Basic SEO Techniques - Internet

SEO, or search engine optimization, is essential to any business that wants to maintain an online presence. And as there are very few businesses that can survive these days without an online presence, search engine optimization is the single most important marketing tool a business owner can use to maintain and build a loyal customer base.

Below are some of the basic SEO techniques that all business owners should implement on their web sites. All of these techniques are easily implementable by people who have little to no technical expertise online; however, there are definitely nuances that professional online marketers exploit to make their efforts even more efficient. Nonetheless, the basics can make a world of difference to a business's online presence.

Keywords

Keywords are the building blocks of an online persona to the search engine spiders. Keywords are the main theme words of your web site, and they are words that should be used fairly frequently within the online text of a web site. Keyword frequency, or the percentage of keywords vs. total words on a web site, should be around 2 to 3 percent. Any higher than that, and the major search engines may view the web site as spam.

A way to get around this legally while actually improving the content and style of online text is to use keyword synonyms. Many search engines have tools which can help an up and coming webmaster choose the right keywords.

Long Tail Keywords

Since many keywords have been used by other businesses, it is often best to use long tail keywords, or keyword phrases which more accurately describe the niche of the business. These long tail keywords will have much less competition on the search engines, and customers will be much happier knowing the exact nature of the web site with which they are doing business.

The bottom line about keywords: Write normally and accurately about the business. The correct keywords will usually follow. Use the tools that search engines provide to tweak the text to provide the most efficient text to the search algorithm.

Linking

The number one way to get to the top of the search engine rankings is to have one way links linking to a web site. One way links mean that a web site does not link back to the linking party. There are many ways to accomplish this: writing blogs, answering questions on message boards, and putting up links on affiliate web sites and directories.

One of the best ways to insure customer loyalty both online and offline while building a link base is to answer questions on message boards and create how to media for the industry that the business is in. If a business is viewed as the authority on a subject, it becomes top of mind when people need a solution.