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Why SEO? |
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Tuesday, 30 August 2005 |
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
How it pertains to everyone on the web who would like traffic to their
sites. This is a basic overview of how SEO works.
How SEO works
SEO is based on the fact that people type in search terms to find
information. These phrases often don't match the content that
people are looking for. Let's just use an example to get this
going:
Gavin Holt wants people to come to his site for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
advice, articles, techniques, and whatever. Having a page on BJJ
advice, Gavin sits and waits for the traffic to roll in, since he has
relevant and really good content on BJJ advice. The problem is
that less than one person a day types into a search engine "BJJ
Advice." Gavin gets no traffic.
So Mr. Holt decides to change the title of his BJJ page from "BJJ Advice" to "BJJ Technique Advice" after seeing that wordtracker
shows "BJJ technique" is typed about 12 times a day or 360 times a
month. Given that MSN is a pansy for good content regardless of
links, the advice articles (having an optimal number of instances of
the keyword) rank really well and get a portion of the traffic looking
for BJJ techniques.
The whole point of SEO is to find out what people want and make your pages give them what they want.
I know there are ways to fool search engines, but the days of typing in
"school supplies" and getting pornographic sites are long gone.
The main goal of search engine algorithms is to find relevant content
and produce real results. SEO should be about giving people what
they are looking for.
If your business model involves a product that is not searched for, don't use SEO.
By doing keyword research, you can find out if SEO, a form of
advertising, will reach your target audience to result in hits on your
website and eventually sales and/or ad revenue.
So to recap:
- First find out if people are even looking for your service or product with search engines
- Make your site content and site influence (links from other
sites) match the search engines attempts at natural and accurate
results.
Stay posted for more information on not just why SEO, but also how to do SEO. These articles will include:
- How to make good content for your webpages, using keywords in a healthy and natural manner
- How to get people to point to you to make search engines see that you are an authority on your keywords
- How to conduct CPC (Cost per click) campaigns for advertisements outside of SEO
- How to choose good keywords to base your website on
-Gavin Holt |
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