
To find out how many people are looking for your specific keywords when they search, use a keyword selection tool, like any of the three listed below.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Free keyword suggestion tool for SEO, Adwords & blogging
Seo Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
To get a better idea of the amount of traffic your keywords will generate, use Google's Traffic Estimator. Put your keywords in the box, one phrase per line, select the language of your site and choose your currency. You will get the search volume, estimated average CPC (Cost Per Click), estimated ad position, estimated clicks per day and the estimated cost per day, based on your cost per click.
FYI: Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money you will have to pay search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on your ad that sends a visitor to your website. This tool is part of Google's Adwords service.
Here is the link for Google's Traffic Estimator:
https://adwords.google.com/select/Tr...timatorSandbox
When you read any ebook or report by an experienced marketer, you will be advised to test your keywords for results in search engines. The best place to be in the SERPs is in the first five listings, above the fold. The larger the number of webpages returned from your search term, the harder it will be for you to get that optimum ranking in Google's SERPs. Picking longer keyword phrases of 3-4 words, rather than 1-2 word phrases, will lower your competition.
Keep this in mind: When you search Google and the box in the top right corner says, for example: Results 1 - 10 of about 149,000,000, that number with all the commas is your competition. Change your keywords to longer ones, which are also called longtail keywords. There will be less competition if you choose the right keywords and you have a better chance of getting ranked on the first page of the SERPs.
When you design your website, change your keywords in each page title, making sure your choice of page titles with your keywords reflects the content on each specific page. You might consider doing the same with the Meta tags.
The basic steps presented here are just a few basic SEO techniques you need to understand and use on your webpages and in other marketing processes. Once you get familiar with Search Engine Optimization, Google's Adwords and SERPs, you will be ready to move on to more advanced techniques. Also keep in mind that SEO can change as Google changes it's parameters.
This process is such a critical technique that many online marketers make SEO a primary element of their marketing campaigns. You can find ebooks, forums and other advice dedicated to explaining Search Engine Optimization, some useful and some not. Let's look at a few very basic techniques that you need to understand before you can successfully optimize your own webpages.
Keywords and keyword phrases need to be your first priority. Those keywords should be words or phrases that reflect the contents of your website. You can do this selecting to your advantage when you figure out what terms your potential customers are using in the search engines to find the content on your site.
When someone does a Google search with keywords, they will get a listing of webpages matching the keyword inquiry. The sites found that match the keyword or keyword phrase are called SERPs, which stands for Search Engine Results Page.
To start with, pick out several keywords or keyword phrases that you think
your potential customers would use to find webpages like yours. For example, if your niche is crafts, drill down to find terms that are not so broad. You want to find keywords that reflect what your site is about, like candle making, macrame instructions, or scrapbooking for kids.
To find out how many people are looking for your specific keywords when they search, use a keyword selection tool, like any of the three listed below.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Free keyword suggestion tool for SEO, Adwords & blogging
Seo Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
To get a better idea of the amount of traffic your keywords will generate, use Google's Traffic Estimator. Put your keywords in the box, one phrase per line, select the language of your site and choose your currency. You will get the search volume, estimated average CPC (Cost Per Click), estimated ad position, estimated clicks per day and the estimated cost per day, based on your cost per click.
FYI: Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money you will have to pay search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on your ad that sends a visitor to your website. This tool is part of Google's Adwords service.
Here is the link for Google's Traffic Estimator:
https://adwords.google.com/select/Tr...timatorSandbox
When you read any ebook or report by an experienced marketer, you will be advised to test your keywords for results in search engines. The best place to be in the SERPs is in the first five listings, above the fold. The larger the number of webpages returned from your search term, the harder it will be for you to get that optimum ranking in Google's SERPs. Picking longer keyword phrases of 3-4 words, rather than 1-2 word phrases, will lower your competition.
Keep this in mind: When you search Google and the box in the top right corner says, for example: Results 1 - 10 of about 149,000,000, that number with all the commas is your competition. Change your keywords to longer ones, which are also called longtail keywords. There will be less competition if you choose the right keywords and you have a better chance of getting ranked on the first page of the SERPs.
When you design your website, change your keywords in each page title, making sure your choice of page titles with your keywords reflects the content on each specific page. You might consider doing the same with the Meta tags.
The basic steps presented here are just a few basic SEO techniques you need to understand and use on your webpages and in other marketing processes. Once you get familiar with Search Engine Optimization, Google's Adwords and SERPs, you will be ready to move on to more advanced techniques. Also keep in mind that SEO can change as Google changes it's parameters.
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