The practice of search engine optimization can often seem complicated and larger than life itself. But the truth about SEO is that it is really comprised of two general areas. These areas are on-page optimization and off-page optimization. Successful web sites understand the differences between these two areas and apply the right techniques for each.
If you want your search engine optimization strategy to carry you for a long time, you'll have to start with well thought through strategy. You should be aware that building search engine optimization success starts with on page optimization. Just like building a great house, you have to start with a strong foundation. On page optimization gives you that strong base that enhances your link building and other off-page optimization techniques.
Let's start with looking at your URLs. Many people believe that the only way to get number one rankings is by having your keyword phrase in your domain name. For example if your keyword is sneakers, you should have a URL that says Sneakers.com. Sure, this would help but its only one of a number of factors considered in search engine optimization. Not to mention the difficulty of finding a good URL that includes your keywords.
It is true that putting your keyword phrase in your URL is beneficial even though it is not the end all be all. This is especially true with search engines like Yahoo and Bing. A good strategy to deploy is to use a sub-domain strategy. This means setting up sub domains from your main site that include the keyword you're optimization for. An example of this would be: sneakers.yoursite.com where your site is the name of your main web site.
If you're not sold on a sub-domain strategy, there is an alternative. The good news is that the alternative is just as effective and just as easy to implement. Essentially you want to follow the same strategy of determining which keywords you want to promote. After doing so all you need to do is set up a separate page on your site. It would look something like www.yoursite.com/keyword where keyword is the keyword you are promoting and yoursite is your domain name. This promotes your specific keyword and keeps it close to your home page.
Your URL is only one of may on-page optimization factors you should be paying attention to. When I'm asked which factors are the most important to any search engine optimization effort, I usually emphasis clean code and fast load times. Search engines like Google want to make sure browsers have a good experience. If they started serving up really bad web sites in the number of ranking, you wouldn't be using their search engine. Check your site for coding errors and measure how long it takes for the web pages to load.
Only after you have on-page optimization covered from all angles is it time to focus on off-page optimization. Essentially you want to make sure that you've build that solid foundation for your web site that you can easily build upon. If your foundation is solid, you can build upon it for the long term. Off-page optimization is the practice of building links to your web site and focusing on other referrals from authority web sites.
Begin your search engine optimization efforts by focusing on on-page optimization. This creates a very strong foundation that you can build on for years to come. After that foundation is set, focus on off-page optimization techniques. These tactics can vary over time but should always include some type of link building effort. As you create more inbound links, your search engine results will continually improve.
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