SEO explained What is Search Engine Optimisation? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This means optimizing your web pages so that the search engines place them high on their natural listings. Because of the major advances in the way that pages are checked and indexed by the search engines this process has become an intricate science that is ever changing. It is incredibly competitive.

The search engines ultimately want to provide their searchers with the most relevant listing of websites for the search terms keyed in. To establish this relevancy, submitted sites are looked at first by a 'spider', it visits a web page, reads it, and then follows links to other pages within the site. It usually returns to the site on a regular basis to identify site changes. The information the spider finds goes into the index. The Index is a huge electronic list containing a copy of every web page that the spider finds.

Title tags, body copy, linking and other elements all play a role in how the page is given relevancy. So for successful SEO all these factors must be taken into consideration from the beginning i.e. when you are designing and building your website. You must also decide what search terms your potential clients might key in to try to find you. Without the right keywords/phrases, search engine optimisation is pointless.

Keyword selection is very important; it can be a very involved process which should not be taken lightly. You want your keywords and phrases to be focused on the exact words your prospective customers are most likely to use, however if these are very competitive you will need to find a less popular, more specific phrase. For example if you are selling cars, you would find the key word 'car' to be entirely too competitive. You could think of other ways to narrow the search:'used car', 'used car cardiff', 'car dealer cardiff'.

There are certain things to avoid when thinking about optimizing your website. Firstly it is worth knowing that Search engines do not always recognize pages designed in Flash or frames. Flash pages can look great but they will not always be indexed by the search engines. Secondly don't try to trick search engines with loads of non relevant links, hidden text and 'spam' keywords they don't like it!! Finally don't ever choose an SEO company who guarantee you instant and fantastic results. It just won't happen.

To summarise, build your website with relevant body copy, matching title tags and good quality, relevant links. Make sure that you are constantly updating and renewing information on your website, from a human point of view it keeps it fresh and the search engines also respond well to it. Remember optimization takes time and effort - there are no magic solutions.

About the Author

Toni works for Deckchair, a busy web design company in Bristol, UK. Deckchair specialise in creative web design including all aspects of web marketing. See http://www.deckchair.co.uk