When I work with clients or talk about what I do and services we offer through Evolutionary Designs, I often get asked the question “what is SEO?” or “what is search Engine Optimization?” Once I explain, they ask “why would someone want that and pay for that service?” After answering so many times, I came to realize I never really talked about here. We never really go over what is and how it works. Today, I want to talk about the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), the more important terms and subjects related to SEO, and why it is so important.

So What is SEO?

SEO simply means Search Engine Optimization. Search engine optimization is how search engines create list of sites and is shown to a user that search for keywords. Search engines such as, Google, Bing, and Yahoo! create these lists based on relevance of the site and those keywords. The search engines determine the order of the search based on a complicated algorithm and they are constantly changing those rules. In other words, SEO rules from five years ago may not be relevant to today’s rules. Search Engines rules change so much, you have to keep up with SEO news and check on sites such as Google’s Webmaster Blog and Matt Cutts’ Blog daily. SEO companies spend a lot of time and money keeping up date on the latest rules and any hints Google will give them to help give their clients better search results.

Note: The Definition of Search engine optimization (SEO) is improving the visibility of a web site or pages of a site in search engines. SEO uses a natural (organic) process to help create better results.

Search Engine Optimization and Online Marketing Terms:

• SEO – Search Engine Optimization
• SEM – Search Engine Marketing
• SMO – Social Media Optimization
• SMM- Social Media Marketing
• SERP – Search Engine Result Pages
• PPC – Pay Per Click Advertising

What Do I Need to Know About SEO?

Website owners should be aware that SEO is not a one time job, but is an ongoing process that takes time to build a solid SEO Strategy, implement, and maintain your keyword rankings. Most businesses and website owners who market their site through SEO maintain two strategies of SEO work on their sites. Those strategies are On-Page and Off-page SEO.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is writing your content so the search engines can find your web pages, when someone is searching for keywords related to your content. On-page SEO includes;

• Keyword research
• Interlinking of web pages to relevant content from other pages
• outlinking to relevant sources other than the same site. Such as using Wiki Pages to support or define a word the readers may not know.

Off Page SEO

Off Page SEO is a strategy that website owners implement once the site goes live. This strategy is all about linkbuilding by getting others sites to link back to your site. So basically, off page SEO is all about popularity and influence the more influential and popular site is, the higher your sites page rank will be. In order to gain the page rank and popularity, you need to increase the number of websites that links back to you. This is not as easy as it sounds. You can not go out and by link backs or do a “link to me and I’ll link back to your site” link swap. Google hates reciprocal linking, but loves unilateral (one-way text links) links to your website. You can build links by;

• Link exchanges – Free blog role links. Paid link exchanges are frowned on by Google and other search engines. Do this sparingly
• Article Directories – There are thousands of directory services for submitting your articles. Some are high page rank and free. But some of the high page ranks charges for these services.
• Forums – There are online message boards for almost every niche. Spending time building trust and influence on these sites will get people clicking on your website links back to your sites. Make sure to fill out your forum signatures with links back to your site.
• Commenting on niche related sites – Commenting on 20 – 30 niche related sites daily is a great way to build backlinks and build traffic back to your site. NOTE: Look for sites that are DoFollow and CommentLuv Enabled.
• Bookmarking sites – Submit your sites to bookmarking sites, such as Blog Engage, MMO Social Network, DesignGizer, Blogger Den. Everyday, new bookmarking sites are popping up. Choose sites that have higher page ranks and may be a benefit to your site. In order to truly benefit from these sites, you need to spend time and network with other bloggers by commenting on their sites, and voting on their submissions.
• Online communities – Online communities such as BloggerLuv is a great way to network. This site is a DoFollow site that allows you to submit your blogs, websites and articles. BloggerLuv is also a great place to hang out and make friends and get help with issues on your sites and help you build a better blog.

Final Thoughts

When I am working with a client either doing the SEO process or just consulting, in most cases, I generally recommend a mixture of on and off page SEO. For the sites I maintain or own, I concentrate mostly on-page SEO and work on off-page by commenting daily on niche related sites and using social bookmarking sites for off page SEO.

Image Credit: sachyn