What is a Search Engine?
Search engines are the primary tools of Internet users for finding products, services and information over the web. Search engines allow people to search the entire Web (or at least those pages of the Internet that are in the search engine's database.)
How Does Search Engine Index Web Pages?
There are four parts to an engine that you need to know about for optimization purposes:
The spider is a program that goes out across the internet, looks for and gathers up web pages.
The database is where the spider will store the pages that it finds.
The search engine website, e.g. google.com, yahoo.com, msn.com is where searchers go to pull up information from the database.
The algorithms are programs that determine which sites will come up when searchers type in a query at the search engine website.
There are two ways that your site can get into the database:
The spider will automatically find your site from a link on someone else's site which is the path we recommend if you can get 1 or more quality inbound link(s).
You submit your URL so that the spider will come out and find it.
What Happens When I Submit my URL to a Search Engine?
First, the search engine's spider visits your URL immediately and schedules your page for inclusion in the search engine's database.
Second, usually within a few weeks, the spider comes along and places your page(s) into its database.
What is Optimization?
Optimization is an act, process, or methodology of making something (as a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible.
Website optimization is a continuous process of improving a site to achieve business goals while delivering a great user experience.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.
Why Search Engine Optimization?
Good search engine optimization will ensure that a page appears higher in the search engine results for a range of relevant, specific and valuable search terms or queries. The simple objective of SEO is to generate more valuable web site traffic. The achievement of a higher ranking against relevant search terms has commercial value for a web site because it will attract more traffic than a lower ranking. In an increasingly crowded online environment, search engine optimization is therefore a crucial online marketing discipline.
There are generally two main types of SEO
Black Hat: Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception.
White Hat: SEO technique is considered white hat if it conforms to the search engines' guidelines and involves no deception. White hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then making that content easily accessible to the spiders.
SEO can be further divided into two parts
1- On-Page Optimization
2- Off-Page Optimization
On-Page Optimization:
On page optimization is one of the very first step of SEO which every webmaster should look into. If you can do proper on-page optimization for your website you can not only rank well in a search engine but also can increase the overall readability of your website for your visitors.
a) Title Optimization
b) Meta Tags Optimization
c) Important HTML Tags
d) Keyword Optimization and Synonyms
e) Link Optimization
f) Image Optimization
Title Optimization
Title tag is the first thing that is shown & indexed by the search engines. So naturally it is given a very high importance.
Meta Tags Optimization
A site’s Meta description should contain a brief description of your website focusing on the areas and services that your business is specialized in.
Important HTML Tags
The text inside the header tags (e.g. [h1]) is given very high importance by the search engine.
Keyword Optimization & Synonyms
Your site’s content needs to be optimized in such a way that it can suit both search engines and your readers (keyword density, related keywords, long tail keywords)
Link Optimization
It is important to optimize your internal & external outbound links for search engines as well as to give your visitors a better navigation. (Anchor text, internal link structure)
Image Optimization
Use some special tags for your images in order to give them some meaning. (Alt text, file name, image title)
Off-Page Optimization:
Off-page optimization (off-page SEO) are strategies for search engine optimization that are done off the pages of a website to maximize its performance in the search engines for target keywords related to the page content.
a) Press Releases
b) Article Submission
c) Social Media Optimization
d) Directory Submission
e) Link exchanges
f) Blogging
g) Forum posting
h) Classified Submission
Press Releases
SEO Press Releases written in such a way that it will rank well in the search engines for your keywords and provide your website with important backlinks that will also help boost its position in the search engine rankings.
Article Submission
Article submission is a great resource for increasing traffic to your website and also getting one way links back to your site.
Social Media Optimization
Social media optimization (SMO) is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites.
Directory Submission
Directory submissions help website owners increase visibility to search engines, keyword targeting, brand building, relevant link building and getting listed in major search engines.
Link Exchange
The practice of exchanging links with other websites. You place another site's link on your site, usually on a links page, and in return, the other site places a link on their site back to you. (Reciprocal link, One-way linking, Multi-way linking, Forum signature linking, Blog comments, one way linking)
Blogging
Blogs can achieve solid ranking faster than regular websites. A blog is easier to publish than a regular website, so you can post content to it more often. Search engines like websites with frequently updated content.
Classified Submission
Classified Ads Submission has multiple benefits, firstly it create good link back to the site, and secondly there are good chances that a potential buyer would land to your product and buy it which dramatically improve your exposure. (Craiglist, oodle, and Kijiji)
What to avoid in SEO?
Google place great emphasis on their warnings. Google even has a page for reporting spamming offenders.
Keyword Stuffing: Keyword stuffing is the technique of excessively using lots of keywords with express intention of influencing the search engines.
Cloaking: Cloaking is the technique through which website visible to site visitor is entirely different from that seen by a search engine spider.
Doorway Sites: A doorway site is a site that acts as a referring page for another site. The doorway page is highly optimized – containing hidden links and keywords that the ordinary web user never sees.
Mirror Sites: Mirror sites use an alternative URL to the target site but contain identical content.
Hidden Text: The technique here is to fill or “stuff” a page with keywords invisible to the naked eye. This is done by using the same color for text as for the background page.
Tiny Text: Tiny text is a technique of using very small text that is barely visible to the human eye.
Link Spamming: Web sites and organizations that accumulate vast numbers of irrelevant links with the sole intention of climbing the rankings.
