Search Engine OptimizationMade Easy

By Brandon Raper

The explanation

SEO (Search engine optimization) is the art of optimizing web sites and web pages to rank high on search engine requests. Searching for bicycles results in over 20 million

pages found. Being 1st on that list is the desired result.

Google reigns supreme

Important search directories Google dominates the search engine market so

Google based SEO is the most important. Yahoo and Bing are the closest competitors and shouldn’t be ignored.

Very few people search on open directories, yet they feed results to multiple sites so they also should not be ignored. That brings our 4 important sites to Google, Yahoo, Bing, and the open directory at www.dmoz.org

Your first SEO step

First and foremost, you need the ability to measure individual web sites and their success on Google. Luckily Google provides a free service on their Google toolbar found at http://www.google.com/toolbar/ff/index.html

This toolbar has many great features that I could talk about for hours, but we’ll stick to the important one; Google Page Rank.

This page rank is based on SEO cosmetic techniques along with the amount and quality of links that point BACK to your site. (This is horribly important)

The actual search

Page rank is incredibly important but only part of the process. Once a search is conducted Google searches for pages with the words in the search, then goes through relevancy tests within the sites.

It sounds like words are the most important part of being a big time player in Google searches from that explanation right? “Keywords” are important, we’ll delve into that in a bit.

So what can I do?

There are multiple cosmetic changes you can make to your website, whether it be through HTML code or the text within your website.

Powerful Keywords are a great place to start. Certain words that describe your product/service must be embedded into your website text. If you own an online Jewelry store and don’t contain the word Jewelry anywhere on your site, you’re at a severe disadvantage.

But aren’t there MILLIONS of jewelry sites? Why would I choose the word Jewelry as a keyword?

Quality keywords

Touche. Ignore your first instinct to use Jewelry as much as possible. The keywords you should use are the secondary ones that less people search for, but are easier to optimize with. Maybe you use “handmade jewelry” or “opal jewelry”, whatever describes your web site best.

DON’T OVERDO THE USE OF THE WORD (example…) Our Opal Jewelry is the best Opal Jewelry on the net. If you

are in dire need of Opal Jewelry and need it fast, we’re your site.

Use your keywords sparingly, choose multiple keywords. Use Opal Jewelry, use Handmade Jewelry, use Cheap Jewelry, keep your options open and utilize the Google search options.

Coming up with keywords Keywords can be a hassle to come up with. Sure

you can think of the obvious ones, and maybe an S or create a plural word of your initial thought, but how do you know what people are searching for?

Google also helps with this situation with a keyword search tool that provides statistics and words related to whatever word and/or site you’d like.

Here’s the link http://www.google.com/sktool/#

Jewelry Example Keyword

Note the amount of searches, competition level, and keywords available just by typing in “Jewelry”

Now that you’ve got your keywords

You’ve put your keywords in your website text, now what?

A few routes can be taken, we’ll go with the complicated HTML code. For this you will need to either know HTML or have a designer who can change the code for you.

A few tricks will be explained including Meta tags Title Positioning of title Bold/Italicized/Underlined font

Quick HTML tricks

Let’s examine a sample page. To check the HTML code of a page all you have to do is click “View” on your browser toolbar and then click on Page Source. It will look something like this

This source is from the site www.ugandabeads.com a site I’ve been working on (although not optimized for SEO quite yet)

HTML cont.

Search engines look at the <TITLE> as a representation of the site, or the title of the site (Crazy eh?)

Here’s some usual problems with TITLE tags They aren’t there, they’re in the wrong position,

they’re poor

<TITLE> tags should be immediately under the <HEAD> tag and should contain those same useful keywords you found.

For example <TITLE> Handmade jewelry, opal jewelry, cheap jewelry, beaded jewelry <TITLE>

HTML Cont.

Under the <TITLE> tag should be the description tag, which, you guessed it, is indexed as the description of the site.

Up to 250 characters can be used to describe the website and all of it’s functions.

Example <META NAME=“description” CONTENT=“Opal Jewelry – we’ve got the best quality, price, and customer service for handmade opal jewelry along with discount jewelry and beads to produce your own.”

HTML Cont.

Make sure that the title and meta tags are located at the top of the HTML code. Anything at the top of the page and code holds precedent over the rest.

Placing keywords in <H> tags, or header tags, increases the keyword visibility

Bolding, italicizing, or underlining words also increases visibility

Please be careful…don’t create a jumbled mess like this… Opal JEWELRY for SALE cheap, handmade jewelry

here

Link Importance

The single most influential act for SEO is the amount and quality of links that point BACK to your website. That means you either need. Cooperation from another site by agreeing on placing

each others websites on respective link pages The “magical” link back to your site with no cooperation

from you (This is the best situation for you) There are multiple ways you can go about this.

The quickest/easiest way is by creating individualized emails to similar sites asking for cooperation of link sharing. An easy way to ensure cooperation is by placing there link on your link page before you send the email.

Danger! Broken/Banned Links Certain websites have the ability to be banned if

they use unethical SEO practices (I won’t get into these because they should be shunned but you can find them online if you’d like to make sure you aren’t doing this) Linking to a banned or broken link hurts your site drastically. Make sure the site you email isn’t banned.

You can do this by checking its Google page rank. If the page rank is grayed out the site is banned.

Make sure to monitor your links every now and then to make sure there is still a website on the other end.

Process of acquiring links In your emails to acquire links on specific pages

you should include what you want the link to say. Going back to that Opal Jewelry example, let’s say our email includes this… “I’d like if the link text said “Opal Jewelry” with the

description saying “Some of the highest quality handmade opal jewelry you can find on the net”

The actual link text (What you click on) should contain those keywords you chose in the beginning of your SEO voyage.

Places to look for links

There are a few places and/or processes you can take to acquire these links Reciprocal link requests Ask other sites to add your links (Non-cooperative) Buy links – some sites offer outbound links from high

page rank sites Find sites that link to your competition (they’ll probably

link to you also) Ask friends, family, anyone you know Send out press releases – some are free and allow

keyworded links within the press release

PPC Advertising

Another option to get on top of Google’s search is the use of Pay Per Click Advertising.

If you search for a term in Google, there is almost always one-two links at the top of the page of a different color or bolded. These links are PPC links. A company pays a certain amount each time someone is directed to their site via Google search.

For additional information visit www.adwords.google.com/ You can even be certified through Adword testing, may

prove like a worthy option for recent college grads

You need time!

SEO is a long drawn out process. You can’t expect to place some links on your page, switch your Meta tags and be above the other 20 million sites that Google thinks is relevant to your keyword search.

Give it some time, improve your incoming links and stay up to date with SEO theory. There’s plenty of sites who put theories to test on more efficient and quicker ways to rise to the top.

About Me

I’m a recent college graduate from Illinois State University with a Marketing degree. My passion is marketing and everyday of my life is utilized towards increasing my marketing knowledge database.

I’m currently job searching in the Illinois area and always willing to open my career opportunities. Check my blog at http://smobrandon.wordpress.com/ for some additional posts and information.

Add me on Twitter and LinkedIn at http://twitter.com/SMObrandon and http://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonraper