SEO Uncovered

Written By Chouhab on lundi 26 janvier 2009 | 14:39

By Alex Plana

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the act of optimizing a website for natural ranking in search engine's listings. To rank well naturally, a site owner can reap the benefits of free traffic search engines have to offer.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN utilize automated programs called search engine spiders or robots to crawl a website's pages. The spiders scan the pages and copy it to be later added to a search engine's index. Billions of pages are indexed in massive databases, and when a search action is made, a search engine processes (compares the search string in the search request) with the billions of indexed pages in it's database. A search engine's algorithm is then able to begin calculating the relevancy of the near endless pages in the index to the search string requested.

Search engines do the following activities:

- Crawling - Indexing - Processing - Relevancy - Retrieve

An algorithm is a set of rules"used to calculate the relevancy of requested search queries. Algorithms are kept secret from the public to avoid manipulation of search engine listings. There are over 200 factors that currently contribute to the search relevancy process. Even though there are slight differences in placement rules for the major search engines, for the most part, all major search engines follow similar guidelines when it comes to calculating search relevancy.

On Page Optimization

There are many factors which can be altered on a site by its owner, and this is called on-page optimization. The process takes into consideration the density of the keywords used on a page, the key terms used in the Title, Meta, Alt tags, support pages, and the incoming and outgoing links throughout the website. Search engine algorithms also determine the strength of a keyword by its prominence on a website. This is why the experts suggest that the first two hundred words are always the most important.

Other factors that contribute to a pages optimization are the use of synonyms, videos used, blogs, and the way that top-level sections are structured. The server used, a sites domain name status, site analytics of site bounce rate are other factors that can contribute to how highly or low a page is ranked. However, how well a page is optimized only contributes to roughly 30% of an overall SEO implementation. Off-page factors contribute the other 70%.

Off-Page Optimization

There are other factors that cannot be controlled by a webmaster or site owner, and these factors are referred to as Off- Page Optimization. The type and amount of links pointing back to a site is voucher that the site being linked to is important. However, it is not uncommon to have a fair amount of inbound links that provide no link value to a site. It is important that a website attract quality links as opposed to a quantity of links.

Social media is another off-page strategy that can influence search engine rankings. Social media is one of the most popular methods being used today. However, there are so many social media sites online that an individual can become overwhelmed. Building a following through strong viral campaigns can lead to online success via a large influx of traffic and a potentially high number of inbound links.

Search Engine Optimization is very important to any online business. It provides free traffic with great branding exposure and plays an important role in increasing a company's bottom line. With SEO being so rewarding, it's also the most difficult strategy to execute of all online SEM disciplines. One of the major reasons is that SEO can be very time consuming and you may not see results from SEO efforts for several months to year. But, once you have a well optimized website and positioned well in organic search engines, the wait is worth it.

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