Search Engine Optimization Tutorial
So you are looking for a reasonable search engine optimization tutorial yet you can’t seem to put all of the pieces together. I know when I was getting started on the internet, looking around at different places, I found a ton of information on search engine optimization and some sites dealt with how to put your title tags together, and other sites focused on keyword density. Still other sites just focused on relevant content usage and rules.
It wasn’t until, I would say, a couple of years later, that I actually found a reasonable amount of information that I could piece together myself and I have been using it ever since. This SEO tutorial is specifically for people who are beginners and for those folks who can’t seem to finish the puzzle. Without further delay here is what you want to do.
You have an article that you have written, you have your website or blog, depending on what it is, it really doesn’t matter. Now you want your website articles to rank for a specific word do you not? So let’s say that your website is about training your pet dog. For this example we will use dogs because there is a huge market for this animal.
Within your dog training website, you would have a series of articles and let’s say that one article talked about how to stop your golden retriever from digging. Another article talked about how you can stop your german shepherd from barking. These are two distinct examples and what happens is that you want each one of those articles to come up in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, when someone types in those search phrases.
So how do you get it to rank? Well, here is a quick list:
- Relevant website, well categorized, well written
- Proper on-page optimization
- Proper off-page factors
- Decent size website (50+ pages)
So, let’s go through that list. You want to make sure that your website is actually built upon a proper foundation of categories. If you walked into a library with no sections, it would be an absolute mess trying to find the book you wanted. The same principle applies to your website. You want to organize your website both from a hierarchy standpoint for the search engine spiders and for your visitors and their navigation while on your site. Keep your your website themes related and you will see your rankings improve, perhaps even without doing extra off-page work. Although it should be noted that off-page optimization is the bread and butter 90% of the time.
Following the proper category structure of your website should be well written unique relevant articles. Make sure to include your on-page factors within these articles. The on-page factors you want to focus on are the title, the amount of times you use your key phrase, and the use of bolded or “strong” words. By bolding your keyword within the article, it is letting the search engines know that the particular phrase is of greater importance than all other words within that article. You are putting this word on a pedestal above everything else.
You also want to use the phrase within the title, meta keyword tag, and meta description tag of your page. I can’t do this for you. You have to find out how to do this with whatever software you are using to build your website. At the very least you should be able to easily change the title of your page. This is the basis of on page optimization and from here you switch gears and focus on your off-page factors. So what are off-page factors anyways? This is anything that helps your site rank well, but isn’t in your control (to an extent). Allow me to explain.
You want other websites to link to your particular articles on your site, that contain the phrase you want to rank for. So for example, if you want to rank for the word “stop dog from barking” – you should have an article that talks about the ways in which you can get a dog to stop barking. Make sure you use the phrase “stop dog from barking” within your title, keyword, and description tags and also within the context of the article itself. Do not spam the article with repetitive usage of the key phrase.
Now the fun begins. If your content is well written, other sites may link to you automatically. Otherwise, you may wish to seek out link exchanges with other websites relating to the dog niche. The more websites that link to your article with the words “stop dog from barking”, the higher (for the most part) that particular article on your website is going to rank for that phrase. It is all about proper structure, well written articles, and quality back-links. Combine all of these into a search engine optimization campaign, and you have a recipe for success.
How Does Search Engine Optimization Work
So how does search engine optimization work? I mean, we have our websites and we have our products, visitors, well some visitors anyway. For most of us though, we really want to have our websites found within the search engines. We also want our visitors to come to the right page when searching.
Right now I am looking out the window over the backyard and one of the neighbors has a firepit burning and let’s say that someone was looking on Google, Yahoo, MSN, it doesn’t really matter; someone was searching on the internet for a black antique fire pit. Let’s say that your site was all about fire pits and things in that industry. You would want your visitor to land on the page that talks about black antique fire pits.
So optimization works by having a very relevant site that is well categorized. Not only do you want to have a website that is well categorized but you also want to make sure that you have the proper on-page factors within each article on your site. You want to have the key phrase of your choice within the title tag. You also want to place that phrase in the meta description and meta keyword tags. If you don’t know what those are simply Google them or sign up to my newsletter.
So you want the word of choice in the title, keyword, and description tags. On top of that, you also want the key phrase within the body of your article. Not in a way that seems as if you are spamming the search engines though. You want to use the phrase naturally within the language and context of your article. If you wanted to rank for that word you wouldn’t say “the black fire pit is a great fire pit because it is a black fire pit”. Using it once every 150 words is just fine.
So we have our on-page optimization, we have the proper structure, we have the word used throughout the body of the article, and last but not least you have to have links pointing back to your site that use that particular key phrase. Rather I should say, you want links pointing back to that specific page. So if you have two different articles and one of them deals with black antique firepits and one of them deals with white antique fire pits – you would want other sites within your particular industry to link to your page about black antique fire pits with that word as the click-able anchor text and the same goes for your other articles.
So all in all it is a process of writing relevant information, categorizing your website properly, having a semi large to large website, and having the proper anchor text pointing back to your website. These tips and guidelines are true and vital of any search engine optimization campaign and this is how search engine optimization works. So the next time someone asks you how does earch engine optimization work, you can tell them about this page or you can tell them yourself. Either way, you will have the proper knowledge to carry yourself to the top of the rankings.
