Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Best Search Engine Optimization

By Ken Knorr


Targeting SEO to achieve results

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is targeted at achieving high search engine ranking for relevant keyword phrases. This can be achieved in many ways and SEO companies employ various techniques and strategies in order to take their clients? sites to Google?s top pages. But what is the best Search Engine Optimization strategy? This is really not a simple question to answer, for SEO techniques can get extremely sophisticated and often involve multi-component blends of methods and technologies.

Avoid Blackhat Techniques

To develop an effective SEO campaign one should avoid the so-called black hat techniques that exploit such risky practices as spamdexing, link farms and keyword stuffing which can result in a removal of the site from search engine listings. To be on the safe side you need to abide by the rules and guidelines set up by the major search engines.

Simplicity Wins

The proper functioning of any site to a large extent depends on the performance of its code and design. If you want to make your site appealing to users you shouldn?t overload it with bandwidth graphics and slowly loading animation. Keep the navigation simple and easily understandable for the users, while the main thing that drives them to your site is not the exquisite finery but the valuable and informative content that you offer. However important it is, design is always just a means of obtaining information.

Unique Content Matters

Since we?ve identified information as a top priority of the SEO campaign, the site?s content is obviously the next element to consider. Just like the internet users, search engines are primarily interested in unique content that is highly relevant to the topic your site claims to be dealing with. The articles, manuals, guides and what-not that you place on your site, should be informative, clear and useful. Even if you manage to drive a lot of traffic to your site, the best Search Engine Optimization results would be when the users want to stay or come back to your resource for more information. And that would only be the case if you constantly update your site adding more content as often as possible.

Build proper internal links

Quality content will provide for another factor that is crucial in developing the best SEO campaign possible and that is the linking structure. With other sites linking to yours your chances of getting to the top page in search engine results get much higher. But make sure that you are linked to by authoritative sites, relevant to the topic you cover, or else the countless linking contacts you have can impede your search engine performance rather than improve it. Links are just like friends, it?s better to have a few reliable allies than mess up with lots of guys whom you hardly know and who seem to have a controversial reputation.

One Size does not fit all

Discover more SEO techniques and practices and experiment, adjusting them to your specific needs and goals. There?s no best Search Engine Optimization strategy as such, there is one that is best for you.

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