Deconstructing SEO


Search Engine Optimization (SEO) -Simplified  February 21st, 2009
In This Issue
Search Engine Optimization In Simple Terms
2 Features That Can Influence SEO
Linking, Keywords, And More...
Contact Us
Our Website Update
 
Gifted Hands Writing  is currently under maintenance. We will have a more SEO friendly and easy to access website up and running by February 24th, 2009. Please visit our website then. Thank you for your cooperation.
 
Greetings! 
 
Learning a little about web sites and how they function can take your career to the level. You don't have to be a tech expert, but knowing some of the basics can help. This applies to writers, students, watercolor artists, medical professionals, chefs, and individuals from a variety of other disciplines. Don't get into the habit of being completely reliant on someone else, and certainly not your web designer.

Many writers in particular, know only Microsoft Word. In fact, they are masters at it. Yet, they know very little about web design and web maintenance.
 
In this issue, we are encouraging you to learn the basics of "Search Engine Optimization" or SEO. Some of you may feel that you already know a lot, while others may know nothing about it. This is a good refresher course for all.
 
SEO experts share different beliefs. Some think it is good to link while others don't. Some believe that key word density is the number one factor while others disagree. We cannot keep every SEO expert happy, and so, we have come up with some information that is generally considered to be true by the majority.

Preethi Burkholder, Founder
Gifted Hands Writing
 
 
Search Engine Optimization In Simple Terms
 
 

Have you ever gone to Google and typed in a word or phrase that you wanted to learn more about? For example, if you were going to take a vacation in the Bahamas, you may have  gone to Google and typed "Hotels in the Bahamas." You probably noticed that different sites are ranked numerically, and of course, your eyes naturally go to the top 10 or 20 websites on the list.

 That is because of search engine optimization or SEO. A computer expert might dispute this simple definition and give it a more technical twist, making it a little more unreachable to understand. For the time being however, this basic definition is sufficient.
 
About 70% to 80% of website traffic usually comes from search engines. If you have a website, it is important to rank high on the search engines because most people don't look beyond the first two pages and if your website is not seen there, then you are probably only receiving 25% to 35% of fair traffic and sales. 
 
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the act of getting a website listed with search engines. Doing it properly can make all the difference in your maketing efforts.
 
 
2 Features That  Can Influence SEO

Search Engine Optimization never rests, much like your competition. Here are some things that affect SEO. They are written in simple style so that any person can understand.

 
 Rich Web Content
 
Write good content. This is probably the single most important thing you need to do if you want to be found on the web. Even if your site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won't do you any good unless you also fill it with good content. You can't expect consistent high rankings without good content. Good content brings return visitors.
  
Closely related to good content is fresh content. By adding new content regularly, you give visitors a reason to come back. Search engine robots will also visit your site more often once they notice that you update regularly, which means that any new content you add will be indexed quicker.

Consistently offering high quality content that is valuable to your users, is by far the best way to attract users and search engines to your site. Updating your site information regularly affects SEO. Keep you information evergreen.

 

Inclusion of Key Words 

Keywords are one of the first steps you need to consider when using SEO. For example, let's say you have a page devoted to stamp collecting. Anytime someone types "stamp collecting," you want your page to be in the top ten results. Accordingly, these are your target keywords for that page. Each page in your web site will have different target keywords that reflect the page's content. For example, say you have another page about the history of stamps. Then "stamp history" might be your keywords for that page. 
When searching for keywords, look for words that are not single. Single words are too broad and competitive. Your target keywords should always be at least two or more words long. Usually, too many sites will be relevant for a single word, such as "stamps." This "competition" means your odds of success are lower. Don't waste your time fighting the odds. Pick phrases of two or more words, and you will have a better shot at success. Go to www.google.com and type "Key words" and see who your competitors are. 
The more often you use keywords, the more relevant your site would be to the search engines, and the more likely your site will come up with those keywords in the search results. If your page contains 200 words, 2 or 3 of those words should be keywords totaling 2% to 3% density. You should consider using your keywords in links and in headings of your page. 
Search engines also like pages where keywords appear "high" on the page. They will check to see if the search keywords appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of text. They assume that any page relevant to the topic will mention those words right from the beginning.
 Linking, Keywords, And More 
 
Here are some more features that can influence how your website gets ranked on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. 
 
Position your Keywords in Titles 

Build your titles around the top two or three phrases that you would like the page to be found for. The titles should be relatively short and attractive. Think of newspaper headlines. With a few words, they make you want to read a story. Similarly, your page titles are like headlines for your pages. They appear in search engine listings, and a short, attractive title may encourage users to click through to your site. 

 

Use your target keywords for your page headline, if possible. Have them also appear in the first paragraphs of your web page.

Make sure your target keywords appear in the crucial locations on your web pages. The page's HTML title tag is most important. Failure to put target keywords in the title tag is the main reason why perfectly relevant web pages may be poorly ranked.

Build Inbound Links

Obtaining links, back links or inbound links to your site is one of the #1 rules for ranking. Every major search engine uses link analysis as part of its ranking algorithm. As a result, link analysis gives search engines a useful means of determining which pages are good for particular topics. The more links you have, the higher the ranking. Avoid link farms though. This can get you spammed.

 Links to your site tells search engines how important your site is. If search engines see that your website is important enough that several sites link to you, then it must be important enough for your site to rank high on the search engines.

 Return visitors who like your content will eventually link to your site, and having lots of inbound links is great for search engine rankings, especially if those links are from highly ranked sites.

 By building links, you can help improve how well your pages perform in link analysis systems. The key is understanding that link analysis is not about "popularity." In other words, it is not an issue of getting lots of links from anywhere. Instead, you want links from good web pages that are related to the topics you want to be found for.  Make sure the links you use for your website are also important and high ranking. They should have at least a "4" Google page rank.

Here is one simple means to find those good links. Go to the major search engines. Search for your target keywords. Look at the pages that appear in the top results. Now visit those pages and ask the site owners if they will link to you. Not everyone will, especially sites that are extremely competitive with yours. However, there will be non-competitive sites that will link to you, especially if you offer to link back.