What does SEO stand for?

SEO is an abbreviation for search engine optimization. SEO appeared on the scene quite recently, about the time the World Wide Web (and HTTP protocol) was born. With a huge number of web sites and the opportunities they brought as effective marketing tools, the idea of influencing search engine rankings using certain methods and skills quickly found its way into people's minds.

Now, organic search engine rankings and the advantages they can bring are becoming a consideration for more and more business owners, and thus SEO is becoming more important.

There are, generally, two main factors that affect search engine rankings: the content of the site's pages and the number and quality of  links pointing to it from the rest of the web. By improving your content and making it more relevant to your preferred theme and keywords, you can achieve great results in the organic search engine listings, but links are also very important, as they add authority to your site.

So, when doing search engine optimization, pay attention to your on-page factors (body copy, <title> tags, link text) and off-page factors (incoming links from other authoritative and relevant sites).

Why doesn't my site rank well for the keywords I target?

There can be a lot of different reasons for that.

·The site is under-optimized; the body copy doesn't contain your target keywords or their density is insufficient; the <title> tags do not contain keywords; link anchor text is not optimized for keywords. Perhaps, you've only optimized your description and keyword meta-tags, which has nothing at all to do with SEO.

· There are too few inbound links; the sites that link to you have low authority or are irrelevant to your theme.

· The site is very young, and the search engines apply some sort of a trial period to it (the so-called sandbox effect, which can last six to fourteen months).

· The site is over-optimized. You include your keywords in your body copy too often, and the density is approaching the level where keyword stuffing begins. If you also include them in image alt attributes, link title attributes, etc., the search engines will start filtering and penalizing your site.

·     The site is full of spam. Before your current ranking penalty has developed into a complete ban, remove all spam from your pages and play fair.

·     Your niche is very competitive. In this case try and choose less competitive key phrases. No use fighting in vain.

And patience, patience, patience!

How do I start?

Start from defining your overall goals. Analyze your current positions and ROI, and your current traffic sources (if any). Check your server logs to see what keywords already bring you traffic. Brainstorm more key phrases, then check them using Wordtracker or other keyword research tools.

Now think how you can re-write your existing pages (or write new ones) to emphasize the search terms you've chosen without breaking the overall concept or destroying the marketing quality of your site. If it seems to be complicated, reconsider your keywords; most likely, you've selected the wrong ones.

How do I optimize the site copy? Where do I place my keywords?

The site copy is the core of your site's concept and image, so its optimization is the most important part of your SEO process.

When writing for SEO purposes, place your keywords within the copy, closer to the top. Include them in headers and sub-headers (<h1>-<h6>), but do not try to fool search engines by placing these tags within your paragraphs. Use <strong> or <em> tags instead.

When your keywords are included in the link anchor text, it increases their weight.

Make sure your copy remains readable and pleasing. Do not stuff it with keywords. When finished, read it out loud to check if you are overusing your search terms - or ask somebody else to read it for you.

Use the Google Toolbar highlighter feature to check your keyword density.

How do I build links pointing to my site?

There are several ways of building links to your site. The first and most well known is reciprocal linking: you contact another webmaster and offer to link to his/her site in exchange for the same favor.

Another common way is directory submission. Directories are numerous, and their main goals to list sites, so your submissions are, in most cases, welcome. Just be sure you've read and understood the guidelines.

Publish articles and press-releases across the web. Offer testimonials and add your link to your signature. Add an RSS feed to your site (it will help you if your content is frequently updated and interesting to a wide audience) Register your RSS feed in proper directories, and soon lots of blogs and news pages will link to you in exchange for an intro paragraph of each and every article you publish and feed.

Stay away from FFAs (free-for-all schemes), link farms, pyramids, automated reciprocal linking scripts and reciprocal link directories that offer automated link exchange procedures.

Make your site good. Quite likely, you will soon find out people are linking to it just because they like it.

Do not buy links for the sole purpose of acquiring another link. Buy advertising - and make sure it converts.

How do I optimize the <title> tag contents?

Optimizing the <title> tag in the <head> portion of your HTML-based web page is a very important part of your overall SEO work. The page title is displayed in the topmost area of you browser window and it pretty much tells your users what your page is about - for this reason the search engines pay special attention to it.

To increase the relevancy of your main keywords, include them in your <title> tag, but do not overuse this tactic. Twice is OK, but the same word repeated three times may be considered spam. If your brand name doesn't consist of keywords, add it to the end of your title tag. The search engines only read part of it, so your keywords should be closer to the beginning.

The title of your page should be readable, short and descriptive. If some words are unnecessary, remove them.

If you are targeting both singular and plural forms of your main keyword, it is sometimes possible to include both of them in the title. Do so only if it sounds logical.