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The Basics of Search Engine Optimisation
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By Paul Duxbury
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I am sure that it will surprise some people to hear me say thatSearch Engine Optimization isn't rocket science! Although it canfeel complicated at times the aim is simply to ensure that yourwebsite is presented in the way search engines like andultimately that your visitors will like!
At the end of the day Search Engines always try to give userswhatever they can find that is relevant to their search. Youneed to appreciate that the majority of Search Engines don'twork by moving the good stuff towards the top. What they doinstead is to try to push the bad stuff towards the bottom, andhope that what's good will 'float up'. It is a frequentlyrepeated truth that Content is King and good content which iswell written and which is sprinkled with the appropriatekeywords can get you good search engine rankings. This not onlybrings visitors to your site but also feeds the search enginespiders and crawlers. It is impossible to emphasise enough howwell written and relevant content is key to good SEO.
One of the fast way to develop good content is to generate aseries of articles regarding your topic. These items are verypowerful in the world of SEO because they provide your visitorswith something to read and they allow you to feature in theSearch Engine results for some key words that you normallywouldn't. Let's say you are managing a website for Genealogists.A well written article about using a particular genealogy toolis more likely to generate a high position in the search resultsfor "genealogy tools" than your home page. Therefore, if youwrite articles relevant to your subject but in more depth thanyou can put on your home page, you will find that you willbenefit enormously.
Take a look at the sites that currently rank high on the searchengines for your keywords or indeed for any keywords and youwill generally find that they have simple designs with graphicsthat use minimal bandwidth, and they are generally easy tonavigate. Simple, clean designs are what both search enginecrawlers and search engine users like, as it lets them get thecontent they want without a lot of peripheral "fluff". This iswhat you should be aiming to achieve with your website.
Of course some websites will be ranked highly in search engines,even though their designs make them difficult to read andnavigate. If the content of a site is relevant to what peopleare searching for then that's all that matters to a searchengine. However, it's preferable to have a site that is userfriendly and easy to navigate if you want to encourage returnvisitors.
Let's think about meta tags, keywords, descriptions, and titles.These are all important elements, even if they are not what willmake or break your site. Whilst important they are just one partof your strategy. These elements need to be compelling andsprinkled with your keywords, as this will entice users to clickthrough from the search results page to your website. It's bestto start off slowly, gradually adding things in as you learn.
If you have any questions and you don't know where to go, thencheck out some of the forums on the subject. To do this you justneed to go to your favourite search engine and do a search for'seo forum'. The people on these forums are generally more thanhappy to answer your questions, or direct you to someone who cananswer your question if they can't. Remember to be patient withyourself: learning something new takes time and effort, and SEOis no different.
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