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Search Engine Optimization Basics

Many people are not that educated when it comes to search engine optimization.  It is a very fluid market; constantly changing and adapting, however there are some solid truths about SEO that will probably never change.  This guide is for those who do not know much about SEO but want to learn more, either to do it themselves or be educated so they can find someone who really knows what they are talking about.  For our example we will pretend we would be optimizing for a Utah website copywriting firm.

On-Page & Off-Page Optimization

On page optimization refers to anything that you have total control over in regards to SEO, which basically means anything you can change on your own website.  This may include meta data, title tags, other html tags, domain name, url structure, content, navigation, etc.  We will go into more detail about many of the below mentioned items further down in this seo guide.

Off page optimization are items that you have less control over, mainly incoming links to your website.  You may be able to submit your website to online directories or convince other website owners to link to your website, however the ultimate decision is up to the other website owner, not you.  This is probably the most difficult part of seo simply because you have to convince others to link to your website somehow.  Other off page optimization items may include search engines and how they view your website as important or not important.  We are also at the mercy of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN and their algorithms.

Meta Tags & SEO

Meta tags are by far the most common term I hear when people try to describe seo to someone else; however they are a very small part of seo.  They are pieces of html code on your website that does not show up in the design of the website or the actual part that human browsers see.  Most meta tags are hidden and only for search engines or the browser that is loading your website.  Meta data is information that describes something.  For example in seo the two most popular meta tags are meta descriptions and meta keyword tags.

Meta Description Tag

The meta tag is a piece of HTML code near the very top of the file.  The meta description tag is still a very important part of seo.  It tells the search engine a description of what your website is about.  Sometimes this tag is also used in search engine result pages that human website visitors see.  For this reason it is very important to make your meta description human-friendly as well as search engine friendly.  Here is an example of a bad meta description tag:
<meta name="description" content="Utah copywriting seo services firm company, the lowest price anywhere.">

In the above example there are some things to note, first it does not really make sense and is not a complete sentence, it is full of spammy words.  Next it is very promotional, people do not look on the internet to be persuaded, they are on the internet to find information and make a decision for themselves if a company is worth investigating or not.

Here is a better example of a meta description:
<meta name="description" content="A Utah website copywriting firm that specializes in seo writing, article distribution, and other online marketing services.">

Meta Keyword Tag

Although much more important in the past meta tags are a part of SEO.  Although meta keyword tags have lost their value over the years and some seo experts simply leave them out at this point.  They are not visible to website visitors, but are to the search engines; they are a behind the scenes section of SEO similar to the meta description tag.  Search engines do not want others to tell them what websites should come up for keyword phrases; they want to determine it on their own.  Keyword meta tags tell a search engine what page you think it should be ranked for, because of this they will often ignore it.  In many instances they may even penalize your website if not used properly. 

Title Tag & SEO

Title tags are still one of the most important seo on-page factors that you have complete control over.  You should always use descriptive titles that are short, to the point, and have a few keywords in them.  This is not where you put a complete sentence, but hence the name, just put a title.  For our example a page describing seo copywriting costs could have a few possible title tags such as ‘SEO Copywriting Costs’, ‘SEO Copywriting Fees’, ‘SEO Copywriting Packages’, etc.  A bad example would be something like ‘SEO Copywriting Best Services Keywords and More’.  

Keyword Research

One of the first areas of SEO that webmasters and business owners usually fail at is keyword research.  This is extremely important because it is one of the first steps of SEO and once you determine the words you are focusing on you may spend months of wasted effort only to find out that you are not targeting keywords people are searching for.  A good keyword phrase will have the following characteristics: 

• They will be something people are searching for online and actually typing into search engines.
• They will be very relevant to your product or services.  (not too broad, not too specific)
• They will have high conversion ratios on your website (sales or leads)
• They will be realistically attainable.

There are many keyword research tools out there to find out what people are searching for such as overture keyword tool and Wordtracker.  In our example we would not want to focus only on ‘copywriting’ because it is too broad and may include niches that you would not offer services for such as ‘brochure copywriting’ or ‘magazine copywriting’.  The best phrase would be ‘seo copywriting’ because it is something people actually search for, is specific enough, and is relevant.  You would also not want something so specific that it will never bring in any traffic such as ‘utah seo copywriting and web design services’  How many people do you think have actually tried to type that in?  Probably never.  This is one of the gimmicks unethical SEO companies use, they will promise you many top-10 rankings but they are for very long specific keyword phrases that no one searches for.

Website Copy & Keywords

This is one of the more tedious parts of SEO that does make a difference and is important.  You need to have lots of content on a website to get it ranked well and you also need to make sure your website copy has keywords inter-mingled in it.  However DO NOT focus just on the search engines and write a bunch of gibberish that no one can understand but a search engine, you will regret it later.  Simply include keywords in your website copy when it is natural.  Also use synonyms and other such things to use keywords more.  In our example here are a few things you could do.  Maybe you find out people are searching for ‘SEO copy’ more than ‘SEO copywriting’; you could go through your website and change instances of ‘copy’ to ‘copywriting’ since they are basically the same meaning.  Another example would be if you had a sentence such as ‘...  You can get these services at a discounted rate for the month of May.’  to ‘...  You can get the Gold SEO Copywriting package at a discounted rate in May’.  Changes some instances of [this, that, these, he, she, it, etc.] to keywords can yield amazing results.

Google PageRank

As far as Google PageRank is concerned I am only including this because people know about it but don’t really know what it means.  Yes it is a very basic predictor of how well your website is optimized for Google and how valuable Google views your website, however it has very little SEO implications anymore and is becoming less and less reliable.  Just because your pagerank increases does not mean you will automatically get more traffic or have your keyword rankings increased.  So bottom-line: yes it is there, but no its not very important and definitely not worth wasting effort on.

Website Analytics

Once you have an SEO campaign up and going it amazes me how many people miss the mark when it comes to web analytics.  If you do not have any idea of the following you are in trouble:

• Where website visitors are coming from [search engines, links, ppc, etc.]
• If they are coming from search engines or ppc what keyword phrase they typed in.
• How long they stay on specific pages.
• How many people leave immediately.
• What information they are looking at the most on your website
• What links they are clicking on.
• Which sources have the best conversion ratios.
• And so much more

You really need to install some sort of web analytics on your website to gain this valuable information so you can revise, revamp, and continue to improve; shooting blind in the dark is not an option when it comes to serious SEO campaigns.  One simple free analytical software you can put on your website is Google Analytics.

Incoming Links - Anchor Text

For all your incoming links (links from other websites to your website) you should try and find out, or even control, what text is being used in the anchor link text.  Most websites that link to you will either have your full domain, i.e. http://mywebsite.com, or your company name, Adaptivity Pro.  However even better would be links that include your keywords such as ‘Adaptivity Pro – SEO copywriting services’ or in paragraphs on other website: ‘...find out more information about seo copywriting.’

Incoming Links – Website Theme

Make sure the websites that are linking to you are relevant to your products and or services.  Search engines are very advanced in this area and will notice the difference.  If I have a seo copywriting service I do not necessarily want links from a car dealership, flower shop, and a dentist office.  However links from a marketing firm, seo company, web design firm, etc. would be good.

Domain Names & URL Structure

When possible use keywords in your domain name and url structure.  The domain name is not as important and is not worth changing your business name simply based on this one factor.  Changing url structure is easier to do and beneficial though; this is especially true for dynamic and product based websites. 

You want to avoid urls such as:
http://www.adaptivitypro.com/cart/a344345_dlink2.php

Use something such as this instead:
http://www.adaptivitypro.com/seo_services/gold_copywriting_package.html

Do you notice how you can tell what the website is about in the second example simply by looking at the domain name?  In the first example you have no clue, the search engines are the same way; they can tell what a webpage is about by the url text and structure.