SEO Best Practices

SEO or search engine optimization is about getting more visibility to your website on search engines such as Google. However, SEO for business without a clear strategy mostly lead to unsuccessful or non-profitable results and huge loss in terms of investment, time or both.

First, what is SEO?
Here is a video on SEO in simple language for those who are not too familiar with it.

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Each Search Engine such as Google, Yahoo or Bing rank websites based on their algorithm (set of rules). While the algorithm are different for different search engines, the important factors for SEO are

• Content of the website or the words and the keywords
• Titles and META tags
• Number of links pointing to the website or the backlinks
• Anchor text or the words in such backlinks
• Reputation of such backlinks

While the basics of SEO are simple, due to huge number of website, the implementation and execution part aren’t always easy. Many small business often go to creative agencies that produce great looking websites that do not bring visitors through search engines. The result? There is no business through the website. Also due to lack of knowledge, SEO is often mistaken as separate segment or a value added service of an online business and left to external experts or a separate team. This is not right. SEO should be part of the marketing strategy of a business for best results and the top level should also be involved in what is expected.

Here is a video on some common SEO mistakes and ways to correct them.

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Each business should have a value proposition to the target market and it applies to websites as well. Why should a user come to your website and use your product/service/brand or recommend it? Knowing those help understand what customers want and which keywords to target for SEO.

For lasting SEO, it is best to focus on user and user experience rather than search engines. Since the SEO basics appear easy and results are quickly visible, it is common to overdo the stuff (such as being obsessed with keyword density, PageRank or Alexa Rank) rather than enhancing the user experience. It is however, best to focus on what your customers actually need or want. When more users like and recommend the things on the website, search engines are more likely to rank such sites naturally. For this use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+ is a great way to start. Understanding and following the best SEO practices above are always important.

Which factors do you consider for SEO of your website and business?