A common question I'm often asked from people who are new to Internet marketing is whether or not they should be concerned with search engine optimization. What often happens is that after a while, new website owners don't receive any traffic and they start to wonder why. The truth of the matter is that now they are focused on search engine optimization which determines where and how your website is ranked on search engines.
Search engine optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, is the practice of understanding the intricacies of how search engines work and their impact on rankings. When thinking about SEO, it's important to focus your efforts on those techniques that have been proven to impact search engine rankings. When applied correctly, these techniques have a positive impact on results.
SEO has an impact on search engine rankings. In essence your are controlling where your site ranks for a given search term or phrase. Some people feel that having this control is not fair or somehow manipulates search engines in a bad way. I disagree with this statement in that SEO allows you to accentuate the positive related to your website or blog. Yes, people try to game the system but they need to be identified and taken off the web. In such a high stakes game as Internet marketing, some are prone to stretch the boundaries and do things that are inappropriate.
When optimizing for the web, there are different methods that work for different types of websites. Before describing these methods, consider the functionality of search engines themselves. A great way to illustrate this is by thinking about a common search. When users type a search term into a major search engine, the engine returns a list of results based on their algorithm. Each algorithm is different but is designed to return those web pages most closely aligned with the given search term.
How does the search engine determine what listings are relevant? Ah, the magic of search engine optimization. Although each search engine has their own unique methodology for determining which sites are truly relevant to the search term entered, online marketing experts have found common principles that apply, explaining search engine results listings.
Give the precise formula for number one rankings is next to impossible. However, common SEO techniques known to have a positive impact on search engine rankings is pretty well documented. Just do a Google search for search engine optimization and you'll find millions of hits professing to be SEO experts. The reality is that search engine optimization is complex and takes time. But it all begins with SEO best practices.
The internet is full of informational products and services related to SEO. The reason why this has created an industry unto itself is because search engines are continually updating their algorithms. As a result, websites need to be continually updated, changed, and new strategies developed. Some principles stay the same however such as good quality content and the importance of keywords.
Whether you are new to the Internet or have being doing business online forever, search engine optimization is critical to your website's success. As a result, I recommend that you focus your energies on basic SEO principles. This is important because as you look to expand your business, you want to make sure that your are thinking about the impact to your website and how it ranks across all major search engines.
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