Friday, 11 January 2013

So What Is SEO Anyway? Helpful Info About Search Engine Optimization or SEO

If you have a website and are interested in increasing visitor traffic to it, chances are you've come across a term called "SEO" short for "search engine optimization." You might find yourself wondering what in the world SEO is. "Is it a programming language?" "Is it a marketing tool?" "Does this involve me?" You might ask.
One of the reasons that Search Engine Optimization or SEO is sometimes hard to understand and define is that it can mean different things to different people. Further, the field of SEO is relatively new and it is not a standard area of study for school students (though for many, it certainly should be).
Another thing that makes SEO especially challenging (and exciting) is that it is a dynamic field that changes frequently. Despite the ongoing changes and updates that impact the world of SEO, there are still some long lasting aspects of the field that make understanding it a bit easier.
Search Engine Optimization describes a wide variety of practices used to help make websites fare better in the search engines. With literally millions of web pages to sort through in a matter of milliseconds, how do search engines like Google or Bing work to best rank websites following your search query? If I understood and could clearly explain every aspect of this I'd not only be very smart but also very rich... however I do understand a considerable amount about it, and that involves my work as an SEO.
While the process of SEO is multifaceted, some of the key practices involved in search engine optimization include the following:
  • Competitor analysis to understand the competitive landscape and identify weak areas (AKA areas of opportunity)
  • Keyword research and analysis
  • Web page optimization using best keywords and keyword phrases (important here to be familiar with HTML and understand terms like meta tags, page titles, descriptions, anchor text, etc.)
  • Link building through quality content creation and publication and legitimate web partnerships and directories
Search Engine Optimization or SEO involves the project work included in optimizing a website and all of the web page content and site structure. SEO also includes ongoing work to promote a website in the search engines over time. Both aspects of SEO are labor intensive and the benefits take time to realize. Another critical part of the process of SEO involves monitoring success and making adjustments as needed. SEO performance is typically monitored with a variety of tools including Google analytics and Bing's webmaster portal.
As search engine rankings improve and website traffic increases, SEO-related maintenance work continues to be needed indefinitely. This SEO maintenance work includes things like:
  • Regular keyword phrase research
  • Quality article research and writing (with keywords and links) along with article publishing and promoting
  • New and fresh web page content that is optimized
  • Website maintenance including website structure updates and changes
  • A continued focus on link building strategy
  • Daily posts with promotion on relevant social media sites
A major part of good SEO also involves staying up to date on all of the ongoing changes involving the major search engines. For example, Google did a major update in February 2011 sometimes called Google Panda which had a pretty significant effect on a lot of websites and SEO strategy.
Sometimes SEO also involves launching pay per click ad campaigns (also known as PPC ads) or Facebook ads. SEO can also include creating, optimizing and promoting online videos, finding, optimizing and promoting high quality photos and writing and managing blog posts, social media posts and press releases.
This article just touches the surface of all that is included in the work of search engine optimization. If you are interested in learning more about search engine optimization, there is a lot of helpful information you can find online. If you are considering hiring an agency to do SEO for your business, you should contact a web marketing company for more information.
Diane Watts Roy Ph.D. is an seo, market researcher, copywriter and web marketing consultant with Honeywick, a software development and web marketing firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. If you are interested in web marketing services or search engine optimization for your business, and want to learn more about your options, check out Honeywick for a free estimate and additional information.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Diane_Watts_Roy

0 comments :

Post a Comment