What is SEO and how can I use it for my website?

What is SEO and how can I use it for my website?

If you have a website and want to be able to make sales from it, people need to be able to find it for the keyword terms people might search for when looking to buy your products or services. Examples of keywords that potential clients might use are “pebble toys” or “stuffed toys seller” - these keyword terms might be used by potential clients and if they cannot find you when they search, then you have no chance of making the sale!

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the skill of editing a website so that it appears at the top of a search engine, such as Google, for various keywords.

The basic items involved in SEO in order to get your website to the top for certain keywords includes the following:

• Perform keyword research to identify useful keywords that will bring you business. Use a keyword tool such as the Google AdWords keyword tool, this tool is basic but adequate for these purposes

• Make sure your website includes the relevant words within the text on the actual webpage. This is very important but very widely overlooked! Google needs to be able to see the text on the page so it knows that is what the page is about.

• Optimise the metatags for each page of the website. The metatags are looked at by Google for clues as to the page content and should include the keywords you wish to appear for

• After the first two items have been correctly carried out, the next important part is to build links back to the website ideally using anchor text. Anchor text looks like this Pebble Toys – quite simply it means the relevant keywords are used while pointing to your website. The types of links that should be used might be articles written by you and posted on websites such as www.ezinearticles.com, where you can demonstrate your expertise by talking about your topic area but also in the signature area of the article, you can include some anchor text and start to build links back to your website

• Another method of building links is to exchange blogs with other website owners, and in return at the bottom of the blog include some anchor text with a link to your website

• You should be building links continually – SEO is never “finished” as your competitors would soon overtake you!

• Track your results in a keyword tracking tool to see how your rankings are affected

Claire Jarrett runs Marketing By Web and specialises in SEO for Small Businesses, with prices from just £90+VAT per month

you can email her on claire@marketingbyweb.co.uk