Website SEO Defined
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and volume of traffic
to a Website from Search Engines. High volumes are desirable only if the right visitors are
attracted. The length of time that a visitor spends on the Website is an important factor
in determining quality.
The intelligent Search Engine spider will attempt to evaluate the Website. This is much like
considering a book at the newsstand. Reading the title, the author, the number of pages, the
dust cover, the index and the introduction provides clues to the content.
Similarly, SEO involves creating a Website that provides as many clues as possible to the
spider. SEO also requires research on the Keyword Phrases that people will use to find the
Website.
The SEO techniques entail modifying HTML code, the content, site structure and the page layout.
It is best to employ SEO techniques from the outset; otherwise much of a Website may have
to be rewritten.
The prime factors determining Web page rank are:
- Good content
- Optimised Tag Text
- Content that can be easily crawled by the Search Engines
The Optimisation of a website must not detract from the marketing message and the quality
of content of the Website. The sales promotion and the SEO must go hand in hand.
SEO is an iterative process …
Most Website owners make the assumption that once their Website goes live, visitors will arrive
in droves. In the competitive world of the Internet, it is a vain hope that a flood of visitors
will result from a Website created without regard to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Tuning a Website for the Search Engines is an iterative process. Once created, a Website should
not be regarded as the finished product. The Web is dynamic and evolving. Competitors are
constantly vying for better positions in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Rankings. The
Search Engines are repeatedly having their algorithms changed.
A Website cannot remain static in the midst of all this. It must be modified and the results
evaluated. Then the process must be started all over again. And again.
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