search engine optimization

SEO Basics

Search Engine Optimization Made Easy

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of publishing and marketing information that ranks well for valuable keywords in search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search, and Microsoft Live Search.
CONTENTS:


Link building

On page optimization
Keyword research
Virtual marketing
Market research
Site structure
Keeping up to date

LINK BUILDING: Link Building

Search engines view links at votes, with some votes counting more than others. To get high quality links (that help your site rank better) you need to participate in the social aspects of your community and give away valuable unique content that people talk about and share with others. The below Google TouchGraph image shows a small graphic representation of sites in the search field that are related to SeoBook.com based on linking patterns.




In this post Matt Cutts suggested that Google is getting better at understanding link quality. Search engines want to count quality editorial votes as links that help influence their relevancy algorithms.

Link building tips

• try to link to your most relevant page when getting links (don't point all the links at your home page)
• mix your anchor text
• use Yahoo! Site Explorer and other tools to analyze top competing backlinks
• don't be afraid to link out to relevant high quality resources

Link building strategies

• submit your site to general directories like DMOZ, the Yahoo! Directory, and Business.com
• submit your site to relevant niche directories
• here is more background on directories and SEO
• if you have a local site submit to relevant local sites (like the local chamber of commerce)
• join trade organizations
• get links from industry hub sites
• create content people would want to link at

On Page Optimization

It is hard to rank for keywords that do not appear in your page content, so each page should be organized around the goal of ranking for a specific keyword phrase, with some related phrases and related keywords mixed into the page copy.

Unique descriptive page titles play a crucial role in a successful search engine optimization campaigns. Page titles appear in the search results, and many people link to pages using the page title as their link anchor text.

If possible create hand crafted meta description tags which compliment the page title by reinforcing your offer. If the relevant keywords for a page have multiple formats it may make sense to help focus the meta description on versions you did not use in the page title.

As far as page content goes, make sure you write for humans, and use heading tags to help break up the content into logical sections which will improve the scanability and help structure the document. When possible, make sure your page content uses descriptive modifiers as well.

Each page also needs to be sufficiently unique from other pages on your site. Do not let search engines index printer friendly versions of your content, or other pages where content is duplicate or nearly duplicate


Keyword Research

What keywords are people searching for?

Use the SEO Book Keyword research tool to search for popular and Long Tail keywords related to your industry. This tool cross references the Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker, and other popular keyword research tools. Notice how our keyword tool provides daily search estimates and cross references other useful keyword research tools.



Keyword research tools are better at providing a qualitative measure than a quantitative measure, so don't be surprised if actual traffic volumes vary greatly from the numbers suggested by these tools. When in doubt you can also set up a Google AdWords account to test the potential size of a market.

In addition to looking up search volumes for what keywords you think are important also take the time to ask past customers how they found you, why they chose you, and what issues were important to them in chosing you.

You can also get keyword ideas by doing things like
• checking your web analytics or server logs
• looking at page contents of competing websites
• looking through topical forums and community sites to see what issues people frequently discuss
Market Research

Do you have what it takes to compete in a market?

The first step is to search the major search engines to see what types of websites are ranking for words which you deem to be important. For example, if mostly colleges, media, and government institutions are ranking for your most important terms it may be difficult to rank for those types of queries. If, on the other hand, the market is dominated by fairly average websites which are not strongly established brands it may be a market worth persuing.

You can extend out the research you get from the search results by using the SEO for Firefox extension with the Firefox browser. This places many marketing data points right in the search results, and thus lets you see things like
• site age
• Google PageRank
• inbound link count
• if any governmental or educational sites link at their site
• if they are listed in major directories
• if bloggers link at their sites
Viral Marketing

Link building is probably the single hardest and most time consuming part of an effective SEO campaign, largely because it requires influencing other people. But links are nothing but a remark or citation. Seth Godin's Purple Cow is a great book about being remarkable.


The beautiful thing about viral marketing is that creating one popular compelling idea can lead to thousands of free quality links. If your competitor is building one link at a time and you have thousands of people spreading your ideas for you for free then you are typically going to end up ranking better.

In SEO many people create content based around linking opportunities. Many of us refer to this as Link Baiting. You can learn link baiting tips from

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