Search Engine Optimization | SEO For Beginners

Posted on 13. Jun, 2011 by in SEO Strategies

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is an important strategy for beginners to apply as they are building out their website, though SEO tactics and strategies can be applied at any time. The important thing is to implement this specific method of optimizing your site.

The ultimate goal is to have your website placed on the first pages of Google and other search engines and have people who are searching in your niche find your site over and above any other.

There are many ways to optimize your website and the primary effective tactic still is Search Engine Optimization. It’s a natural, organic strategy that has been used for years to drive targeted traffic and potential customers to sites and attain higher search engine ranking.

If you have no customers you are not in business!

The most important aspect of any online business is to be found on the internet. You want potential customers to find you. If people can’t find you on the internet, there is little hope of conducting business and generating the income you expect.

However, people searching on the internet rarely look beyond the first two or maybe three pages of search results. Therefore, your goal is to drive traffic to your website and make it easy for people to find you. To do this you need to employ a number of specific strategies.

Three basic, easy and important SEO strategies for internet marketers are:

1. Creating unique, quality content using relevant, specific keywords
2. Link building for search engine optimization
3. Building trust with the search engines

WHAT SEARCH ENGINES DO

Search engines find your website by sending out webcrawlers called spiders and robots (bots), such as GoogleBot, that crawl the massive web of the internet looking for words, following links and documenting pages. They are seeking top quality content. Basically, they “read” the words on your website and measure the importance and quality of the keywords, content and linking. Based on factors within a spider’s algorithm your website will be compared to similar websites and ranked.

CONTENT AND KEYWORDS

Search engines love words and generally favor websites that are using relevant, specific keywords in their content. They particularly favor keywords in the URL or address of your website.

Conducting keyword research and applying keywords to your content will help tremendously with ranking. Use relevant, specific keywords in content, titles, tags and descriptions for higher search engine optimization.

When your site is highly ranked for a specific search word or phrase in your niche, more and more of your target market will find your website and this is when business and magic begins to happen.

LINK BUILDING

Links to and from your website help the search engines determine its relevancy and importance.

For great SEO, the number and superior quality of backlinks or inbound links, outbound links and hyperlinks are all significant factors in proving to search engines how necessary, valuable and popular your site really is.

One aspect of Google’s algorithm, for instance, is measuring site popularity and deciding how important it is based on how many views it gets. Spiders and crawlers basically follow all links that lead to your site and pages. So, creating popularity and having highly valued, high-ranking links to and from your pages and site URL is a really important factor for improving search engine ranking.

BUILDING TRUST WITH THE SEARCH ENGINES

Continuously creating quality, valuable and relevant content; following the rules and not using “black hat” techniques such as keyword stuffing or spamdexing; linking to other trusted, superior sites; and, registering your website for more than one year at a time so the search engines know you have a site that will be around for a long time are some of the tactics that contribute to building trust with the search engines.

In summary, Search Engine Optimization is not difficult nor complicated and is a very important skill to learn.

The application of Search Engine Optimization simply means understanding how search engines work, knowing what rules to follow and implementing them along with other specific tactics.

Start with the basic strategies above and once they are installed on your site, make it a habit to spend just a few minutes every day adding and implementing others that will help to optimize your site.

SEO is an important method for obtaining better search engine rankings. Although it’s work and takes time, it is well worth the effort. When you properly apply the tactics and strategies of good Search Engine Optimization, the reward is that you will reap the benefits of your hard work for years and years to come.

Wishing You Every Success Always,
search engine optimization

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41 Responses to “Search Engine Optimization | SEO For Beginners”

  1. Angela Arnold

    18. Jul, 2011

    Thanks for demistifying SEO. I was one of those newbies who was afraid to get started with SEO. After I embraced SEO and took the time to learn it, it was a true blessing.

  2. Mandy Swift from Your Online Marketing "Personal Trainer"

    14. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren, I love the way you talk about being a detective and ‘leaving clues’ for the search engines. This totally demystifies the whole scary subject of ‘keywords’ and ‘seo’ and makes it much more approachable for beginners.
    Great post, thanks

  3. Carla McNeil, Social Media Coach & Speaker

    14. Jul, 2011

    I love this definition! “WHAT SEARCH ENGINES DO”

    I am going to have to use it, giving you proper credit of course!

  4. Anne Perez

    13. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren
    Seo is key and is learnable. If your site produces good quality, relevant information and you get your keywords right there is a good probability that it will appear on the first couple of pages in Google. I always say to my clients – start with keywording your domain name and move on from there.

  5. Hans Schoff from home based income

    13. Jul, 2011

    Hey Loren, great post explaining what SEO is all about and the importance of it. Some people don’t pay attention to SEO but I try to optimize every blog post to make sure I have the best chance of getting ranked properly. Otherwise you’re just leaving money and potential customers on the table. I like your clean blog layout as well! Thanks for sharing!

  6. Linnea

    12. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren,

    It’s great to see someone tackling this topic. SEO just seems to be one of the topics that bloggers want to put off while it should be one of the very first topics to tackle. After all, done well, it impacts the very structure of a site. Thanks for helping to bring this to everyone’s attention.

  7. Jeffrey Sooey

    11. Jul, 2011

    Great tips for people just entering the world of SEO. I think that doing your keyword research is one of the most important strategies in performing expert SEO. You must research your keywords because you are basing your whole website on the keywords you choose. Therefore you are optimizing your website for those keywords.

  8. Peter Fuller MBA

    11. Jul, 2011

    What a great way to summarize SEO Loren.

    The idea is to find the right keywords to rank for.

    Right now I am doing keyword research for my blog so I am in the SEO mode :)

    Peter

  9. Stevie Smith

    11. Jul, 2011

    Hello Loren,

    Great article. Whatever our experience with seo, I think it is always good to go back to basics and look at things without pre-conceived ideas. Your article is exactly right for that purpose, and more as it tackles numerous aspects of search engine optimization.

    Keep the Smiles,

    Stevie

  10. Jans Mendoza

    11. Jul, 2011

    Though I am not under the category of “NOVICE” in seo, but, I must mention that SEO is really helpful to get the traffic and the clients. So, the guys who are new in the field must go through this post, it will help them a lot. Really helpful post. Thanks for sharing Loren. :)

    Jans

  11. William Earl Amis Jr III

    10. Jul, 2011

    Loren,

    I agree, with most responses on SEO presentation, you have done an amazing thing here. It is so clear based on the endless stuff out here. I have created lots of sites and learned the hard way. Google had given me a huge massive book on SEO mastery.

    Your presentation was needed for me back in 1990. This would have saved allot of heartburn nights. Yet, better late than never. You make it so simple and it is not that difficult.

    I guess once you continue to apply all the wonderful solutions and steps you have provided. This save allot of time.

    Hey, people pay lots, for this quality information given here free. Companies pay huge, for one to provided this service monthly. Giving without expecting anything in return is your blessing.

    I have been doing it for free since the 90′s as my way of giving back. Now, I can share this information you have, with all my contacts that I have provided in the past. They can learn and then teach others. Why, not give the this knowledge. It increases a learning skill.

    Your site is amazing. All content saves me time in completing long hours of work. It was well worth it and I love doing it. This gives me more ways to leverage my time within my team.

    I can never thank you enough. I know all your readers and I, appreciate this priceless information. I will share this location for education daily.

    Loren, your a great mentor and leader in our industry. Continue to provide quality content. Thank you truly…

  12. Kevin Martineau

    10. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren:

    Great overview of SEO. Lots of great tips here.

    Thanks!
    Kevin

  13. Mandy Swift from Your Online Marketing "Personal Trainer"

    09. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren, I fidn myself revisiting this post because every now and then it is really useful just to demystify the topic of ‘seo’ and bring it right back to basics. Your post does a great job of doing that, especially for those new to the wholoe subject.
    Thanks again

  14. Willena Flewelling from 10 Steps to Success

    06. Jul, 2011

    Loren, you’ve done a marvellous job of simplifying a subject that is mystery to many. Thank you for breaking it down so simply, so that a beginner can understand!

    Willena Flewelling

  15. willie from freedom to be your own boss

    05. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren,

    I have heard so many successful IM talk about the importance of SEO on your blog and websites.

    Just like with keyword research, it seems like a lot of work and it probably is. But it can pay off in the long run.

    I spent most of my July 4th holiday watching video trainings on SEO. I am more determined than ever to master it.

    As you mentioned if you have no customers/vistors you have no business.

    Thanks for sharing the great SEO tips.

    Cheers

  16. Rick Salas

    05. Jul, 2011

    The information you provided us was great as usual Loren. I underestimated effective content and keywords for a long time until I realized I needed to focus on the right things. Content creation, how it flows and the right keywords are what allows people to separate themselves from all the people trying to talk louder than everybody else. But isn’t this business great. People helping people create something that could very well help guile them in the right direction in home business ownership.

    Rick Salas

  17. Emma

    05. Jul, 2011

    Hi Loren,

    I´m still a bit of a numpty when it comes to SEO so I really appreciate this post!

    I recently saw the amazing effects when some team members of mine ranked number one within days! Of course, the situation was right and the keywords were not over competed for – yet!

    Nice one, thank you!

    Emma :-)

  18. Andy Nathan

    02. Jul, 2011

    Loren,

    SEO was definitely something that I messed up on a few times getting started. It really put me behind for a little while as I learned how to use it effectively.

    Andy

  19. Angela Arnold

    02. Jul, 2011

    Hi, Loren,
    This is a great blog post in introductory SEO. Many newbies, in particular, are afraid of SEO. It sounds so difficult, and they may tend to shy away from it.

    I know I was like that when I first started out. We hear so much about getting into action, that sometimes we get into action without much consideration for SEO.

    I now recognize and celebrate the importance od on-page factors, too. Designing and building a blog to capitalize on these factors definitely can put us head and shoulders above the would-be bloggers who don’t have a clue about that yet.

    Thanks for sharing this awesome post.
    Angela :)

  20. Dr. Erica Goodstone

    30. Jun, 2011

    Loren,
    Thanks for the simple to understand overview of SEO. I like the way you link back to pages that give more information about some of the important words you are using, such as Web Crawlers and Google bot.

    Erica

  21. Jaclyn Castro

    29. Jun, 2011

    Really enjoyed reading this post Loren. I still think having the knowledge of search engine optimization is really neat. It really is a skill to master, and although many people think it’s a difficult and complex topic of discussion I believe it’s more a matter HOW the person words the way SEO works.

    I’ve been to a couple webinars in hopes of gaining a simpler understanding of how SEO works and to learn why it’s important but left the webinar after it ended with lots of questions remaining in my head.

    The way you talked about it here in your post was really easy to comprehend. It helps me to see more clearly WHY arming ourselves with this type of knowledge will benefit us for the long term.

    I am going to bookmark your site so I can refer back to it.

    Thanks so much for teaching us about the basics of SEO Loren.

    -Jaclyn Castro

  22. Yorinda

    29. Jun, 2011

    Hi Loren,

    awesome post, which covers a lot of aspects of SEO.

    I have been attempting to look into the keyword aspect but found that it was interferring with my flow in writing. So I decided to let go of the outcome and just write.
    With my last post I checked whether it was showing up on the search results and I couldn’t see it on the first 10 pages.
    Then after 5 days it showed up on NO 1 out of 110 Million searches, so I must be doing something right. :-)

    Thanks for the great tips.

    To your success.
    Yorinda

  23. Mandy Swift from Your Online Marketing "Personal Trainer"

    29. Jun, 2011

    Hi Loren,
    You know SEO is such a ‘hot potato’ of a subject that it is really difficult for a ‘nwebie’ to get their head around. We definitely need more people like you to break it all down simply and make it more digestible.
    Great article, thanks :)

  24. Jim Talbott

    28. Jun, 2011

    Hi Loren ~ It actually took me some time to grasp the whole SEO thing even though a good friend of mine is what I might call and expert at all this. He just wasn’t able to articulate to me what exactly it was I had to do to optimize my site. Or maybe what I was hearing at the time was just too complicated and bizarre for me to understand.

    Now, after understanding a bit more about SEO (I am by no means an expert) my blog posts are often on the first page of Google and that is certainly nice to see,

    I enjoyed your post. You have some great information here.

  25. Dereck

    28. Jun, 2011

    Loren,

    I love it!

    Every one of those point are not only relevant but requirements in the SEO community. Where I believe people fall off the wagon here, is when they start to think that SEO is hard to set up and accomplish.

    However, it’s funny… all it really requires is consistency and setting up a good patter to follow by telling the search engines everything about the content you are posting.

    Thanks!

    -Dereck

  26. Debbie Lattuga from Creativity

    28. Jun, 2011

    So many small businesses are not taking the time to learn this. Once the basics are learned, then it’s simply applying them repeatedly that will bring results.

    Wonderful introduction to SEO. Thanks.

    Debbie

  27. Trevor Barrett from Money Advice

    28. Jun, 2011

    Loren, this article gives a very good basic knowledge of search engine optimization for anyone just starting in internet marketing.

    More than that though, I believe that it does not do any harm for the old hands to revisit this kind of information from time to time. We all need a little reminder.

    Thanks again for explaining the topic so thoroughly.

  28. Ben

    28. Jun, 2011

    Keywords and the right tools are the backbone of getting your site going SEO wize.
    As you mentioned in the post your post you need to make sure that you aren’t making yourself guilty of “keyword stuffing” and that you need to give the search engines fresh content on a regular basis and creating backlinks.
    But I have found that by simply using the right plugins with wordpress, that I get MUCH better results than when I do not use them.
    Will you be covering SEO plugins in your next post?
    Ben

  29. Jenna Waites

    27. Jun, 2011

    Awesome article covering the basics of SEO. That info is sooo important for everyone with an online presence to understand, which sadly most don’t even thinking about (or know about) keywords. I look forward to reading more of your posts, because this is my passion and I’m always looking to learn more!

  30. John Gaydon

    26. Jun, 2011

    Hi Lauren,

    You cover the basics of SEO well here. The rewards are as you say. I find the trick is to use the right strategies for those posts you want found by search engines. It can take time to get to the top, and there are tools to monitor your progress.

    Once on page SEO is optimized it is a matter of building a powerful series of backlinks over time to get you noticed.

    Follow someone who knows what theya re doing, have faith, and keep on the strategy for at least a year and you can rank for some really cool keywords!

  31. Steve-Personal Success Factors

    23. Jun, 2011

    Thanks for educating us on a very important aspect of our work. It’s not enough to write with passion about our niche: we have to balance that with writing the “right way” for the search engines. It’s like being great at your job but not marketing yourself: the two need to go together.

  32. Loren Greig

    22. Jun, 2011

    Hi Steve,

    Good information and thanks for sharing your experience! Doing keyword research properly is a very important strategy in search engine optimization.

  33. Loren Greig

    22. Jun, 2011

    Hi Joyce, I’m glad I could be of some help. Being SEO smart is so important to getting your site rated by the search engines. Be sure to check back for follow-up information!

  34. Joyce Edwards

    22. Jun, 2011

    Hi Loren,
    As a beginner blogger I found your information very helpful. I haven’t used SEO yet on my blog and know that I need to start to get a better rating. I found you post to be very well laid out and am going to use it to get my post to be more SEO friendly.

  35. Laura Morris

    20. Jun, 2011

    Hi Loren

    This was a very thorough job on SEO for the newbie! You laid out some simple tips that I think most bloggers getting started could grab on to. The part I related to was the use of relevant, specific keywords, and “niche” keywords..keyword research etc.

    You said “When your site is highly ranked for a specific search word or phrase in your niche, more and more of your target market will find your website and this is when business and magic begins to happen.”

    This happened to me in my niche and it was amazing!! It’s awesome when you find that “SWEET SPOT” !
    Thanks Loren

    Laura Morris

  36. Steve Dooley

    18. Jun, 2011

    This is a great article for someone just getting started with SEO and online marketing. You’ve outlined the basics well here giving readers a good understanding of how Google ranks your site. I just want to stress the importance of doing good keyword research to beginners. I struggled for months to get my blog posts ranked on the first page. Why? I had no clue about doing good keyword research. I was trying to rank for “impossible” keywords that my new site would never compete with for the first page….hope this helps someone in my situation.

  37. Loren Greig

    16. Jun, 2011

    Hi Marquita,

    Thanks for your comments! Keeping SEO simple to prevent overwhelm and applying a few important strategies goes a long way in improving search engine rankings. The beauty of putting in some time and effort is that we see the results for years afterwards! Anyone can do it, it’s not that difficult.

  38. Loren Greig

    16. Jun, 2011

    Hi Yasser, That’s just it… many people think SEO is too difficult and they have to be an expert for it to work. However, just applying a few simple SEO strategies when building out a site and simple tactics applied consistently can easily boost its rankings with the search engines! Building high quality back links, for instance, is not difficult and is one of the biggest factors in search engine ranking. Most of us work on our sites daily and taking a few extra minutes to focus on that part of our business is productive with long lasting results. Thanks so much for your comments.

  39. marquita herald

    16. Jun, 2011

    Hi Loren,
    You’ve done an excellent job here of explaining SEO for beginners. I vivedly remember when I first started actually avoiding the whole SEO topic because I was just feeling so overwhelmed – I certainly could have used your article back then. Well done1

  40. Yasser Khan

    14. Jun, 2011

    SEO definitely takes a lot of time, assuming you already know how to do it. Learning it takes even more time than doing it! I conclude having tremendous doses of patience is a prerequisite! Not to mention, learning where search engines are headed next…

    Do I want to preoccupy myself to second-guess a search engine’s strategies or focus on my business? I’ll choose the latter any day…

    I find a lot of the effort taken to SEO might be in danger when the big G suddenly decides to change their algorithm. It’s not an unfounded reason, they’ve done it before.

    Yes, it’s a pretty strong stand I’m taking, because the current ecosystem is no longer conducive for newbies. You’ve gotta be an expert!

    Yasser

  41. Julieanne van Zyl

    13. Jun, 2011

    Great post for beginners Loren. search engine optimization is as easy or as hard as the keywords you choose to optimize on your web page. That is, if you choose highly competitive words, you probably don’t have a chance.

    And, if you choose keywords with low competition, then it’s easy! Patience is a virtue also:-)

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