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I quite often make mention in my blog of Search Engine Optimisation or SEO as it's also known. I wondered how many followers understand what SEO is, so I thought I'd post a brief explanation of the key elements.

The purpose of search engine optimisation is to develop certain elements of a web page in a structured way so that it will appear high up in Google searches (being the predominant search engine, we generally optimise web pages with Google's requirements in mind).

KEYWORD RESEARCH
Keywords or keyphrases are the foundation of SEO. Keyword research is done to discover what words or phrases people use when they make a search in Google. There are various strategies to determine which keywords or keyphrases are the most popular or valuable relative to a specific subject.

PAGE URL
The actual page URL name is a very important area where targeted keywords are presented. An example of an optimised URL for a website promoting holiday accommodation in Tauranga could be…
[Example] http://www.grandmotel.co.nz/holiday-accommodation-tauranga.php
(this is a dummy link i.e. it won't connect to a website so don't click on it)

The use of the keywords 'holiday accommodation tauranga' tells Google exactly what the page is about.

META TAGS
Hidden in the source code of a website are a number of Meta tags that are amongst the most important elements in SEO.

Title tag – this is the phrase that appears in the top bar of your browser window. Including your keywords in the title tag is a critical element for Google success.
[Example] title = ‘Luxury Holiday Accommodation In Sunny Tauranga’

Keyword tag – your keywords are listed under this tag. It’s not an important element and Google pays little credence to it.
[Example] keywords = ‘holiday accommodation, luxury accommodation, tauranga’

Description tag – this is a paragraph about the web page that shows up in Google search results. It must contain your keywords and should always closely relate to the content within the page.
[Example] description = ‘Enjoy our luxury accommodation in sunny Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. You'll love our affordable seasonal rates.'

KEYWORD PLACEMENT
The placement of your targetted keywords within the actual page content is important. The general rule of thumb is to insert your exact keywords or keyphrases once or twice in the opening paragraph and again in the closing paragraph.

KEYWORD DENSITY
This refers to how many times your keyword appears relative to all other words on the page. Previously, a high density was desirable, but Google has reduced importance on keyword density in the quest for more visitor-friendly page content. You can imagine how irritating it would be to read the following paragraph on a website…

"Our holiday accommodation in Tauranga is one of the most scenic holiday accommodation facilities in Tauranga. If you visit Tauranga and are looking for good quality holiday accommodation in Tauranga you should call us for holiday accommodation rates. We promise you will be delighted with the holiday accommodation that we offer to Tauranga visitors."

Not pretty, is it? In fact, Google will probably penalise your site if you go overboard with keyword stuffing like in this example.

ALT TAGS
You can also create an invisible 'Alt' tag for an image on your page, helping you to increase keyword density without stuffing your page copy.

INBOUND LINK BUILDING
One of the primary factors Google uses to determine the importance or relevance of a web page is inbound links. In short, if another website creates a link from their site to yours, it is an inbound link. But not all inbound links are equal. The more highly regarded the site providing the link to you is in Google's eyes, the more valuable the inbound link to your site will be.

Don't be tempted into using the many link building offers touted on the net. These are usually link directories which are generally not well regarded by Google. In fact, you may even do your site more harm than good by subscribing to these services

Much of the information in this article will be well known by many readers, but I hope for those of you that are not that familiar with search engine optimisation, this basic explanation will give you the interest to do your own SEO research on the web. Everything you need to know is out there and it's free. It just takes some time and effort. Alternatively you can engage a professional company that specialises in SEO.