Search Engine Optimization - An Overview

Search engine optimization is one of most popular onlinemarketing tool for any website. With most websites looking forward toincreasing the online sales of their products/services, search engineoptimization can be a very cost-effective tool to target and procureyour customers online. In this paper, we will discuss about searchengine optimization, its benefits and how you can optimize your websitefor top search engine rankings.

1. What is search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization (also known by various other nameslike search engine ranking, search engine promotion, website promotion,SEO etc.) is a method through which a website is given top rankings invarious search engines. According to a recent industry study, 1 inevery 20 people go to the second page of search results pages, but only1 in every 100 people go beyond that. So, by top search enginerankings, we mean that your website should be within the first twopages of the search results, preferably in the first page (i.e. withintop 10 rankings).

2. What are the prime benefits of search engine optimization?

Top search engine rankings result in more pre-qualifiedbusiness leads coming to your website which in turn can convert togreater sales for your organization.

Search engine promotion is one of the cheapest methods ofadvertizing for your organization. Compared to advertizements in thenewspapers/magazines or in the television, search engine promotioncosts many times less and can bring more traffic to your websites,thereby providing greater ROI.

Search engine optimization enhances online brand identity of your organization.

3. What are the key factors for your website to have top search engine rankings?

Search engines change their algorithms frequently, therebyforcing the search engine optimization companies to re-strategize theirsearch engine optimization techniques. However, the followingattributes are basic and play a major role in procuring top searchengine rankings.

a. Keyword Research - Keywords play the most vitalrole in your search engine optimization campaign. Keywords (can be 1,2, 3 or more words) are the search terms which a surfer types in thesearch box of a search engine to reach your website. Let us considerthat you are an "India-based Outsourcing consultant" interested inoptimizing your website for top search engine rankings. The followingare some of the keywords which surfers will type to reach your website-

bpo india

bpo outsourcing services

business outsourcing services

business process outsourcing

offshore companies

offshore outsourcing

offshore outsourcing services

offshore services

outsource india

outsourcing companies

outsourcing consultants

outsourcing india

outsourcing services

outsourcing services company

Keyword research tips -

Word Tracker

Always target keywords that best describe your products/service.

Try to find multiword potential keywords compared to single keywords.

Try formulating keywords which give answers to as "why/how/what ...?"

Utilize your server log files to know what your customers searched most while visiting your site.

Use keyword generator softwares like Wordtracker (Wordtracker.com) or Overture (Inventory.overture.com)

Include popular common misspellings (e.g. viagra typed as viagara etc.) in your keyword list.

b. Title of the webpage - <title> ..</title>- Title has a deep impact on your website's search enginerankings. Experience shows that most companies use the following astitle of their index page which can prevent them from getting topsearch engine rankings.

<title> Welcome to the website of XYZ.com </title>>

For example, let's continue with the above example of "India-based Outsourcing consultant".

An ideally optimized title should contain the top 3-5 keywordsof your business, e.g. outsourcing consultants, outsourcing india,outsource india

Optimized Title - <title>Outsourcing Consultants, Outsourcing India, Outsource India</title>

c. Description Meta tag of the webpage - Description of a webpage also plays important role in getting top search engine rankings.

Optimized Description - Develop a suitable description based on your top 3 keywords

<meta name="description" content="One of the most reputedoutsourcing consultants offering outsourcing India services andstrategies on how to outsource India.">

d. Keywords Meta Tag of the webpage - This meta tag wasof great importance at one time. But rampant manipulations (i.e.multiple, often non-relevant keyword stuffing in the "keywords" tag),leading to abuse has resulted in search engines giving lesserimportance to "keywords" tag while ranking sites. Nevertheless, you canalways place top 3 - 5 keywords of your site in the "keywords" tag.

Optimized Keywords - <meta name="keywords" content = "outsourcing consultants, outsourcing india, outsource india">

e. Importance of Content/Keyword-enriched optimized pages for top search engine rankings -

Well, if there is one aspect which holds supreme importance insearch engine, specially in Google ranking, then it is this. Yes,content! The popular industry say - "Content is King" was perhapsdevised by watching Google's love for content. Develop content based onthe top keywords related to your business. While developing content foryour web pages, keep in mind the keyword density (KD).

Mathematically speaking, Keyword Density is the ratio of thetotal number of time a keyword is repeated divided by the total contentwords. Since KD is normally represented in percentage, the above figureis to be multiplied by 100

For example, if you have developed a web page of around 250words on the keyword "search engine optimization", and that particularkeyword (search engine optimization) is repeated 10 times, then

Keyword Density (KD) = 10/250 * 100

= 4%

As a thumb rule, Keyword Density of an optimized page for topsearch engine rankings should vary between 2 - 7 % (this figure variesamong different search engines)

4. Submission of Keyword-enriched optimized pages - Afteryou have finished content development for the optimized pages based onthe keywords targeted for top search engine rankings, submit thosepages to various search engines.

a. Google - Google.com Add URL

b. AlltheWeb - Addurl.alltheweb.com

c. AltaVista - Addurl.altavista.com

d. MSN - Submitit.bcentral.com

5. Role of Link Popularity in top search engine rankings -

Link popularity has assumed tremendous importance for gettinggood ranks in Google now a days. In fact, what started as a friendlyreciprocal link exchange program among various webmasters has nowbecome a sub-industry within the SEO industry itself, with thousands oflink farms popping up every day! Yes, if you are interested in gettingtop ranks in search engines, especially Google, then you must payeffort in building up links for your site.

a. Create a html page, preferably named as"Resources/Links/Partners" and place a link of this page from IndexPage of your site. This page should never be more than 1 click awayfrom the index page of your site, else webmasters won't be interestedin participating in the reciprocal link exchange program.

b. Target both "industry-related" and"non-industry-related" websites as your link exchange partners. Forexample, if you are providing outsourcing services, then try gettinglinks from "industry-related websites (i.e. websites dealing withoutsourcing services, maybe your business rivals!). This is important,because if 10 of your rival sites give links to your site, then Googlewill surely pay importance to your site, because getting links fromrival companies are difficult. Your site MUST be of some high caliber,else the other 10 sites won't have linked! Also, try procuring linksfrom top ranked general informative websites as well.

c. Always exchange links with websites which have highGoogle PageRank (PR) of at least 4, the more the better! (both IndexPage as well as Resources/Links Page of the Link Partner's site shouldhave PRs of >=4) [PageRank is a proprietary tool that Google uses todetermine the importance of a page and varies in a scale of 0 (leastimportant) to 10 (maximum importance)].

d. Have a link code ready for participating in linkexchange program. Here is a sample link code for an India-basedOutsourcing consultant.

<a href = "http://www.indian-outsourcing-consultant.com"title = "indian outsourcing consultant" > </a> - Indianoutsourcing consultant providing guidance to companies willing to setup outsourcing centers in India.

Always prefer a text link (as given above) in comparison to abanner link, where your chance of Google and other search enginespiders finding the potential keywords is limited only to the "alt tag"of the banner. Also, Google pays importance to the text of the incominglink/anchor text (i.e. the incoming link text must contain highpotential, relevant keywords), so develop a link text with title("indian outsourcing consultant") which will help you in GoogleRanking.

e. Refrain from javascript link code because Google spider finds it difficult to index.

Key SEO Factors

Targeting the right keywords for your website

Title of your webpage

Description Meta tag of your webpage

Keywords Meta tag of your webpage

Quality, Informative Content

Link Popularity

Conclusion -

With Google's numero uno position in the search engine marketbeing threatened by arch-rivals Yahoo! [bought Overture, the largestPPC search engine recently, who in turn bought Altavista and Alltheweb]and Microsoft's MSN [believed to be developing its own search engine],it is no doubt that the search engine industry is going to experiencetremendous changes in the next few months. The recent Google "Florida"Update is just one of the many upheavals that we may be witnessing inan industry where the only constant factor is the "change". However,the various.

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