Search engine optimization refers to a collection of techniques used to improve a website's position in search engines. If the keywords a business uses match those that potential customers use when searching online, those customers are more likely to see that business in their search results. This article can demystify the concepts and algorithms used in the process of search engine optimization.
When setting up a page for SEO, avoid the temptation to set up text or links specifically to manipulate search engines. For example, text that is the same color as the page background, text that is invisibly tiny, or links that are only a few pixels wide, will set off alarms at the search engine. These "black hat" methods can get your site banned entirely from the listings.
Nothing will get your in trouble with search engines faster than plagiarizing content for your site. So always be sure that the content you're writing or accepting from other writers is 100% original and is not found elsewhere on the web. If you or your contributor is rewriting an article, it needs to be completely reworked. The topic can be the same, but the wording cannot.
Take advantage of free local business directories and bookmarking sites. Enter your website's information into any or all of the free local business directories out there. Also enter your website's URL and description into bookmarking sites. This will make your website slightly easier to be stumbled upon during web searches.
When building your web presence, don't forget to add your website to the niche link directories. Whatever product you sell, from knitwear to financial services, there's bound to be a specialized website that caters to people interested in that type of business, so look for those sites and get your links listed. That will, of course, help boost your search engine rankings and bring in more traffic.
To rank higher in search results, you should use an index page or a home page that you can link to. Your content is going to vary and be updated: a page might not interest people for very long. You can however rise steadily in search results by referring constantly to the same index page.
When dealing with search engine optimization it is important to utilize Google Trends. Google Trends shows you what keywords are trending and how popular they are. This, in turn, will allow you to choose the most popular keywords or keyword phrases when creating your pages to gain the most amount of traffic.
Use the alternate text for your images as another spot to put your keyword phrase. This works very well because you give another keyword to be crawled by the engines but it allows you to hide it from your readers keeping your site more reader friendly. Be careful though because it will still count towards keyword stuffing and you want to avoid that.
Make sure that your URLs are SEO user friendly. If your site has a name that people may search for, then your site will instantly become more visible. This is a fairly easy step that can bring your website to a whole new level of visibility and popularity.
Move away from the old AP style for optimization and gravitate towards the newer SEO friendly style. You should be using full names and places on some references in stories. If you use repeated keywords, you can achieve a higher spot on the search engine results page, also know as the SERP.
Make sure the text surrounding an image really matches the content of the image. The text will actually affect the ranking of an image on a page, so if they have nothing to do with each other, your image could pop up in search engine results that you don't want it to show up in.
When choosing an SEO services company, you should take a close look at the services they offer. Be wary of companies that just say they will submit your site to search engines. This won't do you much good. Instead, look for companies that use multiple starategies, and who can prove that their methods generate high rankings in the search engines.
Include an XML sitemap on your website to help search engines find every part of your website. Google offers a free sitemap creation tool, which will create a sitemap in a way that Google has an easy time reading. Don't forget to update your sitemap often as it will change as you add and remove pages.
Search engine results are directly linked to the keywords in your website, but knowing where to place the keywords is critical to optimizing your SEO. In addition to placing them in your content, you should also use them in your page titles, image captions, URLs and, most importantly, your title tag and page header.
Make sure that you have some type of software in place that will measure web analytics. You have to set goals for yourself, and this software will help you figure out which methods are working for you and which ones are not. This will save a lot of time that would be wasted on something that is not showing results.
In the world of SEO, you must remember that the competition for popular keywords is stiff. You obviously want to look for a popular keyword but at the same time if you choose one that is too popular, you run the risk of getting lost in a sea of websites that are using the same keyword phrase.
Paid keyword services, while costly, can provide a definite competitive edge as you begin to narrow down your list of keywords for SEO. Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and SEO ToolSet are ideal for determining competitors' keywords, helping you select only the most effective keywords, and also for suggesting new keywords. You might consider these tools at the outset while you familiarize yourself with SEO, then unsubscribe when you feel more confident in your own insights.
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