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What exactly is SEO
What exactly is SEO
What exactly is SEO
A clear explanation of search engine optimization (SEO)Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of making websites perform better in the search engines. There is no magic to it -- it's all about understanding how search engines read web pages and what factors they take into consideration when deciding how to rank a page for a given search query. When done correctly, search engine optimization also improves websites for use by humans, as will be explained below.
Write excellent content
The importance of quality writing in SEO
Quality content (meaning excellent articles) are the heart and soul of search engine optimization, and in fact the core of any website, because the only thing that Google and other search engines truly respect is text. Specifically, text to which other websites have linked, as we will see below. So put your money and/or energy into writing or obtaining excellent articles. Search engines have remarkably sophisticated ways of determining just how good an article is - you would be surprised at just how good they are at this.
The importance of quality writing in SEO
Quality content (meaning excellent articles) are the heart and soul of search engine optimization, and in fact the core of any website, because the only thing that Google and other search engines truly respect is text. Specifically, text to which other websites have linked, as we will see below. So put your money and/or energy into writing or obtaining excellent articles. Search engines have remarkably sophisticated ways of determining just how good an article is - you would be surprised at just how good they are at this.
Keyword density
The role of keyword density in search engine optimization
The articles should feature several instances of the keyword or keywords that you are targeting. Don't overdo it, as this makes the article cheaper and annoying, and is also considered spam by search engines. The real secret is not so much about mentioning the keyword lots of times, as much as making the article focused on that keyword. Therefore, stay on topic and don't stray.
The role of keyword density in search engine optimization
The articles should feature several instances of the keyword or keywords that you are targeting. Don't overdo it, as this makes the article cheaper and annoying, and is also considered spam by search engines. The real secret is not so much about mentioning the keyword lots of times, as much as making the article focused on that keyword. Therefore, stay on topic and don't stray.
Latent semantic indexing
Latent semantic indexing: a subtle but vital aspect of SEO
There is no need to worry about the deep technicalities of latent semantic indexing. Let it suffice that search engines will be more impressed with your articles if you use words that are synonyms of (or otherwise related to) the keywords you are targeting. In other words, if your keyword is "lenses", is your article about camera lenses, or is it about contact lenses to correct vision? Search engines care a lot about the distinction, because they want to direct uses to what they are looking for. You're either looking for contact lenses or you are looking for photographic lenses -- the two options are mutually exclusive. By analyzing the words you use in addition to "lenses", search engines can correctly infer what your page is really about. So for example, if in addition to "lenses" you also keep mentioning "eyes" and "tears," then it's a pretty good bet that your page is about contact lenses. Conversely, if the keyword "lenses" is combined with words like "camera" or "camcorder", the search engines will decide that your page is about photographic lenses. It's also a question of sheer quality: an article about lenses will be pretty poor if it just harps on about lenses and never mentions anything else and that is related to them.
Latent semantic indexing: a subtle but vital aspect of SEO
There is no need to worry about the deep technicalities of latent semantic indexing. Let it suffice that search engines will be more impressed with your articles if you use words that are synonyms of (or otherwise related to) the keywords you are targeting. In other words, if your keyword is "lenses", is your article about camera lenses, or is it about contact lenses to correct vision? Search engines care a lot about the distinction, because they want to direct uses to what they are looking for. You're either looking for contact lenses or you are looking for photographic lenses -- the two options are mutually exclusive. By analyzing the words you use in addition to "lenses", search engines can correctly infer what your page is really about. So for example, if in addition to "lenses" you also keep mentioning "eyes" and "tears," then it's a pretty good bet that your page is about contact lenses. Conversely, if the keyword "lenses" is combined with words like "camera" or "camcorder", the search engines will decide that your page is about photographic lenses. It's also a question of sheer quality: an article about lenses will be pretty poor if it just harps on about lenses and never mentions anything else and that is related to them.
Keywords in domain name
Choose a domain name that uses keywords
This is actually a tricky decision to make, because if you are in it for the long haul and want to make a classy, "branded" website, a cool and memorable domain name is actually preferable to keywords. A branded domain name will not help you with SEO, but it will take you further in terms of brand quality. This is why Google called itself "Google" rather than "TheBestSearchEngine."
That said, if you want to go all-out on SEO, pick a domain name that includes your keywords. This will save you a lot of time and effort in the initial stages of launching your website and its SEO campaign.
When writing your articles, make sure that your keywords appear in bold type, italics and underlined (but never more than one of these at the same time). Make sure that you use a variety of synonyms, as well as the singular and plural forms of your keywords.
Remember that writing quality articles is absolutely the main priority, so do not write crappy copy for the sake of stuffing keywords in. This will kill your website and stopped being effective 10 years ago.
Choose a domain name that uses keywords
This is actually a tricky decision to make, because if you are in it for the long haul and want to make a classy, "branded" website, a cool and memorable domain name is actually preferable to keywords. A branded domain name will not help you with SEO, but it will take you further in terms of brand quality. This is why Google called itself "Google" rather than "TheBestSearchEngine."
That said, if you want to go all-out on SEO, pick a domain name that includes your keywords. This will save you a lot of time and effort in the initial stages of launching your website and its SEO campaign.
When writing your articles, make sure that your keywords appear in bold type, italics and underlined (but never more than one of these at the same time). Make sure that you use a variety of synonyms, as well as the singular and plural forms of your keywords.
Remember that writing quality articles is absolutely the main priority, so do not write crappy copy for the sake of stuffing keywords in. This will kill your website and stopped being effective 10 years ago.
Flash is bad for SEO!
Flash is bad for search engine optimization
Flash is bad for SEO for the simple reason that search engines are not able to read it. In other words, any text that is displayed with Flash is not real text, but just an image that search engines cannot read as text.
Well, that was true until recently, but there has been a recent development that allows search engines to make *some* sense of Flash after all.
However, we still think that Flash should be unceremoniously ditched for good, partly because although search engines can make some sense of it these days, it's still not a smart choice. After all, we are talking about search engine OPTIMIZATION, right? That means that everything needs to be absolutely top-notch and hunky-dory. So forget that Flash exists. Just bin it.
Additionally, Flash is absolutely irritating and alienating for users, especially when the homepage has a tedious, self-indulgent intro. If you really think that people are interested in watching your intro -- no matter how slick and well-made -- you need to do some serious learning as a matter of urgency, because that is NOT how the Internet works, especially these days.
To put it simply, people visit websites because they are after something very specific. They need something and they need it yesterday. Does it sound like they can be bothered to sit through your self-indulgent flash intro? I cannot tell you how many websites I have completely aborted when the intro was taking too long to load. And I'm a patient guy. You have been warned!
This might seem like a slight digression from SEO to the topic of website usability, but it is actually absolutely relevant to search engine optimisation, because people will not link to your website if they do not find it useful -- or if they do not visit it at all because they could not bear to watch your Flash intro.
Instead, I would highly recommend that you go with the Google philosophy: simple, uncluttered - an oasis of value and peace.
Flash is bad for search engine optimization
Flash is bad for SEO for the simple reason that search engines are not able to read it. In other words, any text that is displayed with Flash is not real text, but just an image that search engines cannot read as text.
Well, that was true until recently, but there has been a recent development that allows search engines to make *some* sense of Flash after all.
However, we still think that Flash should be unceremoniously ditched for good, partly because although search engines can make some sense of it these days, it's still not a smart choice. After all, we are talking about search engine OPTIMIZATION, right? That means that everything needs to be absolutely top-notch and hunky-dory. So forget that Flash exists. Just bin it.
Additionally, Flash is absolutely irritating and alienating for users, especially when the homepage has a tedious, self-indulgent intro. If you really think that people are interested in watching your intro -- no matter how slick and well-made -- you need to do some serious learning as a matter of urgency, because that is NOT how the Internet works, especially these days.
To put it simply, people visit websites because they are after something very specific. They need something and they need it yesterday. Does it sound like they can be bothered to sit through your self-indulgent flash intro? I cannot tell you how many websites I have completely aborted when the intro was taking too long to load. And I'm a patient guy. You have been warned!
This might seem like a slight digression from SEO to the topic of website usability, but it is actually absolutely relevant to search engine optimisation, because people will not link to your website if they do not find it useful -- or if they do not visit it at all because they could not bear to watch your Flash intro.
Instead, I would highly recommend that you go with the Google philosophy: simple, uncluttered - an oasis of value and peace.
Use a high content-to-code ratio
The readable text (content) should outweigh the code
Your content pages (articles) should have the highest possible content-to-code ratio. What this means is very simple: when you view a page's source code, the content-related text should occupy more characters than those that compose the code. The words that make up your articles are the "signal", whereas the characters that compose the code (e.g. HTML) are the "noise". The higher this ratio, the more valuable search engines will think the page is. We at OmniPlex design strive to make to make the best coding practices available to fortify this SEO practice and why your atricle content should be top notch!
This is partly why Craigslist does so well in the search engines -- its code is incredibly lean and simple, which means that if your Craigslist post is at least 200 words long, the content-to-code ratio will be excellent. This is why Craigslist posts do so well on Google despite the fact that they are only a few days old and with no PageRank whatsoever, and also why Craigslist is so useful in SEO
The readable text (content) should outweigh the code
Your content pages (articles) should have the highest possible content-to-code ratio. What this means is very simple: when you view a page's source code, the content-related text should occupy more characters than those that compose the code. The words that make up your articles are the "signal", whereas the characters that compose the code (e.g. HTML) are the "noise". The higher this ratio, the more valuable search engines will think the page is. We at OmniPlex design strive to make to make the best coding practices available to fortify this SEO practice and why your atricle content should be top notch!
This is partly why Craigslist does so well in the search engines -- its code is incredibly lean and simple, which means that if your Craigslist post is at least 200 words long, the content-to-code ratio will be excellent. This is why Craigslist posts do so well on Google despite the fact that they are only a few days old and with no PageRank whatsoever, and also why Craigslist is so useful in SEO
Put outbound links to high-quality websites in your content
High-quality outbounds links help A LOT in SEO
High-quality outbound links on a web page help to boost that page's search engine ranking -- this has been experimentally determined. It is not at all surprising: Google and other search engines want to take users to web pages that are USEFUL. A page of content is unlikely to be all that useful if it does not have any links to other related high-quality external websites. A page of content that has no links to external websites is very likely to be spam - and Google knows it.
Not linking to external websites in an effort to keep visitors on your website DOES NOT WORK. Internet users are extremely fickle and all they have to do is hit the back button or shut down the browser altogether if they want to leave your website. If you do not put high-quality outbound links in your content, you are a value-taker and you will be justifiably kicked into the ground by better websites that do link externally.
But here's the good news: people don't really click on links that much anyway, so if you use high-quality outbound links, you will do a lot better in the search engines, but will pay virtually no price in terms of users leaving. Users WILL leave, but only because they were going to anyway, not because of the links. This is therefore a win-win situation.
High-quality outbounds links help A LOT in SEO
High-quality outbound links on a web page help to boost that page's search engine ranking -- this has been experimentally determined. It is not at all surprising: Google and other search engines want to take users to web pages that are USEFUL. A page of content is unlikely to be all that useful if it does not have any links to other related high-quality external websites. A page of content that has no links to external websites is very likely to be spam - and Google knows it.
Not linking to external websites in an effort to keep visitors on your website DOES NOT WORK. Internet users are extremely fickle and all they have to do is hit the back button or shut down the browser altogether if they want to leave your website. If you do not put high-quality outbound links in your content, you are a value-taker and you will be justifiably kicked into the ground by better websites that do link externally.
But here's the good news: people don't really click on links that much anyway, so if you use high-quality outbound links, you will do a lot better in the search engines, but will pay virtually no price in terms of users leaving. Users WILL leave, but only because they were going to anyway, not because of the links. This is therefore a win-win situation.
Did you know?
The very 1st web site was published on August 6, 1991. It was created by Tim Berners-Lee using the begginings of HTML with the purpose of educating people on what the world wide web is.
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