In simple terms, SEO or search engine optimization means optimising your website in a manner such that when a user is searching for your business or service, using a set of keywords, the search engine shows your website before your competitors.
The factors that work in SEO can be broadly classified in two categories:
1) On Site – These factors are in our direct control and relate to the content of the pages
2) Off Site – These factors are somewhat in our hand but has other authorities also involved and relate to the entire world wide web.
Probably the most important On Site SEO factor, the title defines what the website is about. Having your main keywords listed in the Title Tag is very important. Every page should have a title which is most relevant to its content.
There are lots of meta tags but amongst the one which are important are
It is no longer as important as at one point of time it used to be, but never the less it cannot be ignored. Rampant misuse of this tag has now ensured that the search engines give a very little weightage to this tag. Even then if they are used judicially, it can make a significant difference on your SEO rankings.
A good description can help influence users to click on a listing. The meta description is still used as the site description for many smaller directories and engines. A good relevant description goes a long way to get your website the recognition and attention it requires, both from the user as well as the search engines.
This is an html tag for the largest font size. It is recommended to have your main keywords listed on top of the page preferably within the H1 tag. This informs the search engine that this keyword is very important and hence we are highlighting the same with an H1 tag. H1 tags should be short and very relevant to ensure maximum mileage.
This factor is more important for image search and not so much for results of the web search but still all images should preferably have an ALT tag. Images without ALT tags cannot be read by the engines and hence all your images, no matter large or small, should have an ALT tag associated with it.
Having relevant content in the body is very important. You cannot just write any and everything you want to express in the body. The content should be relevant and pertinent to what the website is about. There should be a consistency on the matter that the pages of the website contains. It is very important to have your keywords mentioned in the content and used judicially.
A very important off site factor that affects your SEO rankings. Google, and other search engines like Yahoo and Live, keep a count of how many web pages are linking back to you. Their quality and relevancy make a big difference. Back link from link farms or directories do no good if they are not listed on relevant pages. Links from websites that have relevant and proper content are more effective in improving SEO rankings.
Search engine like google treat each incoming link as a vote for that page. The quality of that vote is a new factor which is dependent on the quality of the page, age of the link and relevancy to the landing page. For eg., if you website is selling mobile phones, then a link from a mobile phone related website will give you more weightage than from a music related website. Long lasting back link relation pay off very well
The older the website is in existence and operation, the higher is the weight associated with it. Just like a good wine, website age has benefits that can work like magic for SEO. The logic is quite simple. The older you are, more relevant you become for the same as you can be trusted. It is like building your goodwill. This factor cannot be changed, but as time passes your distance from your competitors will reduce tremendously.
The Big Three – Google, Yahoo and MSN more or less account for more than 90% of all the searches with Google leading the pack by a wide margin. We have jot down a list of some of the search engine which are powering searches on the world wide web