Search Engine Optimisation

What is search engine optimisation?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords.

Choose your keywords wisely Keywords are the foundation of your search engine optimization, strongly affecting the relevance of your site to queries people put into search engines. It is important to choose effective keywords, specifically targeted to the type of business your site represents. At its simplest, choosing keywords is all about balance. Concentrating too much on ultra-popular keywords that all your competitors may use may not make your site stand out. On the other hand, choosing obscure keywords that no one looks for won’t generate any interest at all. An excellent strategy is to pick a good keyword, and then use a number of synonyms for it as well. This will improve your site’s visibility for users who search for the exact thing you offer, as they usually don’t perform just one search, but tend to use several equivalent terms. Tagging your way into search engines

Search engines look at html tags to determine the relevance of your web page to a search query. These tags are mostly inside the HEAD section of your document, and can increase or decrease the ranking of your site.

The most important of these are the TITLE, DESCRIPTION and KEYWORD tags. Make sure that your keywords are inserted into these sections. At the same time, you should try not to overcrowd them with useless or redundant words. It’s generally a good idea to keep the TITLE tag shorter than 75 words, and have one different title for each page in your site. This helps search engines and directories categorize your pages.

The DESCRIPTION tag should contain a short and to-the-point description of the page. It’s a good practice to keep it under 100-150 words. Try to include your primary keyword here, but no more than once.

The KEYWORDS tag is where you put the keywords you included in the page. You should separate each one with a comma-and-space combination, and by no means include any word more than three times. Also, only use words that appear in your page’s body. Generally, it’s a good idea to keep this tag under 250 words.

Note that keyword-stuffing the KEYWORD tag is an abused technique, and as a result many search engines simply ignore this tag.

Content is king

Search engines only analyze text content. Try to keep additional elements such as images or flash animation at a minimum, because search engines cannot read this type of content.

If you have to use a Flash site, include an html version to make it easy for the search engines to index your website. Again, search engine spiders don’t see your site as regular users do, so you’ll need to impress them with your text, rather than visual elements that are so important to your human visitors.

For unique content inside the page, you should have a minimum count of 200 words, preferably with your targeted keywords placed at the top of your content and in bold. But don’t forget your message: unique, relevant and interesting content is THE most important element on your site. Create good material for your site visitors and you’re on the right track. Great content inspires your visitors to bookmark, refer or link to your site. And that’s excellent for business.