A search engine, on the internet, is just a computer program that retrieves web pages based on keywords typed in by the user. The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. The hot topic today is “Search Engine Optimization,” in which you try to structure your website to be the first web page in the list of results, so that more people will click on your website.

Key Point: Search Engine Optimization is vital, and there are many ways to improve your rankings.

1. How to create a free website
2. Adding content to your website
3. Making your website user-friendly
4. What is a search engine?

High Search Engine Rankings Are Important

A lot of people place a high importance on getting the “right” domain name – something easy to spell and memorable. That is important, but not critical, since most internet users don’t type a domain name to get to your site anymore. In fact, users only go directly to a website about 12% of the time. The other 88% of the time, they go to their favorite search engine and type a word or question about the topic in which they are interested. (from Prioritizing Web Usability, 2006)

In addition, internet users often go with the first or second page presented on search engine results. The smart website owner, then, will want to be the top page presented on search results. In fact, this is a request most of my clients make these days, and I think that shows that people are (correctly) seeing the importance of search engines.

How Does Search Engine Optimization Work

The process of attempting to make your site appear at the top of search engine results is called “Search Engine Optimization” or SEO. Search Engine Optimization/SEO is not an exact science, as major search engines are continually improving in order to provide the most up-to-date and pertinent content to their users. In addition, search engine companies have to continually battle “search engine spammers” who use underhanded methods to artificially increase their rankings.

Quality SEO is actually a process, involving four steps:

1. Keyword Research: Use a keyword research tool to find all key words and phrases that apply to your business or organization.
2. Keyword Placement: Place the keywords/phrases in strategic locations on your web pages (i.e. in title tags, heading tags, near the top of the page, etc.).
3. Site Traffic Analysis: Use site statistics like Awstats or Google Anayltics to study your site traffic and determine the success of particular keywords.
4. Repeat. Many people make the mistake of taking a “set it and forget it” approach to SEO, but you will get higher rankings if you continue to study the most successful keywords and add to or edit your site content to use those key terms.

Do-it-yourself Search Engine Optimization

When I set up a website for my clients, I always focus on search engine optimization from start to finish, from HTML code structure to word choice and placement. However, I always encourage my clients to get a working knowledge of search engine optimization so that they can continue to study and improve their search engine rankings. This is especially important for sites with blogs or forums, in which the content is constantly being updated by the site owners.

If you would like to come up to speed on SEO, you can download a more in-depth article that I wrote to get my clients started. This article is free to registered users on the Designed by Krista Blog, so [hidepost]Download Search Engine Optimization Infosheet with[/hidepost] tips on free keyword research tools, link campaigns, site submissions, and more.