SEO How To Basics
Are you a novice at SEO? When attempting to SEO (search engine optimize) their sites, many people are unsure where to start and unfamiliar with the language of SEO. Below is a quick overview of what's involved in SEO. Think of it as a quick SEO How To, designed to get you started.
SEO How To, Step One: What Exactly is SEO?
No SEO How To would be complete without a description of what SEO actually is.
The acronym stands for "search engine optimization." The goal of SEO is to improve the rankings of your site on the main search engines, like Google, Yahoo and MSN. These three search engines are where the majority of Internet users go when looking for Web sites, whether for shopping, research, or general information.
In a nutshell, SEO makes a Web site attract search engine programs, called bots or spiders. The bots review a site and then, if they deem it worthy, include it in the index of their search engine. Keywords are crucial. A site has to be relevant to certain keyword phrases in order to rank high in search engine listings. When a user searches for a phrase, like "SEO How To", the search engine finds the most relevant sites in its index and lists them for the user.
SEO How To, Step Two: How Can You Optimize Your Site?
You may be surprised to find out how much is involved in SEO. As an overview, this SEO How To will only scratch the surface of what is required.
- Keywords - Often the first answer in any SEO How To, keywords really form the basis of SEO. High search engine rankings depend on a site being relevant for the keyword phrases being searched on. An optimized site uses the right keywords in the right places.
- Content - Content, in the form of text, plays a large part in SEO. Search engine spiders need lots of content to determine a site's relevance to the keyword phrases it is optimized for. Most SEO How To guides recommend about 500 words per page - enough to attract the spiders and fill a screen without forcing a user to scroll. As for the number of pages, it depends how many keywords you are optimizing for. A site that is optimizing for 20 keywords should count on at least 10-15 pages of content.
- Links - Internal links help spiders find the back pages of a site, leading to more content and more chances of being indexed. Inbound links are indicative of the value of your site and will help improve your search engine rankings. External links, who is linking to you and what they say about you is extremely important.
- Structure - The structure of your site can have an impact on how the spiders navigate it. Filenames, page titles, internal links and overall coding all play a role.
SEO How To, Step Three: What SEO Practices Should You Avoid?
There are several easy, but unethical, ways to SEO your site. These techniques are called "black hat" and should be avoided at all costs. Beware of any SEO How To that promotes these methods. Keyword stuffing, invisible text, use of irrelevant keywords, link farms - all are black hat techniques that will be discovered and could result in your site being banned from a search engine.