By: Jim Pretin

Google is by far the most important search engine on the net. To rise to the top of their search engine, you need to improve your link popularity and you need to understand how they measure your link popularity (over 50% of all search engine traffic comes from Google, and if you can rise to the top, you will likely rise to the top of all the other search engines as well).

Link popularity is defined as the number of sites that are linking to your site. Some websites have thousands or even millions of sites linking to them, while others might have only a few. The search engines use the number of inbound links your site has as a measure of how important your site is, which translates into your search engine ranking.

The actual number of links to your site is not the only variable used to calculate your link popularity. The search engines also examine the relevance of the links to the subject matter of your site. For example, if a website that sells vitamins has 4,000 inbound links, but the source of most of the links are websites that have nothing to do with vitamins, then the algorithm that search engines use to determine link popularity will take that into account, and the link popularity score will not be very good.

It is possible for a website with a relatively small number of quality inbound links to be ranked higher than a site with a bunch of irrelevant or insignificant links. If I have a website that offers quotes for auto insurance, and I have 800 quality inbound links, then I might receive a much higher search engine ranking than another mortgage site that has 3,000 links that stem from link farms or Free For All (FFA) pages.

If you try to acquire inbound by using link farms or FFA pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get permanently removed from the search engine listings. Links farms are sites where you can instantly exchange links with all the sites listed in that directory. FFA pages are pointless link directories. The search engines usually discount any links that come from either of these sources.

Now that we understand what link popularity is and how it works, we need to look specifically at how Google measures it. They use a number of variables in their algorithm to calculate your overall link score. The higher your score, the higher you will be ranked in the search listings.

One factor that Google uses in their algorithm, obviously, is the total number of sites linking to you. The more links you have, the higher your score will be. However, their algorithm is a little more complicated than that, and it is possible for a website with fewer links to be ranked higher than a website that has more links.

The reason for this is because Google also measures the quality of your links. If your website is about vitamins, and the site linking to you is a video game site, then that is not considered a quality link. The link still helps your score, but the link would help your score much more if it were from a website whose subject matter is the same as yours.

Also, Google gives a higher score to a link if it comes from a page that has actual content that relates to your keywords. For example, if your site is about jewelry, and another jewelry website has posted a link to your site on their links page, that link is not as valuable as a link to your site coming from a blog or a message board where a lot of information about jewelry is being written or discussed.

Also, they give an even higher score to a link if it contains anchor text that matches one of the keywords that describes your site. For example, if I have a site that sells lawnmowers, and a blog about lawnmowers has posted a link to my site, it helps my score even more if the link text (also known as anchor text) is LAWNMOWERS. To learn more about anchor text, go to a search engine and look up ANCHOR TEXT and you will be able to learn about it.

Another factor used by Google to score your link popularity is the diversity of keywords contained on sites linking to you. For example, if you have a site that sells handbags, and all the links to your site are from other sites that contain nothing but the keyword HANDBAGS, Google considers that to be abnormal. To get a higher score, you need to have links coming from sites that contain a variety of keywords related to handbags, such as BUY HANDBAGS, LEATHER HANDBAGS, etc.

It is difficult to increase your link popularity, but now that you understand how your score is calculated, you can devise a plan to improve your score. You might want to consider posting to forums and blogs that contain information that is related to your site, and when you post, include a link to your site.

Article Source: http://www.article-buzz.com

Information about the Author:

Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form.

By: Rajeev Guglani

SEO is divided into on page optimization and off page optimization. On page is which can be done to website itself and off page is which is done away from the website. Creation of right title for a webpage is classified as on page optimization. On the other hand creation of inbound links and their anchor text is termed as off page optimization.

On page optimization is one of the forms of search engine optimization. This acts as the vital requirement which is necessary to improve website rankings in major search engines like Google, yahoo and msn. In this process the elements of website are designed in this way that website is able to qualify for high search engine ranking on the basis of certain specific keywords. These are the basics which are often ignored by webmaster. They try to spend most of their time getting links to their site. If you want to make a successful online web presence, on page optimization is must. In on page optimization you need to have keyword in title tag and should also appear few times on the page.

Your website is focused on a theme, service or product. You need to select a unique keyword for it and this is the keyword on the main index page. Rest is secondary keywords associated with the main keyword. So there should be separate pages for secondary and associating keywords.

Your web page title tag must contain the keyword. It should be that word which you are targeting on a specific page. Do not use irrelevant words or website name in your keywords.

Make two sitemaps for your website. One site map is for a visitor that is in html format and other is for search engine which is in xml form.

Put quality content in all the pages of website and interlink on those pages on the basis of keywords used in the content.

Put emphasis on the keyword density. Keyword need to be there related with the product, services or the theme of the web page. Only on the basis of these the users are able to search for it in the search engines. Make sure keyword should used for a selected number of times so that keyword stuffing does not occur. So recommended keyword density is 5%.

Ensure your target keywords are used in h1 tag and displayed as strong italic and bold text wherever required. Make a practice to use the keyword in your opening paragraph at least once or twice and near to the bottom of page.

Every page of the website must have two Meta tags in the head section and other for your web page description and other for your web page main and secondary keywords.

Do not build a website with many pages in a short time, the search engines see the steady growth of website with the content and the number of pages they search for. Focus on providing the visitors the relevant information which they require.

Every image on the website must have an associated alt tag that must describe the image and include the content part.

Put emphasis on the inbound links.

Thus on page optimization factors are the base for search engine optimization for a website and which can not be ignored.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Rajeev Guglani writes articles for SEO. He has vast exposure in writing for Search Engine marketing. He is working for NDDW. For on page optimization, Google optimization and www.nddw.com/search-engine-marketing-services.htm Search Engine Marketing visit www.nddw.com/

By: Ben Anton

The use of appropriate key words is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. Selecting and targeting pertinent key words and phrases is crucial for building web traffic and getting the audience you want for your web pages. Like any other type of advertisement, your key words must be carefully chosen to ensure that you achieve both high page rankings and relevant traffic. Achieving high page ranks is useless if the traffic it brings you is not the right audience. For this reason, many experts believe that the target key word list used for a site can mean either success or failure for a web site or online business.

It is no longer enough to simply choose a relevant domain name for an online business or web site. Choosing the right key words for the site is now equally if not more important. The majority of people who visit a site get there by using a search engine. They will type in two or three words that describe what they’re looking for, scan the resulting list generated and pick one that seems relevant until they get the answer or product they need. This is where target key words are utilized. Key words are what enable people to find your site; choosing the right key words for your site will ensure the right people find you.

With this in mind, identifying your target audience is the first step in creating relevant key words and phrases. Again, this is not dissimilar to targeting television advertisements. Consider location when you are developing your target market. For example, if you own a used car dealership in Hayward, California, any traffic you get from outside a very specific area is virtually useless to you. Similarly, if you operate an online business that does not ship outside the USA, generating traffic from other countries will not help you make sales. By adding key words that are specific to your location as well as your product, you will better hone into your target audience, improve your rankings, and achieve a better conversion rate, which will help increase your site’s page ranking, in turn.

Keyword competition should also be taken into consideration when developing a site’s key word list. Going back to the used car dealership example, let’s say a potential customer types in the word “cars” into a search engine. They’ll never find what they need, because it’s far too general—generating around 500,000,000 different sites to choose from. Typing in “used cars” generates almost 70,000,000. That’s still too many to deal with effectively. Using “used cars Hayward” generates almost 900,000 hits, and narrowing the focus even further by using the zip code rather than the city name reduces it to less than 25,000.

Choosing key words for your web site works the same way. If your key words are too general, your target audience will never find your site, because the search terms generate so many web sites that it is impossible to look through them all. However, if you go too far in the opposite direction and use too many key words, or key words which are too specific, you risk losing business as well. The best key word phrases are no more than three words in length.

So how do you choose the right key words? The first step is brainstorming with colleagues, friends or an SEO professional, to come up with a list of 20 or more appropriate key words. The Google Keyword Tool is an excellent place to research key words. By entering key words into this tool it will give you an idea of the popularity of certain words and offers you alternative key words and phrases.

Once you have a good list of terms, you may want to refine it to call out the strongest terms that have the best potential for sales or traffic conversion. There are several good online research tools available, which can help you decide which words will be most effective for you. Some good examples are WordTracker and Keyword Discovery. These sites may charge a fee for using their database. After reviewing the terms, eliminate the key words that rank poorly or are very unpopular, then prioritize the remaining terms according to search popularity. These terms will become the keywords you will want to focus your initial SEO campaign on.

Always remember that when it comes to key words, you are focusing on optimizing your traffic rather than maximizing it. Setting up the right keyword list for optimization is the cornerstone to a successful web site.

~Ben Anton, 2007

Article Source: http://www.article-buzz.com

Information about the Author:

Ben Anton is a writer for Mad Fish Info, a search engines optimization consulting firm in Portland, OR. Mad Fish Info conducts extensive keyword research, SEO content creation and search engine strategy development for any sized company.

By: Vats Alok

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization is the process of enhancing the visibility of a website on search engine listings. It refers to a list of marketing tools required to arrange a website in order to increase its rankings in the context of the result of pages of search engines and directories.

There are two main types of factors in search engine optimization:

1. On page Optimization
2. Off Page Optimization

On Page Optimization:

On Page Optimization is a technique by means of which your web page gets a high ranking on various Search engines like yahoo, google MCN etc. On page factors are directly related to the content and structure of the website.

Features of On Page Optimization:

Title Tag:

This is an area in a web page where the text is placed that shows the title of the website on the very top of the web browser window. Search engines use title tags to make a link in search results.

Meta tag description:
A Meta Tag Description is a part of web page coding that gives the basic description about the website. This should focus on the website because Meta tag description plays a very important role in web page ranking.

Meta Tag Keywords:
Meta Tag Keywords play the similar role as meta tag description for highlighting the importance of a website.

Keyword Density:
A particular percentage of keywords used on a web page are called keyword density. A keyword must be used in a web page from 2% to 8 % for good page ranking. This technique is the backbone of Search Engine Optimization.

URL Structure:
If you want your website to rank well then your URL of website must be related to the context of the website.

Benefits of On Page Search Engine Optimization:
When creating or updating a commercial website it should be taken into consideration that the products are made more attractive for the viewers. At the same time it must be taken into account that the ability o gain more exposure with a broader target audience has its own benefits. Most websites need to reach out to a larger target audience in order to enhance their business. On Page Optimization allows a higher page ranking and based on a specific keyword or phrases they enter. This process identifies those keywords that will benefit a particular website and uses them in such a way that it gets a higher page ranking when those keywords are searched.

Most searchers only use first page displayed websites on their searches because this is where the pages with higher page rankings are displayed, which translates into these pages find the highest relevance to their keyword searches. This makes it even more vital that each website comprehends the significance and the knowledge necessary to adapt their websites to benefit from Search Engine Optimization.

An understanding of Search Engine Optimization provides the website a higher ranking in the world of search engines. By taking advantage of optimization techniques, more searchers will gain faster access to the particular website. If the website has something worthwhile to offer then this strategy that should be implemented immediately.

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Article Source:

http://www.article-buzz.com

Author Alok Vats is associated with many website design and development activities in AN Info Solutions. AN Info Solutions is a SEO Firm from India

By: Marvist

Why is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) necessary?

The playing field is equal on the Internet irrespective of the size of the business and hence Search Engine Optimization becomes so necessary. Most surfers arrive at a particular web site after a search. About 75% of web users in North America use search engines performing about 4 billion searches in a month. Briefly put, search engines are responsible for directing visitors to a website. Sadly, not many business owners know how to get their web sites listed in the databases of search engines, nor do they know how to get their site a higher rank when related key words are searched for.

How SEO works?

Several ecommerce sites face the problem of shopping cart abandonment. Web sites face an average abandonment rate of 30% or more. The main reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:

If a website has to be listed in a search then either it has it to be submitted or has to be among the ones indexed by search engine robots (bots) that travel across the web in search of web sites to add to their database. In order to rank higher, web sited must be optimized appropriately. Ranking is important from a statistical point of view as in the first site listed in the results page of a search engine is visited by thrice the number of people than the fifth site, result sites found on the first page of search are visited 78% more than the ones found between 11th and 30th.

Having the correct key words and a high amount of link popularity is the key to SEO.
The higher the frequency of the keywords and the higher the number of links to you site especially from similar websites, the better the ranking.

Search engines like Google look at links for a web site as validation. More validation means that a web site is listed higher in search results, provided it is well optimized.

A few companies try an illegitimate techniques called ‘black hat’ to increase rankings by building link farms. The companies make these farms by creating numerous websites usually of similar content all linking back to the main site. However, web sites using this and other black hat techniques always run the risk of being caught and not being listed in search engines at all.

Web Sites with graphic content can be optimized to suit search engines, as the latter are incapable of transforming pictures into words. However, this problem can be overcome by placing key words in a concealed bot recognizable code (known as alt tag) connected to each image and by providing small captions above the images.

Other type of hidden text known as meta tags can be inserted into the web page code for eg. page header, description and key words found in the web site. Although search engines don’t consider them as that important these days following meta tag abuse, any type of optimization helps the web site.

Another way to optimize your web site is by using key words in place of hyperlinks in a web site. The key words in the links get captured by the robots that are in the search of them for adding to their database.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Search Marketing Training Center offers a collection of Internet marketing tips to help business managers and business owners understand Internet marketing and its growing importance as a key component of overall marketing.