While mystery surrounds what’s search engines such as Google use to rank websites there are fundamentals. If you have ever played a sport you have learned the fundamentals and hopefully used them to play your sport of choice. Search Engine Optimization has such fundamentals, not clearly stated in guidelines for webmasters that search engines include.

I want to make it clear that search engine optimization is not “magic”, nor is it tricking search engines, it’s the practice of following the fundamentals within a logical and “ethical” manner. Before considering the leap into search engine optimization you have to understand there is going to be allot of reading involved. Your duty as an SEO is to stay on top of the industry and looking for those hidden gems that can increase traffic and popularity in search engines.

This article is meant for the absolute beginner. If you have been optimizing websites for awhile then this is not for you, but you are more than welcome to read on if interested.

The art of SEO is more complex but there are the main aspects. I will go over each one to give you an entry level idea of what you have in store for you.

Designing a search engine friendly website is the most crucial aspect of SEO. First you have to consider the fact search engines are not people. They are computer programs designed to mimic human behavior. There are two core technologies search engines have a hard time with and why you should use them as little as possible.

JavaScript is a client side coding platform. Google’s algorithms have a hard time see JavaScript, but improve their techniques daily. The basic rule of thumb is to avoid using JavaScript if possible. If not avoid using it for navigation, because there’s a change that search engine can follow the links to your internal pages.

Flash is a program used to create animations. You’ll notice a large number of video streaming websites use this technology to display videos or you’ve noticed a few flashing banners when you visit websites. You can display text and even embed hyperlinks within Flash. The problem is search engines can’t see the content embedded within flash or interpret the animation.

Search Engines cannot interpret images. The thing is images are usually interpreted by the web visitor. Search Engines such as Google use the content surrounding an image along with other factors to determine what the image is.

Now that we’ve briefly covered the technology search engine have a hard time viewing you must be asking yourself, “What can I do to make my website search engine friendly”?

The Title and Description tag can help a search engine determine the theme of the website. You include title and description Meta tags within the code of the website. You can view the title tag, by visiting a website and viewing the very top of your browser window (ex. Internet Explorer). It’s important that you take great care in choosing your title tag. Keep it short and sweet. If you’re selling apples your title tag should state, “Apples for sale” or “buy Apples”. Make sure that you keep the title tag short and stay away from stating the phrase over and over again. Tactics such as those will likely hurt you more than help you.

Content is the most crucial to any website. It’s important that the content includes the same subject matter that you’ve included within the “title tag”. Make sure that your content reads like you are speaking to the website visitor, not a computer. Most websites lose visitors that way because they feel that their content should include “big words” to wow their audience when it actually has the adverse effects.

Following these simple fundamentals will help your website in search engines but is not the end all to search engine optimization.

The Sandbox Effect is a theory that new websites with newly-registered domain names are placed in a theoretical holding area in the indexes of Google known as a ‘Sandbox’ until such a time that site ranking can begin. Webmasters believe that their sites will only show for keywords that are non-competitive, but will not show for the popular keywords.

Some people doubt the very existence of a Google Sandbox, saying that the length of time taken for their site to be ranked is due to the time it takes Google to calculate PageRank using an “Eigenpairs interpretation of nodes”. Others who do believe, have noticed that it can take a year or longer for their site to be moved from the Sandbox.

Whatever the truth is, people have noticed that new websites and pages take longer to get ranked with Google than they do with other search engines.

Webmasters are often upset that they may see their sites ranked on Yahoo and MSN in a relatively short time, whereas they have to wait much longer to see them in Google which is looked on as the leading search engine.

Reciprocated links from other users are hindered and newer links that are created are put on a ‘probationary’ status until they pick up in rank from other matured sites or directly placed by an ad campaign. It seems that the time period before a site will start obtaining rank from reciprocal or back linking is between 90 to 120 days.

The Sandbox theory has shown that while some new sites will show up on Google for obscure searches, such as the website name, they will not show up for other phrases that are relevant to the site.

There is no definite proof of the existence of a sandbox; some people believe in one, others don’t.

Why does my website need to be on the first page of Google?

If your website isn’t on the first page of Google it is virtually invisible. Only 10% of searchers bother to search beyond the first page of search results. If your site is not on the first few pages, it is unlikely that your web site will ever be seen - except by you and your friends!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts know many of the factors that Google weighs to determine which websites will rank on the first page of search results, but no one knows exactly how much weight Google attaches to each factor. Even the experts get it wrong sometimes, spending vast amounts of money on SEO can be a waste. No one can guarantee you the number 1 spot in Google or any other search engine, and if they do, it will only be for keywords that hardly anyone searches for.

Can you really get your site listed on the first page of Google?

Yes, you can get onto the first page of Google - if you follow basic search engine optimization principles and are prepared to work hard. Getting listed on the first page of Google depends on a number of factors:

• Identifying profitable keywords
• How much competition there is for your chosen keyword
• The number of pages your website has
• How much keyword rich content you have
• How well you use keywords on your site
• Your site’s domain name
• How may incoming links you have

Amongst others…

What you need to do to get on the first page of Google and make more sales

Make sure your website is the best for the services and products you offer. If your site has long blocks of unbroken text, is cluttered, difficult to navigate, unattractive or doesn’t have what people are searching for, then even if your site gets to the top of search engine rankings, the increased traffic won’t be much good to you.

Add regular features, articles and special offers, give your visitors good reason to return to your site. Note what your competitors are doing and keep abreast of new trends. Research, update and constantly improve. Make sure you have an opt in box and give your visitors a good reason to give you their email address so that you can keep in touch and bring them back to your site.

Identify the best keywords for your website. Give the search engines good reasons to include your site when they are listing relevant search results. Help your website to be found by including the words people are using to search in your text.

Apply standard website optimization techniques to your website: keyword density, keywords in page titles, descriptions, headings, sub headings, anchor text, alt image tags…

Sprinkle your keywords throughout your website and make sure you use your keywords in context. Mix up your keyword phrases, and make sure your text doesn’t sound stilted or un-natural. The last thing you want to do is get on the first page of Google but lose customers.

Build lots of one way links to your website. Each links counts as a vote in your favour and is a key factor in search engine optimisation.

While SEO is important and worth paying for if you can afford it, there are many things you can do to optimize your website if you can’t afford to pay an expert. Just remember that optimizing your site takes time and you are unlikely to see immediate results unless you have identified a keyword that has little effective competition.

And the bonus is that even if your site never gets to be on the first page of Google, following these steps will benefit both your website and your business.

Search engine optimization is a term thrown around a lot, you seem to hear every guru talking about it, but what does it actually mean? SEO is a term coined by internet marketing consultants and has come to mean different things to different people. Here is the simple definition: SEO is where Google, yahoo, MSN, etc. fall in love with the content of your website or blog. Correct SEO can drastically increase your search engine rankings, while poor SEO will get you absolutely nowhere!

Here are three tips to encourage correct SEO techniques:

1. Use on page search engine optimization. This is a technique where you set up your website to be what I like to call Google friendly. This involves using proper meta tag and site description in your webpage html. by doing this, you greatly increase your chances of Google picking up your website highly in their rankings.

2. Use off page search engine optimization. The best way to describe this would be creating quality links to your website. The more quality links a website has the more Google will like it. This is essential to any website, and is one of the vital aspects of correct SEO. In reality the off page optimization is just as important if not more important than the on page optimization.

3. Use article marketing to boost your SEO. Articles create backlinks to your site, and as we discussed earlier, this is beneficial to you for several reasons. In addition to this you will also get a great deal of visitors from the article directories to which you submit your articles.

By using correct SEO you will see a steady stream of traffic to your website, and you will have more success with your business!