One of the most discussed and analyzed topics on the internet is search engine optimization (SEO). Discussions on SEO forums often get heated as members argue about which tactics work best.

Search engine optimization is merely the art of making your site friendly to the search engines so you will rank well for keywords related to your niche.

As a website owner you want search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN to rank you highly. For example, if your website is about wines from the Cape, you want to show up on the first page of results when someone searches for “Cape wines.”

Top rankings for popular keywords can bring hundreds of visitors to your site day in and day out.

Unfortunately, there are many opinions on how to achieve top rankings, and these opinions often conflict with one another. Google and other search engines carefully guard the algorithms that determine ranking to prevent manipulation.

But through trial and error, clever minds have reverse engineered the
process to identify several factors that help websites rank well.

The key is to make it easy for search engines to figure out what your site is about. Let’s look at some ways to make your site friendlier to the search engines.

Quick SEO Tips:

Each page of your site should target a different keyword. Go back to our wine example. You’ll likely have pages on red wines, white wines, wine tasting, wine tours, etc.

Each page should target a single keyword phrase and that keyword should be featured prominently throughout that web page.

You’ll want to place your keyword in each of the following places:

You’ll also want to use your keyword phrase throughout the text. But do so carefully. You want it to appear natural. Going overboard and packing your keyword phrase all over the place is called “keyword stuffing” and could cause the search engines to drop your site altogether.

These simple on-page SEO tips will help you get top rankings for many long tail keyword phrases. But for more competitive keywords you’ll need some help…lots and lots of backlinks!