If you want your website to be easily found in Google, MSN, Yahoo and other search engines you can either hire a professional SEO company or learn Search Engine Optimization basics and make your site search engine friendly on your own. Of course, a do-it-yourself Search Engine Optimization campaign won’t be as efficient as professional SEO services, but it will help increase the flow of targeted traffic to your site. Here are some SEO tips that you might apply to your site.
• Always try to use your existing website and domain. If you for some reason have to start a brand-new website or domain it may take up to a year before it will appear in Google’ search results for any of your relevant keywords and phrases.
• Always remember that you are optimizing for your visitors as well as for the search engines. Search engines may lead people to your site, but that is not enough to make a successful website. If a user clicks through to your site to find no relevant information there, they will simply push the ‘back’ button and never come back. You need to optimize your site not just to be found, but to be useful. You should have a clear idea of who your target audience actually are and do your best to meet their needs.
• Research and analyze your keywords and phrases. As you learn Search Engine Optimization you will more and more understand the importance of keywords. The success of SEO efforts largely depends on the selection of targeted search terms. In order to come up with the most effective list of search phrases you need to know how popular and how competitive they are. There are a number of research tools such as Google AdWords and Wordtracker that can help you out.
• Design the navigation of your website according to the selected keywords. The results of your keyword research will help you organize your site’s architecture in the way that will be most handy for the users. When searches click through to your site from search results a special category based on the search terms they used will save them a lot of time and buying enthusiasm.
• Fill your pages with compelling content properly peppered with targeted keywords. Even those who learn Search Engine Optimization by trial and error sooner or later realize that content is critical. Content-rich pages are essential for search engine spiders that otherwise won’t be able classify your website. What’s even more important content is the primary concern of the users. Thus without good informative content, your pages will be neither found nor even searched for.
There’s a long way to go if you want to learn Search Engine Optimization and be able to apply your knowledge and skills. But it’s never too late to learn.