What is SEO

Whenever you enter a query in a search engine and hit 'enter' you get a list of web results that contain that query term. Users normally tend to visit websites that are at the top of this list as they perceive those to be more relevant to the query. If you have ever wondered why some of these websites rank better than the others then you must know that it is because of a powerful web marketing technique called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Almost 90% of the websites on the Internet exist to make money. To make money, websites need traffic which can be generated by buying traffic or doing Search Engine Optimization. Buying traffic is a risky option because you won’t be sure whether the traffic will convert. Hence, all websites concentrate more on optimizing their websites for search engines. Optimizing websites for Search Engines is known as Search Engine Optimization. In this article, let us get in to more details of Search Engine Optimization.

Types of Search Engine Optimization:

On Page SEO
Off Page SEO

What is On Page SEO?

On Page SEO techniques involve various methods like having relevant domain name, title tags, meta description, alt tags etc. All webmasters should take care of all these aspects in order to make their websites rank higher and get lots of free traffic from search engines.

Following are some of the basics for you to follow for each website page:

1.Do research FIRST for what keyword/keyword phrases are being used to search for what your website will cover.

2.Title Tag: Use your #1 keyword phrase for each page at the start of the Title Tag. Title tags are best if not wordy and should never be longer than the space allowed for them. If you feel you have to use your business name, use it at the end. For example if your website is about porcelain dolls and is called The Doll Shop – here’s an appropriate title tag: Porcelain Dolls from The Doll Shop. Remember – this tag is what will be saved to someone’s computer if they bookmark you – so they need to see right away what it is when they’re looking at their bookmarks.

3.Meta Description: This should be a short advertisement for this page of the website – again start with your best keyword phrase for the page but now you can include some other information. The idea here is to entice people with this. Using the above doll store for example purposes a possible description would be: Find your collectible porcelain doll for sale including fairy and baby dolls. Add to your porcelain doll collection today with these and all the dolls available from The Doll Shop.

4.Meta Keywords: These are no longer used by most search engines. But, since some still might use them, fill them in. Remember, only list keywords/phrases that you are using on this page.

5.Headlines on your pages: Like the title – these headlines will let your customer (and the search engines) quickly know what the page is about. It’s best if you use the h tags when entering headlines, so that the search engines can recognize that this is a headline. A headline is just that. It is not a sentence. It is not wordy. A good headline for the Doll Store would be Collectible Porcelain Dolls.

6.Text on pages: Make sure that the keyword/keyword phrases for the page are being used on the page. Do not spam them. Do not force them. Make the copy feel natural, never forced. If you aren’t sure, try reading your text out loud and see how it sounds to you. If you cringe, you’ve overdone the keywords.

a. Spelling is important. Use a spell checker.

b. Grammar is important. If need be, get other people to read and check your text for you.

c. Bulleted lists are good

d. Highlight/Bold words

e. Use anchor text to link to interior pages from page text.

f. Unique content is VITAL. If you cannot write copy that is unique and will work well for your site, this is the place to spend the money to get it done right.

g. Do NOT use provided copy: If you are selling products – do not use the copy provided by your supplier, but write your own content – again it should be UNIQUE.

7. Do not spam in any of the elements. In other words, don’t use keywords inappropriately in
the title, meta, on the page, etc. Do not try to “fool the search
engines in anyway.



What is Off Page SEO?


Off Page SEO is comparatively difficult as webmasters don’t have much control over it. The main technique in Off Page SEO is back linking. Back linking means getting linked from other websites. Not many webmasters like to link to other websites assuming that they will lose on traffic and pass on the link juice. These are just myths and as a good webmaster one should always consider linking to relevant websites and pages on the Internet.Depending on the number of back links, a webpage or a website is ranked on search engines. This makes it very important for websites to have valuable content which can be linked from other websites.
Linking: There are 3 major types of linking: One-way, Reciprocal, and Paid Links

a. One-way links: These are the most valuable links you can have to your website. This means someone has found your site worthwhile enough to give it a vote of confidence from their own website/blog/forum, etc. If you are able to put the link in a blog or forum, make sure you use the best possible anchor text in doing so. For example in the doll store – good anchor text could be either Porcelain dolls or collectible porcelain dolls. Placing links to authority sites and sites you feel will be worthwhile to your customers is good for your site. And having a site that others will
feel is worthwhile to link to you is VITAL for your site. Linking, to be valuable to search engines, should be TEXT links. Banner links are valuable for advertising, but not for rating. A link within the text on a site (like in a blog or newsletter or paragraph), using good anchor text, is the goal for a good link.

b. Reciprocal Linking: Reciprocal links happen when you and someone else agree to exchange links to each other. Some search engines are no longer giving credit (or giving much reduced credit) to this type of linking.² While they are still helping with some search engines, it could
still be worthwhile to do reciprocal linking, but keep your eyes on what the future in linking will bring.

c. Paid links: A paid link is simply one that you pay to have on a site. These are usually text links (a site may sell space on their site.) Use these if you feel you will get visitors to come to your site and purchase or do what your website is looking for. Do not use these for help with search engine ranking.