CLASSES & JOBS

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is still relatively a new world to me. I can now say I’ve had one year experience in the world of SEO. I definitely do not consider myself a guru or pro; I’m constantly learning from others what the most effective strategies are. With that said, here is a simple introduction to SEO.

The definition of SEO, by dictionary.reference.com’s standards is, “the process of choosing targeted keywords and keyword phrases related to a Web site so the site will rank high when those terms are part of a Web search.” There are many variables to keep in mind when planning your SEO strategy. The most hyped variable is link trading or link building. This topic has probably been the most effective and most valuable for webmasters. But the search engines are beginning to track the link trading systems and possibly are penalizing them for this act. Most webmasters I come across are a bit weary of link trading. But there are plenty of webmasters who will exchange links just fine. My advice is to pick and be a little choosy on which websites you ask for a link exchange with. Try to find sites with pages that have some relevancy to your website topic, so your link will be added to a completely relevant page even if the website itself isn’t the same general topic as yours.

On-site optimization is very important to SEO as well. Make sure you have your title tags and meta tags correct and search-engine-friendly. Also, when choosing keywords or keyword phrases for your site, research which keywords get the most traffic and which keywords have the most competition. That should always be a factor for a webmaster. If the keyword isn’t highly competitive, it may only take a short amount of time and less effort to achieve high placement in search engine rankings for your keywords. There’s a definite advantage to choosing low-competition keywords and you could be ranked number one in less time; the downside to it, however, is that those keywords may not bring in very much traffic to your website, and therefore won’t allow as many consumers, readers or clients to your site. Highly competitive keywords are very hard to get ranked at the top for, so you’d have to constantly be evaluating your competition and researching their strategies and patterns.

Keep up-to-date with the gossip of pro-SEO-ers. Stay on top of updates within the SEO community so you can be the most effective in your SEO efforts. What helps me in this area is to find knowledgeable SEO sites and sign up for their newsletters. That way you are emailed the news and updates of SEO world without having to go out and find it.

To sum this introduction up, keep in mind that I don’t consider myself to be anywhere near pro. I am merely voicing what I have found to be effective in my SEO efforts with the company I work for and the clients we have. You are welcome to disagree with anything I have mentioned - please comment and let me know your opinions and respectful disagreements. Thank you for reading my humble little lesson on search engine optimization.