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Search Engine Optimization Equals Traffic
October 6, 2008 |
When you do a search through any of the top search engines you get results of two types. The results that are usually shown at the top of the results and often on the right side are paid advertisements called Pay Per Click or PPC. The results that are shown in the main body are called organic search results and these are what will be considered at this time.
All search results are ranked based on the relevance of the web page to the search. When you do a search you enter a word or a group of words into the box and then click the button labeled “Search”. These are called the search terms. A single term is called a keyword and a group of terms are called a key phrase. The search engines compile a huge database of all the web pages they find on the Internet and rank the pages based on popularity and content. When you do a search you are actually search through the database that the search engine has compiled.
For example if you are looking for a dog collar, you would enter the key phrase “dog collar” in the search box and click the “Search” button. The search engine would then look through it’s database to find web pages that use the phrase dog collar on the web page. The web pages with more uses of the key phrase are considered more relevant. Web pages with more traffic are ranked higher. Another consideration is how many other websites link to that web page. These factors are all considered and contribute to what position a web page will have in the search results. The search results will usually show 10 web pages per results page and you can navigate through the results to decide which page(s) you want to look at.
Most people will click on the link to the web pages that have the highest rank and are shown first. Your goal as a webmaster or an owner of a website should be to get your web pages listed in the top ten search results and #1 position is the most desired. To do this you will need to make sure that your web pages are Search Engine Optimized.
Decide on a Keyword or Key Phrase
You need to decide on a targeted keyword or key phrase for each of your web pages. The targeted keyword or key phrase should be the main topic for the web page and be relevant to the information you have on the web page. The targeted keyword or key phrase should also be one that people use to search for the information you have on the web page. You can use a Keyword Suggestion Tool to help you decide on the keyword or key phrase to target.
Once you have selected the keyword or key phrase that you want to target for the web page, then you can optimize the web page based on that keyword or key phrase. The targeted keyword or key phrase should be in the name of the web page, such as www.yourdomain.com/keyword.html or www.yourdomain.com/keyphrase.php This is very important and you should make every effort to follow this guideline.
The Title of the Web page should also use the targeted keyword or key phrase. The Title is the text that appears at the very top of your web browser when you open a web page. The Title is part of the meta tags for your web page and can be changed in the source code of your web page. The title should be repeated in the body of your web page and should have the main header (h1) tag.
The targeted keyword or key phrase should be used and repeated a few times in the body of your web page. The number of times to repeat the targeted keyword or key phrase depends on the total number of words used on the whole web page. This is called the keyword density and is calculated with this formula.
Number of times Keyword is Repeated / Total Number of Words X 100
Your keyword density should be between 2% and 5%. You also want to close the body of the web page with your keyword or key phrase, so that the keyword or key phrase is in the last sentence on the web page.
The last part to consider is the footer of your web page. Your targeted keyword or key phrase should also be used in the footer of your web page. The best way to do that is to add it to your copyright statement, and it would appear like this at the bottom of your web page.
Webpage Title with Keyword or Key Phrase
Copyright © 2008 www.yourdomain.com All Rights Reserved.
This is the basics for Search Engine Optimization and these guidelines will help you to make your web page rank higher for the targeted keyword or key phrase. There is a lot more information to consider about your page ranking with the search engines. Search Engine Optimization is only a part of the equation. You need to also consider how links affect your page ranking.
Jim Van Dyke is an online marketer and entrepreneur. Making resources available for webmasters that will help them make money online with their own website.
Check out my Blog at www.kingofscripts.com/blog/
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Article Source: Search Engine Optimization Equals Traffic
