PR Web Elite

working online for quite a while and still feel unsure about Search Engine Optimization (there ya go, that’s what SEO is!) this is a must read for you.  This article will explore SEO,  how you can apply it effectively, and what you must do to ensure you don’t get penalized.

(Before I dive right in, Conquest Authority is a training program that will go over SEO in full detail, but for now, you can start off here.)

As I stated in the above paragraph, SEO stands for search engine optimization. The toughest question new internet marketers wonder is what is a search engine? I know this is extremely basic, but this is where you must start.  Once you learn the extreme basics, when you start to explore more on the topic of SEO, you will have a comprehensive understanding of exactly what SEO is.

Search engines are the websites you go to when you are trying to find something on the internet. In example, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, etc. These are all search engines. When you are looking for an answer online, you visit a search engine, type in the information you are searching for, and presto! The search engine “searches” the internet for you and brings up pages of all the websites that pertain to your keywords.

Now you know what a search engine is, and you know what SEO is, let me get into the meat of things and explain how SEO works.

The most important thing you must do before any optimization, is you must determine your desired targeted keywords for your site. To be more specific, finding the terms you want your site to rank for with the search engines. An example of this would be:

Let’s say you have a website targeted around fixing computers. People who are searching for information about repairing their computers may search for these terms: how to fix my computer, my computer has a blue screen, or fix my computer. These phrases would all be considered long tail keywords, and these are what you would want to shoot for, because they are the terms that people search the search engines for.

Be aware when picking your keywords or key phrases, they are real phrases that get searched for, if not, you won’t get any traffic to your site. (Another tip is to make sure you pick keywords that don’t have a lot websites targeting them. You might not still get traffic if there is too much competition.) I highly recommend using a keyword research tool to really find some great ones. You can use Google’s free keyword tool, or Wordtracker’s free tool if money is short. They are fantastic starter tools, and they do the job just fine. after you start making some money, I really do recommend you get a paid tool because they are so much more effective, and you can really find some good goldmine keywords.

You can read more on keyword research and finding good keywords here.

Alright, so now that you have your keywords chosen, the next step is to be sure your site is optimized for those keywords. How can you do this? It’s really simple, actually.

The number one rule of thumb is always title your page or post with your keywords. This will be known as your title tag. Title tags have a large influence on the search engines when they crawl your site, so whatever you title your page, the search engines will consider it a keyword and you want to rank for it. This holds true for your domain name as well. Your page/post title and your website title (domain name) are extremely large factors in the SEO world.

aAfter you have purchased your domain (known as the URL), and you have chosen your targeted key phrases or words, the next step is to add content to your website or blog. Your article should be between 400-500 words at least, and don’t forget to include your targeted keywords or phrases at least 2-3 times in the content. Be careful not to go overboard with this, or you may get penalized. Be sure the keyword density is not over 7% (amount of keywords vs. actual words on page). Staying under 6-7% is much better. If you go over this recommended safety net, the search engines may see you as “keyword stuffing”. Keyword stuffing means using your keywords too many times in one page, and your website will pay for it if you do that, I promise.

The more content you have on your page, the better chance you have of being able to get all your keywords in and not make it look like you are keyword stuffing. In other words, keep your posts and pages long, and you can put all your keywords in. Search engines like long text articles and unique content.

Do not fret about getting every keyword phrase in your article multiple times, because the search engines are smart, and if you have a quality site, Google will rank you for keywords you never even tried to rank for. The biggest goal is sticking your main phrase in 2-3 times, and the others at least one time.

That’s SEO in a very brief overview. Learn as much as you can about the matter, because it truly will benefit you in the end.  Learning SEO takes some patience, but you will be a pro in no time.