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What is search engine optimisation

Written by: Gary

Article Overview: What is search engine optimisation and what are the various aspects it entails.

What is search engine optimisation

The main benefit of search engine optimisation is obvious, getting your website in the first page of search results for carefully thought out and researched key phrases results in pin-point targeted people visiting your website. These self-qualified prospective clients are far more likely to buy your products or services from your website.

Before looking at specific aspects of search engine optimisation, I think it is important that we start with an overall view and then look at each component in more detail.

I define search engine optimisation as the placement of a website in the first page of search engine results for product related phrases, used by the website's target market when looking for the type of products offered by the website.

There are several stages in the optimisation process - first there is the technical review, then key phrase research, onsite and off-site code optimisation, search engine submission and finally optimisation of the content for higher conversion rates. Below is an overview of each stage, in later articles we will dig deeper into each stage.

Technical review - There are several things that are either outright forbidden by search engines or are of a technically incompatible which impede the website from being "seen" by search engines. Before the actual optimisation of the website code it is important to look at these aspects making sure that none are present before submitting to search engines.

Key phrase research - It is very important to find out what a market is looking for and how big it is.Key phrase research allows one to establish whether a product has an online market and secondly to choose the ealted key phrases closest to what is on offer. Also by choosing the correct phrases one not only brings in targeted traffic but can also customize the content to suit the specific requirements of the market.

Onsite optimisation - This refers to what is done to the website code and content in order to make it search engine friendly. Here one has to look at the Meta tags, key phrase usage in text, code to text ratios, keyword density, etc.

Off-site optimisation - There are several "rules" that have been set by search engines which give websites higher rankings provided that they are met. These ranking rules or algorithms include certain aspects which are not easily manipulated by webmasters. These aspects are not present within the website but are measured by the actions of other websites and visitors to the website. The most important being how many other websites link to yours.

Search engine submission - Some search engines need to be alerted that there is a new website to add to their database. This is done via an online form which needs to be filled in and submitted. Depending whether the submissions are viewed by human editors and if the search engine offers a premium submission option the time it takes for a website to appear in their search results could be a couple of months.

Web content optimisation - During the indexing period one can concentrate on the websites ability to convert visitors to enquiries or sales. Numerous research papers are available online showing what it is that people look for in a website before committing to giving away their anonymity.

I will be writing a series of articles about search engine optimisation in which I will outline in more detail the stages mentioned above. Also please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any specific questions about the article which I will gladly answer.

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Article Tags: code optimisation search engine submission, search engine, search engine optimisation, search engine optimisation, search engine results, search engines, site optimisation, website code



Related Forum Posts
Re: How To Pick Keywords To Rank For - This is a very informative post. True, this is a vital step in search engine optimisation for your own page. I really agree with the 3 steps you have enumerated. Aside from that, you should always build a list on the potential keywords that your clients and would - be clients will be typing to search for your product.
Re: Hello friends!!!! - [quote="davisdchapman":2xkfc5d6]I am new to this forum.I think you will help me put all the information search engine optimization I'm still learning, to start my career SEO.So hello all .. I think I want to use PHP realted freelancers fields, but also search engine optimization, search engine optimization, I think there is a vast area freelancing.That is why I am on the track, I hope I will achieve my goal, if I can learn all of the search engine optimization process, I feel that this site especially for this purpose for me.[/quote:2xkfc5d6] Hello David, Welcome and thank you for telling us a little about yourself and your aspirations. As GT has rightly said, if you take a little while to check out all the resources here and the various topics you will find a lot of answers to many questions, not just SEO, regards, Mal.
Re: SEO... - Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of civilizing the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical searchengines. This gives a web site web presence.
Seo way of Marketing... - Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.
Re: How To Pick Keywords To Rank For - [quote="tyroneshum":2lzwe65b]This is a very informative post. True, this is a vital step in search engine optimisation for your own page. I really agree with the 3 steps you have enumerated. Aside from that, you should always build a list on the potential keywords that your clients and would - be clients will be typing to search for your product.[/quote:2lzwe65b] Hi tyroneshum, So how do you know what keywords your "real" clients are searching for your product/service? Do you simply ask them? The reason I ask is because Google Analytics may reveal which keywords are being used to find your site, but it doesn't make the distinction between random lurkers and real clients.


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