Understanding the basics of search engine optimization or SEO can have a direct impact on the success of your online business. If you're unfamiliar with SEO, it is simply a series of process that are carried out on a website to assist with securing a higher ranking in the search engines. A higher rank makes it easier for prospective customers to find your site, giving you an edge over competition who may rank lower than you.
Search engines have bots that crawl the internet and use a series of logarithms to identify what a site is about and how relevant it is to that topic, then index the site accordingly. When a search engine user then enters a search keyword or phrase, those indexed sites are listed by their relevance to the words or phrase entered. If you have a site selling bentwood chairs, then your SEO objectivemay be to rank at the top of the search engine for terms such as 'bentwood chair suppliers' or 'buy bentwood chairs'. SEO practices can help to ensure that any search engine bots that visit your site index it appropriately.
The essential points to cover to carry out SEO on site:
Keywords - Selecting keywords may require assistance from an experienced internet marketer. They can identify the best words and phrases to target on your site, looking at phrases that are often used for searching the topic you are focussed on, as well as examining geographic location words that may be useful for a site owner with a local or grass roots business.
Page Titles - The page title is the heading that appears at the top of the page and in the browser window. This title is one of the first things that is indexed by a search engine bot, hence it should clearly state what the page is about and if possible the keywords you want the page to be recognised for. An example might be a page title such as 'About <Business Name> - Bentwood chair suppliers.
Headings - Within each web page, there is likely to be a series of headings for different sections on the page. When you are considering SEO for the page, make sure you look at using the keywords in at least one of the uppermost headings on the page.
Alt tags - The term alt tag refers to the tags associated with any images on the site. When search engines bots reach images, they only 'read' it based upon the alt tag attached to the image. By correctly using these tags on every image, and by including keywords where possible and relevant, it helps to ensure the site ranks more highly.
Content - Good quality content on a site is a must. No matter who much effort you put in to getting the search engines there, if the site is a shambles when a real reader arrives, you risk losing their attention quickly. With well written content that contains the keywords you are targeting, you'll have the means to be indexed more highly in the search engines and you'll also draw in the reader when they arrive at you site.
Internal Linking - Creating internal linking is an opportunity to further highlight that your site is about the keywords selected, creating links based or 'anchored' in the keywordsused to link various pages inyour site. Internal links are also a great way to ensure that your site is indexed more fully as it draws bots through to different pages in the site.
There are a great many ways to increase the search engine ranking of a site. By following the basics outlined here, it is possible to get the ball rolling and create the foundations on which to get your site ranking more highly. This means you can make a great start if you have recently invested in a business website and you are just beginning to build an online presence.
