Tag Archives: search engine optimisation

Is It Worth Learning SEO from Start to Finish

Many people want to gain an SEO advantage to make their site, online store, or blog more popular while others want to take on the other websites that are leading in SEO within their niche. Some people may simply want to know more about SEO so they can work as freelancer or join a web company for extra income. A lot of people that manage their own website or market other websites treat SEO as a major concern when it comes to the overall performance of a site.

SEO or search engine optimisation is an interesting topic in the world of Internet marketing. No matter what path you take, you will have to learn some SEO first. If you are still grasping the concepts of SEO, you can expect a bumpy ride when it comes to learning the terms and getting up to speed with what SEO professionals do these days. On the upside, you can learn SEO from start to finish if you are very determined and resourceful. All you need is an online connection and spare time to get started.

Reading Free Articles for the Basics You might run into trouble if you try to learn SEO by reading SEO tutorials and guides without getting properly introduced to the subject. Search engine optimisation is one of those topics where you really need to know how it works and what the current trends are so you won’t be relying on obsolete information. Fortunately, there are tons of SEO professionals and other Internet marketers that submit articles related to SEO basics in free article directories. Sites like Ezine Articles or major search engines like Google are excellent places to find out more information on SEO so you can learn SEO techniques more smoothly. Most of these articles have dates so find any articles that were posted this year to get the best possible overview. You can also search for as many free resources that you like.

Many free articles also contain some basic tips that you need to keep in mind when optimising a website. On an average article you can expect at least 3 good tips that will help you learn SEO. These tips can be related to keyword research, site structuring, content writing, or possibly some SEO secrets that keep leading sites ahead.

Looking at Leading Sites to See What Others are Doing Once you learn SEO basic concepts, you should get an idea on what keywords to target. Even if you do not have a site to work with, you can get a better feel of SEO if you practice. Try typing a keyword phrase that you want to compete with and look at the top results. Visit these sites and observe why these sites are on the top page. Some pages may have been around for a long time while others are simply well-optimized and the content is very interesting.

Paying your Way to a Professional Level Combining free resources with a lot of practice is actually a good enough path to take in order to learn SEO and become really good at it. But this can take more time than it should and you can greatly speed up that process if you are willing to spend some money. You have the choice to purchase eBooks that talk about SEO or take professional coaching services. Given the large amount of free articles available, it is better to take an SEO training course if you really want to join the big boys in SEO.

How Your Company Can Benefit from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

When your potential customer searches the Internet for services offered by your company, it is obviously important for your web page to appear as close to the top of the search engine rankings as possible. People generally don’t spend a lot of time trawling through results potentially numbering in the millions, so if your website is the first result they see it generally bodes well for business.

One of the most efficient practises of getting your site to the top of the search engine rankings is called Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO. Through link building and general on-site tweaking, your website can leap up the rankings, certainly far ahead of other websites which have benefitted from an SEO agency, but with careful research of search keywords and liberal link construction, your website can reach the dizzying heights of the first page of search results.

Although anyone possesses the tools to attempt to optimise their websites, it is not usually the case that the average website owner holds the knowledge of how to get it to the top. Search Engine Optimisation campaigns require careful and meticulous planning in order to be effective, and can also take up a great deal of time, particularly in the article writing aspect, so it is definitely worth hiring an expert if you are serious about seeing results.

Article writing constitutes a significant aspect of Search Engine Optimisation. Through writing interesting, informative articles, you can not only raise awareness of your brand, ideology and methodology through the text, you can also create links which will increase your visibility in search engine results. Most article sites have strict guidelines as to what is acceptable and what is not, so it’s important to carefully research what is required on each site in order to ensure your article is approved and you start to reap the rewards.

In regards to the on-site maintenance, your website can be optimised to include industry keywords in strategic places, so that your site will rank when a potential customer searches for the products or services you offer. Words that you may think are key to your business are not necessarily what people looking for you would search for, so it pays to hire an expert who will be able to research what you will need to market in order to attract business.

It is not just a case of altering words in certain places, however. It is important that your website has relevant content throughout, and all your pages are properly set off so as to avoid upsetting strict search engine regulations and penalising your site.

Linkbuilding strategies – what to do and what to avoid

For the average search engine optimisation company, building backlinks (incoming links) is a large part of the job. Although the internal architecture of your site is important for SEO purposes, it doesn’t tell the search engines how trusted it is to others.

Building backlinks is essential to your search engine optimization strategy, as tools like PageRank look upon inbound links as proof your site is trustworthy. The wider and more diverse your network of backlinks, the higher up the rankings your site pages will appear on searches. Some site owners are lucky, and get a high number of natural inbound links. However, most supplement this by putting additional links in places like internet forums, directories and news sites like Digg.

Some site owners use underhand methods, such as link farming ( where websites simply exchange reciprocal traffic to increase their search engine optimisation) and interlinking (the same thing, but where the linked domains belong to the same owner) Some search engine reputation management firms even offer link exchange programs, where site owners are duped into paying to have their pages given “high profile” on websites.

The theory is that the more sites your own site links to, the higher up the search rankings you will go. In fact, link farms usually have little to do with your business area – they’re just lists of links to other sites. Using methods like these is a sure way for you to lose domain trust – the worst thing you can do for search engine optimization. Other ways for you to damage your online reputation is by linking up to spam sites, posting in sites that are known to have illegal content, and bulk purchasing of links.

As we’ve said, the major search engines look very carefully at people’s SEO linkbuilding strategies, and place heavy penalties on sites that indulge in link-farming and other scams. Google is even working on ways to ban sites that engage in these practices – you have been warned.

To get quality backlinks, you first need to find the best places to post them. Backlink Builder is one of several useful SEO tools that professionals use to help locate suitable linking sites. They simply enter their keywords, and in return they get a list of sites where they can post blog entries, articles, reviews, videos or bookmarks to clients’ sites. From these, they can then select those that best match the profile of the sites. The listed domains usually give their services for free – it’s a saprophytic relationship. They get content for their sites, and you get backlinks to your own.

Of course, you have to be honest, and make sure the sites you are posting to are similarly respected. Don’t post fake links to worthless content – and do check your links actually work! The last is easily dealt with, if you use an SEO company that offers linkbuilding services. Building worthy content that people want to link to takes time and effort, so the more you can offload onto other shoulders, the better.