subject: Search Engine Optimization using Free Techniques: Basic Principles [print this page] Search Engine Optimization using Free Techniques: Basic Principles
Search Engine Optimization is very popular for people who want high visibility and traffic from people who do not want paid advertising methods, like pay per click. Obviously, it is cheaper when done right, but maybe even more importantly, people tend do get skeptic when they see a paid ad, and tend to regard "natural" search engine results with more authority and respect. After all, "natural" search engine rankings are "earned" rather than bought.
To be ranked high in the search engines is a difficult task. First, there is a lot of competition. Second, the rules of major search engines are ever changing. You need keep up to date with every change of Google, Yahoo and Bing policies. However, no matter what else you do, there are some basic strategies that keep working.
Here is a basic outline of what to do for Search Engine Optimization:
Niche Keyword Research:
Obviously, Search Engine Rankings are dependent on key phrases. One page which ranks #1 for a specific key phrase will not rank well for another. Therefore, you start with doing some keyword research. You need a list of 20-50 key phrases which are:
Getting a good amount of traffic (you do not want to rank for keywords no one is searching for)
Which has less and weak competition (pick battles you can win)
Relevant to your product, a "buyer" key phrase (you do not want traffic from people who will not buy products)
Once you have a list, then you need to build a web site that is relevant to the key phrase, in terms of Search Engines understand it. This is called "on site SEO".
You will need:
a domain name including or relevant to your key phrases
your key phrase in your URL (web address of the page)
Keyword phrase in meta tags and Header and Title
Keyword phrase in content, around %1-3
Other terms related to key phrase
You'll also need lots of links all over the Internet that points to your web page. Because all of such links are a "vote" of both importance, and relevance in terms of major Search Engines. This is called "off site SEO".
To do this you need to:
Write articles and submit to article directories, like ezinearticles.com and add a link to your web page in the author bio box.
Create videos and submit them to video sites like youtube.com, and include a link to your web site in the description of the video.
Create audios and submit them to podcasting sites like apple itunes, and add a link to your web page in the description.
Social bookmark those content that you have submitted, or content on your own site.
Add RSS feeds of the content on your site and other sites you submitted to (like youtube) to RSS submission sites.
Ping the content on your site and other sites to pinging sites like blogpingtool.com so that they get indexed quickly.
Invite your readers and visitors to interact, leave comments, social bookmark, and share your page and url so that the content becomes viral.
Of course, this is just a simple introduction to doing Search Engine Optimization using free tools and methods. This is quite a lot of work for each and every key phrase, so there are a lot of tools and programs to automate some of the repetitive tasks. But you have to be able use manual methods first, to make sense and good use of such tools and programs.
