Six things that you should know about SEO

Most people know that being listed on Google's first result page will bring them a lot of targeted visitors and that they will get a lot of sales through that listing.

Unfortunately, some people don't know how SEO (search engine optimization) works and what they can expect. Some webmasters still expect that their website will be listed on Google's first result page after submitting the site to Google. That might have worked eight years ago but it does not work today.
1. SEO takes time

You cannot optimize your website today and expect results tomorrow or next week. Search engine optimization takes time. Search engines have to find your new optimized pages, they have to find the new links to your website, they have to update the index, etc.

2. You must change your web pages

If you want to get high rankings for certain keywords, then these keywords must appear on your web pages. It is possible to get high rankings for a keyword that is not listed on your website if lots of other websites link to your website with that keyword. That's the exception, though.
In general, the keywords for which you want to be found must appear on your web pages and they must appear in the right elements on your web pages. For that reason, you have to change the HTML code of your web pages to make it as easy as possible for search engine spiders to parse your site.

3. You need links and you need the right links

Good backlinks are the key to high rankings on Google. Automatically created backlinks usually won't help your rankings and they even might get you banned from Google's index.
As a general rule, the easier it is to get a link, the less is its influence on the position of your website on Google. The links to your website should be from related websites and they should contain your keywords in the link text.
The more attractive your website is, the easier it will be to get good links. Your website should offer linkworthy content that other people can talk about.

4. It's crucial to choose the right keywords

If you optimize the website of a rock band than you might think that it would be cool if their site was found for the keyword "mp3". That might be cool but it does not make sense.
People searching for "mp3" can be interested in anything: mp3 players, mp3 decoders, the latest Justin Bieber song, general information about the file format, etc. If these people come to your rock band website, they won't find the information they are looking for.
Optimize your website for keywords that attract the right kind of people. For example "unsigned rock band" or "rock band london".

5. You must be realistic

Getting on the first result page for a highly competitive keyword such as "mp3" is possible but your competitors will be old and established websites with a lot of backlinks. It is very difficult to outrank these pages.
If you have a website with just a few pages and your competitors have large websites with forums, communities, blogs, etc. then you must improve your website if you want to compete. Search engines want to show the best sites on the result pages.
If you absolutely want to get high rankings for a term such as "mp3", start with less competitive keywords and then proceed to the more competitive terms. Search engines must trust your website before they give you high rankings for very competitive keywords.

6. You must set the right goals

Search engine optimization is not about getting a high Google PageRank (the green bar in Google's toolbar). It is about getting high listings for the right keywords so that the right people will come to your website. The goal of search engine optimization is to increase your sales.
You don't have to be listed for any possible keyword even if they are related to your business. You have to be listed for keywords that will bring buyers to your site. It usually takes some time to find the best keywords for your website. Running PPC ads and tracking their conversions will help you to find the best keywords.

Read more: http://www.free-seo-news.com/

Top Five Essential SEO Tactics

Many people are unfamiliar with the top SEO tactics for making their websites profitable. You need to be sure you follow these tips if you want your website to makemoney for months and years to come.

1. Keep It Simple, Stupid
The KISS rule is essential for success in the online business world. Spiffy Javascript and Flash effects may look nice, but they’re more difficult for search engine algorithms to understand, which will ultimately lower your page ranking. Because search engine optimization is all about tailoring your website to search engines, you want to make sure to keep your site simple enough for the engine to understand.

2. Content is King
Put lots of content together! Niche content is the best – simply defined as articles about things that everyone wants to know, that nobody already knows. Blogs are great, because they’re a regularly updated source of content. If you need to develop lots of high quality content, go through a freelance writers’ site and put out multiple requests – this way you can get a huge amount of content quickly.

3. Share Links
Send emails to the owners of established quality websites with similar content to yours and offer to share links. Chances are, as long as your site looks professional, like it’s going to make it big, they’ll accept, because they got where they are by sharing links. Search engines track how many sites link to yours, and use that to determine how valuable your site is.

4. Proper Sitemap and Meta Tags
When you submit your site to search engines, they will want to see that your site includes a sitemap that meets their search engine’s parameters, and that each page contains meta tags to help the engine categorize your site. The big engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s Bing all offer programs to help you figure out the most relevant meta tag keywords, so definitely make use of these.

5. Keyword Optimization
When you’re creating a page that you want people to “land” on from the search engine, you want to make sure that the keyword density on that page is sufficient. You can figure out the best keywords by downloading a keyword generator from Google or other engines. Once you know what your content keywords are, make sure your page contains a 1-3% keyword density – or 1-3 times per hundred the phrase is mentioned. This may seem small, but keep in mind that very high keyword densities often make your content unreadable. Trying to “game the system” often results in penalization by search engine algorithms.

source: niceblogger

Search Engine Optimization - 5 More Tips

There are so many different aspects to Search Engine Optimization from the technical stuff, to content, to words. Here are some more common aspects.

1 Blog in folder. Have a blog attached to your main site. Put it into a folder like this: mainsite.com/blog which will allow the links and traffic you get to the blog to be associated with your main site. If you put it as a sub-domain as in: blog.mainsite.com, the blog will be seen as a separate website by Google(TM).

2 Sane URLs. You have seen them, haven't you? URLs which look as if they're maths from a space probe mission. For example, website.com/?=3and9&?46. This is made up but I'm sure there are far more complicated ones to be easily found. Instead of all that use a redirect system or somehow convert to a plain URL.

3 Anchor your images. Give your images an ALT text so search engines can read them easier and you'll get better ranking for doing so.

4 Keywords. You need to do a full keyword research for your website to ensure you know what you're aiming at in developing content. If not, you may end up writing and producing lots of material but none of it relevant to what you're trying to achieve and not relevant to the people you're trying to reach. Then, this will affect your traffic and opt-in list. Try to use the best tools you can afford so you're drilling down into your market and seeing it from different perspectives.

5 Backlinks weakened. If you have two pages with the same content on them, such as http and a www pages, then backlinks could end up on either of them So, besides duplicate content, you'll have weakened your linking power.

source: ezinearticles.