What is Search Engine Optimization?

It is no secret that search engines are the number one traffic generating method for driving visitors to the different web sites. Search engines are very useful in helping people find the relevant information they seek on the Internet. The major search engines develop and maintain their own gigantic database of web sites that can be searched by a user typing in a keyword or keyword phrase in the search box.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of studying the search engines in an effort to determine how to get your web site to rank high on user searches. Depending on the statistical information reviewed, search engines account for over 80% of the visitor traffic to web sites.

Within the search engine category, Google accounts for most of the search engine traffic. The other top search engines include but are not limited to: Yahoo, AOL Search, Overture, AllTheWeb, MSN Search, WiseNut, HotBot, Teoma, and Ask Jeeves. You can register your web site with the various search engines but it is a demanding process and takes time.

Visitor traffic from the search engines can be obtained through organic (natural) or pay-per-click (PPC) search results. The non-paid organic search results are the list of web sites (generally 10 per page) returned when a user searches on a specific keyword or keyword phrase. Keyword is the word or phrase that is typed into the search engine's search box. The PPC items are the paid advertisements for a specific keyword or keyword phrase and listed on the same page as the organic search results.

You are telling the search engines what your web site is about when you employ SEO tactics. Search engine optimization involves the layout of your web page so that it is very easy to navigate and read. In addition, you must skillfully place your keywords in your web page in a manner that conveys the information that is being searched for by your visitor. The keywords should be placed in the Title tag, Meta Description tag and at the beginning of the Body tag sections. Search engines look for relevant and original content in your web page that is relative to the your site's keyword theme.

Search engines find out about your web site through your submission to the search engine or through a link to your site from another web site that has already been indexed. The search engine uses a spider (i.e., a computer program) to index (i.e., classify and include in the search engine database) your individual web site pages. The spider is often referred to as a crawler. These spiders follow links from one site to another site and create an index of information for inclusion in the search engine database on each web page they visit. The spider is more likely to index a static HTML web page higher than one generated dynamically.

You can make your web page more search engine friendly by reducing or eliminating any flash animation or graphics in your home page. Design each page of your web site so that the keyword or keyword phrase information being searched for by your visitors can be easily found. You need to convey the central message or theme of your web page to your visitors.

In addition, your web site should have a site map. A site map displays a visual model of the pages within your web site. It enables your visitors to navigate through your web site that has more than one page. Each listing in your site map should be an active link to enable your visitor to click on the link and move directly to that specific section of your web site.

It will take a lot of concentrated work to achieve a top ranking in any of the search engines. Rank is the position in the search engine results page that a web site appears when someone searches for a specific keyword or keyword phrase. The typical search engine results page has 10 positions for web sites returned as the result of the user's search.

--

Copyright (C) 2004 F. Terrence Markle ? All Rights Reserved

Get my F.R.E.E multi-part series on generating targeted and quality traffic to your web site. http://www.QuikSystems.com/WST/TrafficSeries.htm Get my F.R.E.E newsletter on building your own targeted mailing list: http://www.QuikSystems.com/EzineSub.htm

About The Author

Copyright (C) 2004 ? F. Terrence Markle has worked for over 20 years with public and private companies. He has an MBA in marketing and finance. He has been involved with Internet-related businesses for over 3 years. His primary focus is the marketing of affiliate programs.

tmarkle@quiksystems.com

In The News:

pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


So, Where Has Your Search Engine Been Today?

Visit Google, Yahoo, MSN or one of the lesser search... Read More

Beginners - Getting Listed In Search Engines

Once you have your web site complete and ready to... Read More

The Google Sandbox Explained

Introduction The Google Sandbox is a metaphorical term... Read More

What Did We Learn from the Great Search Engine Experiment!

Last Week I did a Search engine Experiment. I wanted... Read More

Martial Arts Webmasters: Time to Optimize Your Site!

A few months ago I was looking through the search... Read More

All You Need to Know About Your Website Traffic is Contained in 5 Key Stats

You built that content rich web page optimized for your... Read More

Increase Web Site Sales with a SEO Proposal - Part 1

You can easily get confused by all the search engine... Read More

SEOing A Flash Intro

IntroductionWhy does a FLASH intro need SEO? Flash, the great... Read More

Google Rankings ? Achieving a Top 10 Position in Google ? Part 1

Achieving a top ranking position in Google is every webmasters... Read More

Keep Your Content Fresh with this Quick and Easy Tip

Some of the Search engines want only original content. So... Read More

Easy Web Tips

How can you be found on the web?The web is... Read More

Utilizing Popular Directories as Free Link Sources

If you're a webmaster, you've probably spent almost as much... Read More

Keep Your Web Site Content Relevant

Visitors and search engines love content-rich web sites, but just... Read More

Search Engines The Masters Of The Internet Universe ? Part 3

This is part three of the article series and deals... Read More

The Secret Benefit Of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability

A higher search ranking is what many website owners dream... Read More

The Search Engine Showdown

If you're anything like me, you have a favourite search... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Conclusions (part 10/10)

As you have seen throughout the guide, search engine optimization... Read More

The Myth of Search Engine Submission

Contrary to what most people think, it is not necessary... Read More

10 Quick Ways To Kick-Start Your Profit Pulling Keywords

First, you must realize that targeting the right keywords or... Read More

3.5 Reasons You Need To Forget About Search Engines

Have you ever stopped to think how much time is... Read More

Why You Should NOT Submit Your Site On Search Engines

Before to answer to this question we have to know... Read More

Are You Hung-Up on Page Rank and Back Links?

It's unfortunate that many website owners are so hung-up on... Read More

How To Get Number 1 Spot In Google, Every Time, Guaranteed

Woaah! Wait a minute. Before I exclusively reveal these insider... Read More

Is This A ?DMOZ Killer? In The Making?

Is building a Human-Edited Fully "Democratic" Search Directory Possible?The independent... Read More

Getting Listed in the ODP, Google Directory

First of all, the Google directory is really just the... Read More

The (Not So) Shocking Truth About Getting A High Search Engine Ranking

I have seen my site hit #3 at Google, and... Read More

Search Engines from a Webmaster Perspective

By now, virtually every webmaster has heard or read that... Read More

Why You Need a SEO Maintenance Plan

A search engine optimization maintenance service plan will ensure that... Read More

Do-It-Yourself Keyword Optimization

The first step in a search engine optimization campaign is... Read More

Internet Marketing and SEO

Have you ever seen any email offers of getting you... Read More

Wordtracker Wisdom: Common Keyword Questions and Answers

One of my favorite subjects to teach on at our... Read More

Is My Search Engine Optimization Working?

You've just built a website and can't wait to start... Read More

THREE Secrets to High Search Engine Rankings the Easy Way!

Let me guess, you've read article after article on how... Read More