Basic search engine optimization strategy

As this free search engine optimization guide will show, there are five main search engine optimization factors to keep in mind:

1. Your Website’s content and main theme.
2. Number of keywords on each page.
3. Keyword placement.
4. Click popularity.
5. Link popularity.

#1. Website content and theme

The actual content on your site is the most important factor in your search engine optimization strategy. It’s only natural: Sites with a lot of up to date high quality content should rank ahead of outdated sites with little valuable content.

Keep in mind that search engines can only read the text in your page, and are unable to view pictures, flash and other clever presentations. Having sufficient text in all pages for the search engines to index is a basic requirement for your search engine optimization to succeed.

What does this mean to you? Creating an informative site with lots of original content focused on one central theme should be the foundation for your search engine optimization strategy.

#2. Keyword density

There are usually hundreds of words on a Web page. How are the search engines able to determine which words are the most important for describing the actual content on your site? It’s done by counting the number of words on your page. Words or phrases frequently used are considered more important.

Search engines use mathematical algorithms to calculate the importance of each word in your pages. The total number of words on your page divided by the number of times your keyword appears are called “keyword density” or “keyword weight”. By watering down your keywords, you are reducing the possibility to rank well. Your keywords must be present in your page a certain number of times to rank well and achieve a favorable search engine placement.

How are you supposed to know exactly how many times you need to repeat your keywords to get a top ranking? You will have to look at the optimized Web sites already listed in the top positions for that particular keyword. This will give you an overall idea of the keyword density needed to get a top search engine position.

An incredible tool for comparing the keyword density and other factors on your own site to high ranking sites is IBP. A tool like this is invaluable for anyone serious about their search engine optimization strategy.

#3. Keyword prominence

When you have figured out how many times you need to use your keywords in the text of the page, it is time to consider where to place your keywords. The search engines will pay more attention to certain parts of your site. Words in those sections are seen as more important compared to other words. This is called “keyword prominence”.

* Title and meta tags: The title tag is the most important tag on your page. It is crucial that you put your keywords in the title. Some search engines also pay extra attention to words in description and keyword meta tags.
* Headings:

The heading tags give your visitors (search engines included) a good idea about what is the main subject of your page. It is crucial for your search engine optimization strategy success to include keywords in these tags.

* Hyperlink text: It is natural to assume that the pages you are linking to will be related to the subject of your own page. This is why keywords in hyperlink text are considered very important with some search engines. Hyperlink text refers to the part of the URL that is seen on the page, the visible text that a user clicks on (some search engines will also index the hidden URL text in the link).

* URL text: Keywords in your domain name and page names can influence your rank in both regular search engines and directories. Such keywords are called “URL text”. When you are using keywords in the URL, links to your site from other sites will carry more weight toward a higher search engine placement.

* Top: The words on top of your page, in the beginning of your tags, first in paragraphs and at the start of your sentences are generally speaking regarded as more important. Make sure the keywords are among the first words on your page. Making your keywords underlined, bold or otherwise highlighted also help to emphasize the importance.

IBP is an excellent tool that will let you find the exact word count and keyword density within each section of your page and compare the stats of your pages with those who already have achieved high search engine positions.

#4. Click popularity

Another factor influencing search engine placement in some search engines is click popularity.

The number of users clicking on links to your page from the search results is counted. Pages that are frequently clicked will get a popularity boost. If your Web site already has a high ranking you will get fewer points compared to a low ranking site. This way all sites have an equal chance to get click through points awarded.

Don’t be tempted to click your own link over and over again. Repeated clicks from the same IP will be detected.

How can you influence click popularity then? By putting some work into your page title and description meta tag. These are the main factors influencing people’s decision to click your link. High quality content will make visitors stay at your search engine optimized web site, and will stop them from quickly returning to the search engine.

#5. Link popularity

One major factor to consider in your search engine optimization strategy is link popularity. Search engines will regard sites with many links pointing to them as more important. It’s only natural to expect that popular sites with many links pointing to them will be high quality sites.

Links from popular sites will give your site a higher boost. Sites linking to you should also be on the same subject as your own site and contain the keywords in the hyperlinks text. Linking your Web site to other popular sites on the same subject as your own site, can also improve your search engine placement.

Link popularity is nothing you have direct control over (apart from setting up several sites on similar subjects and linking them to one another), but there are a few things you can do:

1. Make a great Web site. If people find it to be a high quality site with valuable content, they will link to it.

2. Make it easy to link. Put HTML code and link buttons on your site. Ask visitors for links to your site. Consider using a free service like easy2link.com or make your own “how to link to us” page.

3. Offer rewards for those linking to you. Reciprocal links, free text or banner advertising etc.

4. Conduct a search for web sites that are similar to yours in one of the major search engines. Find out who is linking to your competitors and suggest they put up a link to you too. Reciprocal links from sites related to your site will benefit both parties. To help finding link partner for this site we have used Arelis. This is an excellent tool to help you find and get in touch with potential link partners.

5. Pay for getting text links placed on important sites related to yours (just like you usually do with banner ads).

And of course…. get listed in all the main directories like Yahoo and Dmoz.. Don’t forget about yellow pages, business directories, award sites and the minor directories either. Do you have a free Ezine? Get listed in Ezine directories. Do you offer a free ebook? Get listed in ebook directories. Offer any freeware/shareware? Get your site listed in the appropriate software directories. Every little link helps.