We all know that the search engine is the easiest place to find the most popular websites for products for which we are shopping, information we need for research, and any other basic data to cover all our needs. The internet has become the encyclopedia of the 21st century, and with the millions of websites, blogs, articles and many more pages out there, it is a battle to appear at the top of the list.
One of the most difficult methods of search engine optimization (SEO) is the use for internet marketing. It is important to know that the most effective SEO methods will help bring your website to the top of the search results in any search engine, from Bing to Google.
Perhaps the most prominent factor to consider is which search engine you believe most of your potential customers will be using. That search engine’s support system and optimization format will be the best starting point to build the SEO of your web page(s).
All the way back to the early days of the internet, the idea of SEO began as the understanding of the number of times a keyword appears in a single page the chance increases that it will be closer to the top of search engine results for that word. At that point website developers began stuffing their pages with irrelevant keywords, simply to gain greater vision on the internet.
Additionally, there are many options that will help slowly move your website to the top of the search results of, let’s say Google search. If you ever notice that once you click “Enter” to achieve search results the first group of results that appear at the top of the page have that little box with the word “Ad” on the left. That is one simple way to immediately purchase your SEO and help bring your website to the top of the search list with the topic and field to which you are related. That can be done by simply purchasing the “Google Ad” link when publishing your site. While this is more expensive then working with the SEO of your website content it is an immediate solution to placing your site at, or at least close to, the top of the search results list.
Now, we can begin to look closer at the individual content items of your website that can help bring you closer and closer to the top of the list. We already know that the use of a keyword, or multiple keywords, as many times as possible within the content of your page will increase its visibility within the search results. For example, if your topic is based around the topic of “boat” then the inclusion of this keyword 100 times in your site will place you much higher in the results list than another site that only mentions the word “boat” 20 times. The actual name of your website, page, blog, article or other online content also helps with this. If you are focused on boats, then having the word “boat” in the title of the piece you are publishing or the website you are launching will be extremely helpful in your search results.
Another method of SEO, pulling your website higher up in the search results, comes from the use of external links within your content. If there are references to other, more prominent sites, to where you have received the data to create your web content then inserting hyperlinks to those pages will pull you higher up in the rankings. We all know that the Wikipedia site is one of the most highly recognized search results for any topic that you enter into a search field, so linking to the Wikipedia definition that you use for “boat” would also help increase the ranking of your own website.
It may be hard to believe, but there is another little trick of using internal links to increase the visibility and ranking of your site and pages. As your website is further developed to include several pages, blogs, customer pages and more, then it helps your visibility in the search engine to include links to your own homepage and others within your content. The search engine pulls up more of your content by its reference to many websites, and then your several pages appear within the search results.
Meta tags are another option to increase the visibility of your website and your position in the search result rankings. Several different tags can be included in any website, and there are many different types of tags that can be embedded within your content to raise your appearance in search engine results. Some of these tags are based upon the same information noted previously in reference to keywords, including the title and description of your site, as well as the number of time the keywords themselves appear in the content of the page. Then there are some more meta tags that are not quite as well known, but will prove to be even more helpful in improving your placement in search results. These are robot meta tags and charset meta tags.
More on meta tags here
Embed videos, images and your location (maps) to increase visibility on secondary search results. If you have ever noticed that there are additional tabs at the top of the results page: images, videos, maps. Be sure to include the keyword or tag that will describe the image or video you are including so that it will increase your site’s visibility within those searching out images and videos related to your topic. While there are not as many pages that appear in these tabs, your page can be included in those results if there are images or videos embedded in your page content, or if your settings include your location. That way, if a customer enters into the search “boats” and then clicks on the map tab, your business will be one of those appearing in the map results near their home.
So, as you can see there are so many methods available, from these and many more, that can help increase your website’s appearance in the list of results for any search engine that your viewers may be using. Good luck!
References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine-optimization.html, https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo, http://www.artipot.com/articles/2084001/top-benefits-of-search-engine-optimization-for-small-businesses.html, http://www.isoc.net/Page.aspx/16/seo.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_element