Search Engine Optimization

Why It's Important

Search Engine Optimization, SEO for short, is the process of getting your website to show up on the first page of search engine results. You can not buy your way to the top. To learn more about SEO, read the following tutorial.

Importance of search engine optimization

Getting customers to your website relies on them knowing your website address or being able to find it by using search engines like Google or Yahoo!. Research has shown that customers prefer to find information using search tools even if they know your website address. Knowing this, it is important to optimize your website so it shows up in search results.

Over the past decade the web has grown to over 13 million websites. Your website must compete with these other sites. Search engine optimization encompasses several areas but basically is an attempt to make your website show up at the top of the list in search results. Lets face it, most people don't bother going to the other pages in the search results. So if you aren't on the first page, most likely people aren't going to visit your site.

How Search Engines Work

Search Engines use algorithms to rank pages based on a number of variables such as page titles, keywords, number of times the keywords show up in the document, image text, metadata (information coded on the site that only search engines see) and so on. No one really knows the exact method of ranking which makes fooling the search engines quite hard if possible at all. However, since people can't fool the search engines like long ago, this means we usually end up getting good more relevant results.

Metadata is contained within the coding of the website when it is developed and provides search engines with information such as what the site is about, the title of the pages, what pages the search engine visit among other things. This data is not seen to the visitor of the website, only the search engine (or robot as they are called).

Keyword Discovery

Keywords can be single words or phrases that describe your site's content. Typically you optimize each page of your website for 1-2 main keywords. Picking the right keywords is crucial to the success of search engine optimization. The person doing SEO on your website should understand your industry and spend time researching the best keyword(s) for each page on your site.

Helpful tips to finding the right keywords

• Ask people what words or phrases they would use to find your type of business. This is often a great source of information because other people may describe your business differently.
• Use Google to search on keywords or phrases and see what other sites come up.
• Using your website log files to see what visitors are typing in to find your site. (Hosting from Power Mark Solutions provides detailed reporting about keywords)
• Purchase keyword optimization solutions and let a professional conduct the research.

What to do with the keywords

Page Title

Once you have decided on 1-2 keywords per page that represent your site’s content, you can start using them. One of the best places for keyword placement is in the page title. This is the title that is displayed at the top of the browser (example: "Search Engine Optimization | Power Mark Solutions" ) and in the search engine results. Using a page title that is less than 45 characters tends to have better results than longer ones. It is also easier for visitors to read and understand what your website is about.

Page Description

Have you ever noticed the short blurb about a website when the search results are shown? Some search engines will pull this information from the description contained in the metadata (remember Metadata is in the source code of the website and only the search engines can see it).

An example of a description that could be in the metadata is "Squiggly Wiggly Animal Hospital provides veterinary care for dogs and cats." This description is a good time to use some of the keywords you worked hard finding. Note that some search engines don’t always use this description in the search results. Instead they will pick something else it deemed more relevant within the page and display that instead.

Site Content

Spreading the keywords and phrases throughout the page will help the search engines rank the page higher. Using keywords in heading titles, closer to the top of the page, and at the beginning of sentences will also help. Using the same keywords over and over will NOT result in higher page rankings. Search engines are smart enough to recognize this as abuse and it will actually have a negative impact on the ranking. Updating the site regularly is not only a good business practice, but will also get better page rankings than a site that remains stagnate. Google has started to check for fresh content and your website could be rewarded for keeping it up to date.

Getting your site listed in search engines

First, if anyone tells you that they can get you to the top of the search results, that simply isn't true. No one can control the organic search results, not even if you pay. The only time you can be at the top of the page is if you do pay-per-click advertising. The best way to get to the first page of the search results is to do your homework on the best performing keywords and optimize your page accordingly.

Once you are in a search engine, there isn't a guarantee that your site will remain there. Search rankings can change daily, even hourly. Remember, there are new competing sites everyday, so the more you stay up with your site, the better off you will be.

We hoped this tutorial about search engines helped provide some background information. Power Mark Solutions does every thing we can to make sure your site is listed in search engines and is optimized to be search engine friendly.

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