Top 10 SEO Q&A
1. What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. A search engine is a
tool many internet users use to find sites that are relevant to
their needs. The three biggies when it comes to search engines
are Google, Yahoo and MSN. There are however, hundreds of search
engines available to internet users. Search engines work by
sending out spiders to crawl through the World Wide Web and
gather information. If you have the information they're looking
for, in the places they are looking, they'll find you and place
you in their results when a person is looking for your
information.
The task of understanding what search engines are looking for
and putting it in the right places on your website and in your
content, is the essence of search engine optimization. So now
you might be asking...what do search engines look for and where
do they look for it? The answer is keywords and links. Keywords
in your html coding, keywords on your webpage content, keywords
in your content, and the number of incoming links you have to
your website.
2. How Important is SEO?
Let's just put it this way. What's better, a few visitors who
stumble upon your website or hundreds of visitors that go to
your website with the direct intention of learning more or
making a purchase?
With more and more people searching and shopping online, getting
on the first page or two of the search engine results can mean
the difference between keeping your day job and becoming an
internet millionaire.
3. What are Text Links?
Links are just one of the tools you can use to increase your
search engine optimization. The more quality links you have, the
better your search engine ranking will be. Text links are links
that contain only text. Wikipedia is a great place to examine
internal text links. The links are contained within a sentence
and when a reader clicks on them they are taken to a different
page on the same website. The kind of text links you're looking
for will be text links that will take readers from your article,
ebook, or web copy to your website.
An excellent tool to generate incoming links is to write copy
for online audiences like article directories, blogs, and ezines
and insert text links in the copy. Webmasters will link to the
content and thus to your site. Additionally, when you allow free
reprints of your copy and provided the links are maintained,
you're encouraging links to your website.
4. What are Link Farms and Link Exchanges?
Search engines don't accept just any old link. The link has to
be from a relevant and quality company. This means you don't
want to participate in link farming. If a search engine suspects
your links to be lacking, they'll actually penalize you. Link
farming or link exchanging is essentially the process of
exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase
your search engine ranking. A link farm is a Web page that is
nothing more than a page of links to other sites. Stay away from
link farms. When you generate a link from another site, it had
better be relevant and coming from a real web site.
5. What is Duplicate Content?
The definition of duplicate content is web pages that contain
substantially the same content. Search engines will penalize you
for this. How do you avoid duplicate content? Don't publish the
same article in several locations. There are many tools
available online to help you re-write your content so that it is
30%, 40%, and even 50% different. However, the best way to avoid
duplicate content is to simply write new content.
6. How do I Find the Right Keywords?
There are several steps to finding the most profitable keywords.
The first step is to generally do a bit of brainstorming and
come up with a list of keywords you think people will use to
find your products. The next step is to research supply and
demand for those particular keywords. Supply means how many
other websites are using those same keywords and demand is how
many people are looking for those particular keywords.
The key is to find keywords with high demand and relatively low
supply. There are many effective and useful keyword tools to
help you find this information and to generate keyword ideas.
Once you decide on a few keywords, it may be useful to do a bit
of testing before you commit to them.
7. How do I Optimize My Web Pages?
Placing your keywords in the right location is a good start to
optimizing your web pages. Search engines look to the headings,
subheadings, domain name, and title of your website. They also
look in the content on your page and primarily focus on the
first paragraph.
Try to get a domain name with your primary keyword included.
When you include your keyword in your URL it tells the search
engine spiders immediately what your site is about.
Title Tag. Your title tag is the line of text that appears on
search engine results pages that acts as a link to your site.
This is a crucial element of your webpage as it describes to
your visitors what your page is about.
If you view your source code, your title tag will look something
like this: <TITLE>Search Engine Optimization Tips</TITLE>
Keeping your title tags brief, descriptive, up to date, and
keyword rich will help to increase the relevance of your site
in the eyes of the search engines, as well as giving your
potential visitors a good idea of what they can expect from
your site.
Meta Tags have lost their importance to the search engines,
however, it is still helpful to place your keywords in your meta
tags. In your source code they look something like this: <META
NAME="description"
8. Do I Need to Submit My Site to The Search Engines?
The simple answer is - no. Search engine spiders are always out
there doing their job and collecting information. Every time you
update your website, add content, or change your keywords, the
search engines capture the information and record it. However,
if you want to be listed in a directory, like the DMOZ Open
Directory Project, then you will need to submit to those.
9. What are Spiders?
Search engine spiders are also called web crawlers or bots.
They're basically automated programs which scan websites to
provide information to search engines often for the purpose of
indexing or ranking them.
10. How does Content Help My SEO?
Content is one of the best tools to improve your search engine
ranking. It is a great place to emphasize keywords, encourage
linking to your site, and increase traffic. The key to content
is to make sure you're offering quality content and you're
updating your website and your content frequently. Content can
be provided in many forms including:
- Blogs
- Forums and chat rooms
- Articles
- Reviews
- Case studies
- Reports
- How to guides
- Tutorials
- e-books and much more.