Search Engine Optimization Introduction – Day 19

Welcome to your Search Engine Optimization Introduction Course. Over the past several weeks we have talked about some various techniques to bring in traffic, build backlinks, as well as learning how to get active on the internet. Today I want to dive into the world of search engine optimization.

You probably have been wondering why certain websites rank higher than other websites in a search engine for a given topic. Well there is an artform behind ranking well in Google, MSN, and Yahoo. The title of this art, Search Engine Optimization. I’m going to supply you a beginners blueprint on getting started with SEO and how you can use it to begin ranking well in search engines. What do I know about SEO? I work for a large SEO firm and this blog is currently ranked 1st in MSN for the term “internet marketing blog”. I will eventually rank well in Google and Yahoo as my domain ‘ages’ and content is added.

Here are some clear rules that you need to follow to rank well in search engines:

1. Internal Navigation

Search engines are advancing daily, their algorithms are being changed almost hourly. Although they all abide by simple principles to ranking websites. First is the internal structure that your website is built upon. AVoid Javascript Image maps and session IDs whenever possible. These are the pitfalls of your typical webmaster beginner, sure Javascript maps may look good but they are hurting your internal navigation structure. Create your navigation in CSS or standard text. How can you test if Google’s bots/search engine bots correctly see your website? Check Google’s text only cache and make sure that the links are in hyperlinked form.

2. Uniqueness

The internet is full of competition, regardless of your niche. Therefore you need to stand out from the rest, if you sell DVDs find something that makes you unique over the other big namers. Unique content is king, so don’t copy and paste articles on your site. Only work with unique data.

3. Links

In a perfect world a search engine would rank sites based upon the usefulness of the content and how targeted it is with a searcher. As time continues I’m sure you will see this process even more finely tuned. Search engines have created algorithms to rank websites based upon incoming links to that site, and variations of the weighting occurs on link keywords and incoming strength of the link. Be active about getting links, if you followed my previous days tutorials you should have a HUGE fleet of incoming links to your website. So many incoming links that you will rank well in a very short amount of time. If you don’t know where to get backlinks just follow my 30 Day Guide and you will start accumulating them in no time.

4. Content

I swear this is the key to it all on the internet, content is king people! Having a website with more image space then text space is a big NO NO. Search engines don’t like it as images are not readable, and we are long past the days of image based websites. Create relevant text via articles, blog posts, or whatever possible. Again remember unique, don’t just copy and paste. Remember to keep each page ‘targeted’ so that search engines have no problem identifying the concept of the content. Also remember to keep your website fresh with new content. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen some of my old stagnate websites fall rankings because I was careless and didn’t update them. It’s easier to loss positions then gain positions in rankings, remember that.

5. Title Tags

I covered some of that yesterday, but make sure that your title tags have your keyword in them. Specifically in the front of anything else, notice how my titles are created? Copy that method.

6. Competition

Who are your competitors? Thats key, keep an eye on them. What are they doing? What can you do to keep ahead of them? Have they been in business/online for years with that domain name? Then it is going to be a battle, and a tough one at that. Search engines, specifically Google, loves domain age and ranks older sites higher than newer ones. It isn’t impossible to get in front, but it will take a longer time.

7. Finance

Everyone has different spending capabilities. Determine how much you can finance towards letting the pros do SEO for you if at all possible. Trust me when I say we know what we are doing, although you are going to need to find the best type of SEO company for your needs. I’m not going to refer you to my company because we charge astronomical startup fees and high monthly costs. We do have a competitor that is offering a very strange type of program though, not sure how it fully works but seems interesting. I have seen them rank well for some sites so I know that they can do what they say. No I wont provide a link, or give you their name (RankPay).

8. Tracking

This is critical, you need to pay attention and stay on top of the tracking game. Whats converting? Why is it converting? Can you increase conversions? You must know these things and be tracking vital statistics before you even consider SEO. Without it you will simply be wasting your time! Pay attention to things like Google Analytics and things like CTR.

9. Website Size

How large is your site? How long does it take to load? Do you have to many widgets, gizmo’s and plug ins? Load times need to be quick and reliable. If you can’t access your website more than once a week, find a new host. Heck, if you can’t access your site once a month find a new host. You want as much uptime as possible as well as small of a site as possible. Not only will your viewers appreciate it but so will the search engines.

10. Rankings Generally Take Time

That’s right. Hate to break it to you but chances are you have alot of work ahead of you. You are going to need to start today, and it will be a long process to build your sites up in the search engines. Don’t expect instant results because they typically won’t occur. Also check back often as I’m going to be touching on a lot of SEO tips. Remember, I’m in the industry and I know what works and I know what doesn’t. I’ve decided to share my tips and tricks, so that others can have the same success I’ve had with my sites.

[tags]seo introduction, search engine optimization introduction, seo how to, search engine optimization how to[/tags]