Search engine optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as defined by Wikipedia:

Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Ok, so SEO gets people to your website. That is great! Now how is that done?
There are two types of SEO. On-Page Optimization and Off-Page Optimization.

Please keep in mind I am just going to provided an overview here. There are many factors of SEO, and it is constantly changing. If you are interested in learning more I suggest you spend many, many, many hours reading. Or, you can outsource your SEO Services.

On-Page Optimization

On-Page Optimization tells the search engines what your page is about. When your site is visited by search engines it is your responsibility to have your keyword phrases optimized. The top on page optimization factors are:

Page Title is the strongest on page SEO tool available. A page title is located at the top left corner of a browser. If you look at the top left corner you will see: Expert SEO Tips | SEO Strategies. This is the page title for this page. It is important to keep the page title short and sweet. Only use keywords and try to avoid "fillers". I use the | character because it is not read by the search engines.

Header Tags help your keywords stand out .Use <h1> and <h2> tags as necessary. However try not use more than one <h1> tag.

Bold, Underline, Italic Keywords however keep it to once per keyword. Adding too many might get your site flagged as spam and penalized.

Alt image tags are a way to optimize images where normally optimization would not be possible.

Off-Page Optimization

Off-Page Optimization refers to links on other websites that point to your website. These will increase your Google Page Rank (PR). The higher a PR the "more" informative a site is.

One-way Links are King! This involves increasing the number of websites that will link to yours. Avoid reciprocal links "I'll link you, you link me" You have to get on-way links to your website.

High quality links far out weigh low quality links. You want links from "authoritative" sites. These are sites with a high Page Rank. Unique, informative content is the number one strategy for websites these link to your site.

Anchor Text describes how your link looks. The goal here is to have keywords AND informative anchor texts. For example if I was going to link to this page I wouldn't want "click here", instead I would have my anchor as "SEO Tips and Techniques".

Link Popularity referrers to the number of links coming into your website. While quality links will return a better result having many low PR sites linking to you will also increase your rating. Directories, are great for this however this takes a lot of time. I use RoboForm to help with my directory submissions. You can try it out for free. Classifieds are another source for free one-way links.