SEO an introduction
As is usual with subjects relating to the online marketing industry the road to search engine optimisation (SEO) is a long and often treacherous journey which can boggle the greatest of minds. The subject is vast and ever changing and it has evolved as the internet has evolved. This alone makes the art of optimisation that much harder to implement and certainly harder to understand.
What is fortunate is that because it is so important a whole industry has evolved solely dedicated to this craft, which means that people have figured out some aspects of what works and what does not.
It would be frivolous of me to attempt to divulge all of the little foibles of SEO in a single post and to try would leave large and valuable holes in the knowledge of those who read this blog post long after we have all moved on. Therefore this will be the first of several posts relating to Search engine optimisation that will appear on this blog.
You can also check out my video on SEO
http://ttsvideoblog.com/2008/10/an-introduction-to-search-engine-optimisation-seo/
So in that knowledge let’s dig in.
Search Engine Optimisation is a phrase used to describe the process of improving the volume and quality of natural traffic to a web page from the search engines using keyword search terms. Basically the higher up the page ranks in the search engines the more visible the page becomes on Google and consequently the more visitors that are likely to visit that website due to its high ranking and overall visibility.
Now that sounds rather incongruous and undefined and in many respects that’s exactly right. However the requirements of the search engines is what drives SOE and every webmaster out there is trying to gain an edge in the ranking wars by trying to understand the mysterious Google algorithm. Unfortunately in a previous post that touched on this particular topic of organic website traffic, I explained how difficult it was to know what made up the individual components of that Google algorithm that would guarantee success.
So in essence, due to the nature of the Google code it is more productive to try small tweaks and small differences in website architecture that are known to make a difference than in trying to second guess the mathematics and mechanics involved in the Google algorithm.
There are so many parts to a website it is difficult to know where to start when it comes to optimising for the search engines.
However there are a few fundamentals that are important and will remain important for a considerable time to come.
Write your web page for People not the search engines. People are going to read the content so remember that.
Make the domain name relevant to the web page if possible.
Use a .com whenever possible.
Use two words or less in the domain.
Do not use hyphens or special characters in your domain.
Make sure every page of your entire site is structured with SEO in mind not just your home page.
Link to all pages in your site from the home page.
When you structure your link strategy make sure that no page on your site is more than 3 mouse clicks from the home page.
Over time establish links to other related websites and have them link to your site. Make those links quality links from established well received web sites. Poor links hurt your own site.
As you can see this subject is vast and complex but at the same time it makes sense. The search engines are trying to ensure that the person searching finds the most suitable material available based upon the words and phrases they enter into the search box. Therefore the more relevance your site has to the subject matter concerned the more likely your page will appear nearer the top of the search list of relevant sites for a particular search term. This is so important for the Natural search traffic and can double or even triple the number of visitors to a website, leading to increased sales and profit.
I have barely touched on this subject here today, but i will expand this topic to cover some specific strategies that work for SEO over the next few weeks.
Or if you are in need of this information now why not check out my Videoblog at http://ttsvideoblog.com
In the mean time have a good week.
Tags:Market research,page optimisation,SEO
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