Search Engine Content

So you've put together an amazing website. It's easy to navigate and designed beautifully, but visitors are few and far between, and sales are a mere shadow of what they could be. What you're probably missing is search engine optimization, also known as positioning, or SEO.

Sure, getting your website submitted to the major directories and search engines is essential, but more importantly, you need to be ranked high on the first page of a user's search results. Search engine optimization is the technique of adding the essential META tags, keywords and key phrases of your page's topic in a specific way that appeals to the major search engines. Search engines continuously catalog your website's pages--a process called "indexing"--through their specialized spider software, which automatically "crawls" the Web looking for unique content.

The mathematical formula for how search engines rank content is called an "algorithm." Algorithms change constantly in order to keep ahead of the curve of those that try and trick the system in order to get higher rankings. But the truth is that you don't have to "trick" the system; unique, unduplicated content with attention to SEO will give you a great advantage over your competition. That's because most companies don't understand the importance of search optimized content and give it little effort.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that every single page of your site is a separate unit. SEO needs to be applied to each page individually. You should make sure and add keywords or phrases to each of your pages. For instance, if you're an authorized reseller of makeup and cosmetics, you'd better make sure that the names of brands you're selling are peppered liberally throughout your web pages.

Another important factor is "how" to phrase your keywords. A slight variation of a keyphrase could make a huge difference to the search engines. If you want to research which keywords or phrases are the most popular, there are various search-term tools available on the Web which reveal exactly how many web users are searching for your particular keyword.

Another good SEO tool is to make sure you use the correct keyword or phrase in your page title, which is often overlooked. Also, put your keywords in the page's title tag, META keywords and META description. Take the extra time to write your META description well, as some search engines use it for their results pages. Go ahead and repeat your keywords throughout the pages' contents, but don't get too excessive or the search engines might identify it as spam.

These are the basics of SEO and will give you a stronger chance of good rankings on the first pages of a search engine's results page. However, it is by no means comprehensive. If you're truly committed to making sure your website is fully optimized for search engines, you should hire an expert. There are quite a few niche companies that have extremely talented SEO experts and can help you navigate the constantly changing waters of search engine optimization.