Simple SEO Techniques to Increase Online Traffic and Revenue

In order to effectively drive traffic to a website or blog, search engine optimization, or SEO, techniques must be utilized.  

What is SEO?

SEO is a strategic approach to website and Internet content design that aims to improve a website’s ranking in Internet search engines based on several critical factors that are determined by complex algorithms. By designing websites specifically to be visible to search engines, webmasters hope to enjoy organic traffic that originates from targeted search results.   

SEO Considerations

Search engine optimization techniques have followed the evolutionary patterns of the Internet.  In the mid- 1990s, website owners simply submitted their website address to search engines and web crawlers worked to index the webpages into the master archives of the search engines.  The expansion of Internet content over the following decade required the major search engines to adapt by developing algorithms to determine which web pages to display in their search results.  The following factors have been identified to be the most influential in the designation of website rank and rating by search engines:

Keywords

Because Internet users use search engines to seek specific information online, keyword placement throughout written content on a webpage is a crucial element of SEO.  Keywords, search terms that search engine users type into a query box, are often considered the most important aspect of search engine optimization techniques.  Webmasters and website owners utilize strategies that attempt to capture the attention of Internet users through search engines by using keyword placement and keyword density techniques. 

Inbound Links

Google’s PageRank weighs how reputable an Internet website is by measuring the number and quality of inbound links it has.  An inbound link, also known as a backlink, is a link that connects one webpage to another.  In general, when a highly reputable website, as determined by the search engine’s algorithms, links to another website, the connection is considered a vote of confidence.  Therefore, webmasters attempt to build backlinks from as many highly reputable websites as possible in order for the site to be viewed favorably by search engines. 

Content

The quality of a website’s content, whether it is imagery, text, audio or video, is strongly considered by search engines during the indexing and ranking process.  Factors that influence search engines’ analysis of website quality include originality, frequency of updates, layout and accessibility. 

By employing SEO techniques that ensure that original content is published and updated regularly, webmasters can attract the attention of search engines and improve viewership.  Relevance and readability of written content is critical to website visitor retention.   

Simple search engine optimization techniques can be implemented on websites and blogs of all sizes.  However, more complex strategies that involve code manipulation and comprehensive website design are better reserved for experts.  Either way, search engine optimization remains a priority of small-time and large-scale websites alike. 

No comments:

Post a Comment