Take Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in a New Direction

[Christopher :o]

Search engine optimization is the practice of optimizing content for
search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, so that your content
is at the top of the results page when people search for phrases or
keywords relevant to your niche.

Think of the search engine as a team captain and the content as the
player - the idea is to create the best lineup of players possible.
Search engines look for certain attributes (rumored to be in the
thousands) when building their lineup of content for the web surfer.
Search engine optimization is all about making yourself look more
appealing to the search engine - Just as a player might bring their
own equipment, build their physical strength, and demonstrate their
value in seasons prior, a web publisher might clean up their code so
its easy for search engines to read, build their content by adding
more posts and pages, and demonstrate their value by attracting links
from other websites.

Keyword Research
One of the most common and basic forms of SEO is keyword optimization
and research. Web publishers can effectively increase their ranking
with the search engines by researching what keywords their potential
customers are searching for, implementing those keywords and phrases
in an organic fashion, and therefore positioning themselves closer to
their relevant search terms.

Keyword Density
While this factor has played a major role in the past, I don't believe
you should focus much time here - even Google advises this! Keyword
density is the practice of filling your content with relevant
keywords, thereby showing the search engines (which scan for keywords
entered by the user) that you're relevant. The best way to keep your
keyword density optimized naturally is to write your content naturally
- as long as you're being relevant and on point, your content should
optimize itself. After all, it's a little known secret that Google's
algorithm is growing smarter and smarter due to the engineers
innovative ingenuity.

Blackhat SEO
Just as there's a way to cheat during tryouts, there are plenty of
ways to cheat with SEO - these tactics are called blackhat tactics,
and they tend to include hidden links, link farms, cloaking, invisible
text, and more. If interested in SEO, be sure to read into this more
before attempting to optimize your site - the results can be
disastrous for your site or business (some search engines even ban
publishers using blackhat techniques.

Links
This is probably the most powerful attribute on which the search
engines base their decision. The links that point to your site are
called inbound links, and they act as referrals - something search
engines take into account very seriously. Though the link may seem
simple, it becomes quite complicated the further you look into it.

Google measures the value of web pages and content with what's called
page rank - each page has one ranging from 0 -10. The more links your
site receives (and the higher the pagerank of the site sending the
link), the better your page rank becomes - however, this is where many
SEOs tend to stray into the blackhat neighborhood. They key if to
attract links from websites similar to your own in content, relevance,
and rank (if not better).

It all gets very complicated, but it can be summed up in one sentence:
Create great content and you'll attract links organically.

There's a lot that goes into SEO, but it's all merely a way to
increase your chances of being placed in that lineup - if you forget
about the lineup for now and focus on creating quality content that
helps people with their needs, you'll make that lineup in time - and
most likely remain there depending on how important of a resource
you've become both in the visitors eyes and the search engines. It's
not uncommon for people to optimize every corner of their site, make
the lineup, enjoy it for a while, then lose their position on the
lineup suddenly - why? Search engine companies are constantly changing
their algorithms in order to bring their users the best lineup
possible. If you spend too much time optimizing your keyword density,
then Google decides it's going to rank your site based on your inbound
links (and you have 2), you'll lose your invested time, effort, and
place on the lineup ... it's similar to the stock market ... only
search engines don't crash, they merely change the name of the game
every now and then.

Google recommends you avoid focused on optimizing your content (in
fact, they discourage it to a degree because they want to serve their
users the best lineup) and instead focus on creating quality content
and contributing to the discussion online.

What they're saying is that SEO efforts will work (for now), but
they're interested in the content that actually is relevant, not
merely the content positioning itself into relevancy. What this means
for business owners is that in addition to providing relevant
keywords, titles, and description in your meta tags, consider creating
original content that reaches out and contributes something to the
community or discussion in your trade. Creating content is a great way
to attract business online - the best actually, considering its free!

Don't worry about SEO - just keep creating content and sharing your
insight. For more on this, check out the article below:

6 Ways to Position Your Business as a Valuable Resource
http://bit.ly/4Gza3l