Search Engine Optimization for Beginners
Although Search Engine Optimization is an important part of web design, please understand there are no guarantees. Ranking high in the Search Engines isn’t easy. However, there are many other ways to get traffic. With this in mind, it’s best to learn the basics of Search Engine Optimization. You can then optimize your web pages and then concentrate on promoting your website.
A significant amount of website traffic originates from the major Search Engines:
A Search Engine is a website that indexes web pages. These websites run software programs called “Spiders” or “Robots” that continuously crawl the Internet. They are in search of new and updated web pages to index.
When you visit a Search Engine, you type in a few words that best describe what you’re looking for. These words are known as keywords. The Search Engine will return a list of websites that are most relevant to your keywords.
When a Search Engine indexes a web page, it scans the page in search of specific keywords. The pages that are returned are the pages that are most relevant to the search query. If your page doesn’t rank in the top 10 or 20 results, your target audience won’t be able to find you.
When designing your web pages, you must specifically optimize each page of your website. Each page should target one specific subject and be optimized with keywords that best describe the subject.
Optimizing for Search Engines
Web pages should include all of the following for good Search Engine Optimization:
• Select the most relevant keywords for each page
• META keyword and description tags should be included in the head section of each page
• Primary keywords should be used as the page title
• Keywords should be placed within image ALT tags
• Include the primary keywords within heading tags
• Use the primary keywords as image names
• Page names should be the primary keywords for hyperlinks
• Include the primary keywords within the first and last paragraph of the body text
• Primary keywords should be used within the body text
Keywords/Keyword Phrases
A keyword is a word that best describes your web page. For example, if your web page is focusing on dogs, your best keyword will be “dogs.”
A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your web page. If your web page is focusing on grooming a dog, your best keyword phrase will be “dog grooming.”
When optimizing your web pages, you should concentrate on just a few keyword phrases for each page. These keyword phrases should directly relate to your subject. Avoid using general one-word keywords, as you won’t rank high in the Search Engines.
When you begin optimizing your web pages, each page should be optimized for a different primary keyword phrase. For example, if you’re selling dog grooming products, your main page would be optimized for dog grooming products. However, you might have another page that targets dog grooming tables. And, another that targets dog grooming kit. And, another that targets dog grooming scissors. See how that works? A highly targeted keyword phrase will attract highly targeted traffic.
The key to ranking high in the Search Engines and driving highly targeted traffic to your site is to select highly targeted, product specific keyword phrases that are less competitive and less generalized. You don’t want to target every little possible keyword; you want to focus on your primary keyword phrases for each page.
Keyword Tool
Your first step towards optimizing your web pages will be to use a great little Google tool called Google Keyword Planner. This is a free tool that will enable you to type in a specific keyword and it will return a list of keyword phrases.
As the competition for highly popular keywords is fierce, you will significantly increase your chances of receiving a higher ranking in the Search Engines by targeting the less popular keyword phrases. And in turn, significantly increase your traffic.
For example, if your web page focuses on dog grooming, type dog grooming into the Google Keyword Planner search box. The search will return a variety of more targeted keyword phrases. The keyword phrases that should be selected are those that are a little less popular and don’t have a lot of competition.
Selecting the right keyword phrases is the first step towards learning Search Engine Optimization and ranking high in the Search Engines. In the next section, we will focus on optimizing each section of a web page. —> web page optimization