By Jordan McPelt

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the act of optimizing the content on your website to allow for more efficient search engine indexing. Properly optimized websites are indexed quickly and receive higher search engine rankings. In turn, these websites receive more targeted traffic.

Many things filter into the optimization of a website. Properly used key words and phrases are major contributors to search engine optimization. Keywords and phrases alone, however, aren’t enough to properly optimize a website for search engine indexing. Everything from META tags to ALT tags on links and images aid in search engine indexing.

Some webmasters try to cram as many keywords as possible into an article or website content in attempt to achieve higher page rankings. Unfortunately, they haven’t done their research. They don’t seem to understand that, in most cases, less is more. The over-use of keywords and phrases can cause pages to be indexed incorrectly or even to be rejected by the search engines. Articles are a great way to add content to a website, but copying an article from a site that relates to yours is illegal. Copying text word-for-word and using it as yours is plagiarism. Not only is plagiarism illegal, but search engines try very hard not to index duplicate content.

When designing your website, in the head tag, using proper META tags isn’t as important to SEO as it used to be. In fact, the meta keyword tag is disregarded by the search engines. However, the head tag of your website should include an optimized title, and meta description.

On-site optimization refers to the elements of the website your viewers see and interact with. From keyword density to other text, links and photo descriptions or alt tags. Photos that make a direct impact on your website should be correctly labeled with optimized text to ensure they are an asset to your website. Text links should also be labeled with optimized alt text. Alt text is what viewers see when they hold their mouse over a photo or a link on a website. Properly optimized alt text will help you to market your website content.

Links, photos and content are very important to your SEO and your overall marketing strategy, but links back to your website are also very important. Unfortunately, the days of profit by link sharing are over. The link sharing system was too easily abused by those looking to make a quick buck. One way to guarantee links back to your site is link building. Link building is simply the process of putting your link on someone else’s website.The best way to do this is through partnerships and directories. This is also where social bookmarking websites come into play. Social networking or social bookmarking sites allow the freedom to add links as comments, text or even banners.

If you are not comfortable with your own writing skills, many SEO firms offer to optimize your website at very reasonable prices.

By James Copper

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) refers to manual page optimization as opposed to automatic submittal and page alteration, which is the most common. SEO is a web-based tool that allows a website to be listed on various search engines, such as Google and Yahoo. The higher up a site is listed, the more web traffic it will have and, therefore, the more success the business is likely to have. For instance, a company listed on Google’s first page is likely to have a lot more traffic than a company listed on the fourth or fifth page.

It’s a well known fact that organic search listings and general search listings are the most used by search engine browsers. Several studies claim that 70% of search engine users prefer organic SEO’s to sponsored listings or pay-per-click advertisements. Many search engine optimization companies have moved away from organic SEO and are utilizing paid searchers more regularly on a day-to-day business.

What’s the difference? Pay-per-click advertisements reflect a company’s budget because, in order for them to be placed on a search engine page, the company pays the SEO company a certain amount of money. Organic listings, on the other hand, are placed based on the quality of a website and how well a company’s site meets the strict search engine guidelines.

While organic SEO can be incredibly beneficial to your website, it’s not done easily and cannot guarantee overnight success. You’re likely to spend a lot of money on site redesign and content and you may need to hire outside help (such as graphic designers, writers or SEO experts) but it will pay off in the long run. Ultimately, you’ll save money that you would have spent on paid advertisements and, because search engine users prefer organic SEO, your company will benefit and eventually rise above the larger corporations paying for their listings.

Preparing a website for organic SEO can take months, but it’s important to work hard and try to make your website unique compared to others. Several successful organic listings contain key words that are unlikely to be used on other sites. The trick is to implement the words carefully and in a discrete manner. Simply typing a long list of words can be unsuccessful and will only turn off consumers once they reach your site. With a bit of hard work and a great content writer, the words can be incorporated in a meaningful and subtle manner.