What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

What is SEO

- The process of improving web pages so they rank higher in search engines for your targeted keywords.
-SEO is the act of modifying a website to increase its ranking in organic (vs paid), crawler-based listings of search engines

-The process of structuring a web page so that it is  found, read, and indexed by search engines in the most effective manner possible.
-This process improved webpage so their rank higher in search engines for our target keyword.

Successful search helps this site gain top positioning in the search engines results pages of search engines such as Google,Yahoo and MSN for relevant words and phrases.

How do organic search listings work?

• A spider or crawler which is a component of a SE gathers listings by automatically "crawling" the web 
• The spider follows links to web pages, makes copies of the pages and stores them in the SE’s index
• Based on this data, the SE then indexes the pages and ranks the websites
• Major SEs that index pages using spiders: Google, Altavista, Msn, Aol, lycos

“Spiders read only text, nothing else”

Importance of SEO

•    90% online user uses search engine to find products and info (iprospect.com).
•  Your website will constantly feature on page one of the     search results for terms that best describe your business.
•   Natural search receives 250% more traffic than paid search.

•   1st page of SE result get atleast 80% clicks.
•   If your website is not found within top 30 result (page 1, 2 and 3) no one will find it.

SEO Process

Step 1: Discuss Business objectives.

Step 2: Conduct initial keyword analysis.

Step 3: Identify the keyword/landing page combinations.

Step 4: Interim Client Approval for Keyword/Landing Pages.

Step 5: Baseline Ranking & Traffic reports. 

Step 6: On-site & Off-site optimization. 

Step 7: Detailed Recommendation documents. 

Step 8: Implementation.

Step 9: Monitoring and Optimizing: We provide monthly reporting and optimization recommendations. The reporting is compared to the baseline (or previous month’s results) to identify trends and help guide additional adjustments. 

Technical SEO

Comprehensive Website Analysis 

Keyword Research and Analysis. 

Baseline Ranking report. 

Competitive analysis in Search Engines. 

Content Analysis & SEO Copywriting. 

Analysis of URL structure & information architecture. 

Analysis of internal linking. 

Analysis of source code and page layout. 

Code validation.  

Search Engine Saturation.

Link Popularity Analysis. 

Link Relevancy & Co-Citation Analysis (Topical Relevancy).

TYPE OF SEO

Two type of SEO:

1. On-Page Optimization

2. Off Page Optimization

On Page Optimization the first step of search engine optimization technique used to maximize the website performance in search engines to target keywords related to on-page content. It means optimization of keywords, content, html errors, html optimization and all other optimization work on websites.

On-Page SEO Checklist

• Keyword Research and Analysis
• Page Specific Meta Tag Creation
• Title Tag (Page Title Optimization)
• Alt Tag Optimization
• Anchor Text Optimization
• H1 Tags
• URL & Link Structure
• 301 Permanent Redirect
• Content Placement
• Google Analytics
• Search Engine Verification from Google, Yahoo and MSN
• Creation and Submission of ROR.xml, robots.txt, urllist.txt, sitemap.xml
• Track target keywords
• Usability and accessibility
• Site maps, both XML and user facing

Avoid Common On-Page SEO Mistakes:

• Duplicate content
• URL variation for the same pages
• Off-site images and content on-site
• Duplicate Meta & Title Tags

Avoid On-Page SEO Spamming Tactics:

• Hidden text
• Hidden links
• Keyword repetition
• Doorway pages
• Mirror pages
• Cloaking

Off-Page Optimization

Off page optimization refers to the optimization done external to the websites, which mainly considered as link building and increasing popularity among the visitors. It involves getting more of back links via various link building strategies for particular keyword.

Off-Page SEO Checklist

• Directory Submission
• Social Bookmarking Submission
• One-way Inbound Links (Not Link Exchange Or Reciprocal Links)
• Blog Posting
• Blog Hosting
• Article Submission
• Press Release Submission
• Forum Posting
• Footer Links
• Affiliate Marketing
• Blog Commenting
• Review Posting
• RSS Feed Submission
• CSS Submission
• Video Submission
• Profile Creation
• Link Wheel
• Social Media Optimization
• Target large list of keywords (5-500+)

Avoid Common Off-Page SEO Mistakes:

• Duplicate keywords in link adverts
• Site-wide links causing link spikes
• Placing random links without keywords in link adverts
• Using On-Page SEO for Off-Page SEO

Avoid Off-Page SEO Spamming Tactics:

• Link farms (sites with 100+ outbound links per page)
• Using irrelevant keywords in your link-ads
• Garbage links
• Link churning
• Hidden inbound links

SEO strategies/techniques 

1. Domain name strategies - domain names are traffic magnets > 63 million domain names registered > 4.7 million domain names registered 1st quar 2004 - choose a domain name that will increase your search engine ranking. How? - simple, short, no hyphens, no numbers - use keywords, common words, advertising terms, product names - choose a keyword that is important for your business
2.  Linking strategies - the more inbound links the higher the SE ranking  - if the site linking to you is already indexed, spiders will also receive your site - quality of inbound links is critical - how to increase links:  a) good content b) good outbound links c) target a list of sites from which you can request inbound links - links for the sake of links can damage your search rankings “Link relevancy is critical in getting your site indexed by search engines” “A small number of inbound links from high-quality, relevant sites is more valuable than many links from low-traffic, irrelevant sites.”
3. Keywords - important in optimising rankings - keywords are words that appear the most in a page - the spider chooses the appropriate keywords for each page, then sends them back to its SE - your web site will then be indexed based on your  keywords - can be key phrases or a single keyword - do not use common words eg ‘the’ ‘and’ ‘of’: spiders ignore them - write keyword-rich text - balance keyword-rich and readability - always have text in your page: at least 100 words 
4. Title tags - important in optimising rankings - the first thing that a search engine displays on a search return - must keywords in title to be ranked no. 1 - should have the exact keyword you use for the page - every single web page must have its own title tag - you can use up to 65 characters eg Ebay http://www.ebay.com/ (title is littered with keywords)
5.  Meta description tags - the next important - displayed below the title in search results - use dynamic, promotional language - use keywords
6. Meta keywords tags - no longer carry weight with major SEs - a myth that meta keywords alone affect rankings
7.  Alt tags - include keywords in your alt tags
8. Submit your website to SEs for indexing - submit your site to search engine directories, directory sites and portal sites - indexing takes 1 wk to 3 months

Major SEs to submit to:

Altavista  http://addurl.altavista.com/sites/addurl/newurl (Search engines that also use this database - Looksmart)

The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) http://dmoz.org/add.html (Search engines that also use this database - Ask Jeeves, Lycos, Netscape )

Fast  http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php (Search engines that also use this database - Lycos)

Google  http://www.google.com/addurl.html (Search engines that also use this database - Yahoo)

Inktomi  http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm (Search engines that also use this database - AOL, Excite, MSN, Overture)

MSN  http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm

Yahoo  http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest

SEO - what is NOT recommended 

Flash and shockwave - spiders do not pick up these files

Image only sites - spiders do not pick up images

Image maps - spiders cannot read image maps. Do not use them on your home page or critical pages.  

Frames - only one page can be titled (titling is critical in search rankings) - If the spider cannot read the complete page (because of the frames), it will not be indexed properly. 

- Some spiders may not even read a frames web site

 Password protected pages – spiders cannot enter password protected pages

PDF files - can be problematic for spiders. Although some search engines can index them, the pages must be interpreted into HTML and can lose much of their content. - place PDFs lower down in your site

Dynamic pages - spiders cannot index some content on pages using ASP, CGI or other dynamic languages. - Make sure important pages are HTML, no dynamically generated content. 

Drop down menus – spiders cannot read them

In summary…

Critical elements
- domain name, links, keywords, title, meta description, alt tags, submitting your website to SEs
- keywords galore: include in page copy, title, description, domain name, alt tags

No-nos
- flash, image-only sites, image maps, frames, password protected pages, PDFS, dynamic pages, drop-down menus