Search Engine Optimization Basics

Search Engine Optimization Basics

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been defined as a subset of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). SEO is a technique to enhance the organic search engine rankings and increase the online visitors for a website by incorporating various changes on and off the website. SEO is an amalgamation of a number of activities. For a successful SEO campaign, some of the important activities are:

1. Targeted Keyword Research
Keywords form the backbone of any SEO campaign. A successful SEO campaign needs the right keyword selection satisfying the business model and objectives. Keyword research may be performed using various tools like Google Suggest, Overture Keyword Suggestion and Word Tracker, amongst others.

2. Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis includes studying various competitors' websites and analyzing the strategies used by them to optimize their websites. This study includes the analysis of their target keywords, adopted business model and optimization strategies used by your business competitors.

3. On Page Optimization
On page optimization has the highest tangible value amongst various SEO activities. The website pages are tweaked and optimized for better search engine rankings. Some of the important on page optimization activities include meta tags revision, use of heading tags (h1/h2), image optimization (including size reduction and addition of alternative text), file renaming and optimizing the overall website architecture.

4. Off Page Optimization
Inbound links from thematically similar websites result in a high Google Page Rank, making it favorable for search engines.

5. Technical Optimization
There are many technical factors that command consideration to help boost the search engine rankings for a website. Some of these factors include canonical indexing and custom error pages, amongst others.

The aforementioned are only a few of the activities that lead to a successful SEO campaign. High rankings and traffic are an outcome of a blend of various Search Engine Optimization activities performed continuously over time. These further yield a higher ROI than most existing marketing activities.

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