What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization?

Internet marketing

·         Search engine optimization ·         Social media marketing ·         Email marketing ·         Referral marketing ·         Content marketing

Search engine marketing

·         Pay per click ·         Cost per impression ·         Search analytics ·         Web analytics

Display advertising

·         Contextual advertising ·         Behavioral targeting

Affiliate marketing

·         Cost per action ·         Revenue sharing

Mobile advertising

What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing have such results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as it is with paid search ads.

DIFFERENCE B/W SEO AND SEM:

SEO and SEM: Two Names for the Same Thing?

By most people's standards, the internet is still very young. New technologies and developments in existing technologies are appearing at an extraordinary rate. As technologies change, so does the terminology used to describe them.

I worked for three years as a webmaster. Ask a dozen people to define that term, and you'll get a lot of different answers. A webmaster may be the leader of a large team, including developers, writers, marketers, designers, usability experts, technical support people, and yes, search engine optimizers. Or s/he may perform all or some of those duties alone.

The same is true for search engine optimization. For many people, the term is a new one, and they have no idea what it is an SEO does. To others, SEO is synonymous with SEM -- search engine marketing. In my opinion, there is a big difference between the two.

Search Engine Marketing

I see SEM as a rather broad term. It's everything that can be done to utilize the technology of search engines with the goal of promoting a web site and increasing its traffic, its "stickiness," and, in the case of sites that promote a business (or are a business), increase profits. SEO, therefore, would be a subset of SEM.

Aspects of search engine marketing which I would consider to be outside the realm of search engine optimization include the following:

Paid Inclusion

This is simply the practice of paying a search engine or a directory to add a site to its database immediately, rather than setting up that site so that it will be found by the search engine spiders on its own. In the case of some search engines and directories, paid inclusion is the only way to get listed. For others, it's presented as an option. If you're willing to pay, your site will be listed sooner. It's also a useful practice if you wish to make frequent changes to your content, because your site will be spidered more often and you will be able to test how changes affect your ranking.

Traditional Ads

This involves placing paid advertising on the search engine result pages (SERPs). Normally, these ads appear based on the keywords entered into the search engines, and one is charged based on the number of impressions, i.e. appearances, of the ad. In other words, you pay whether the ad sends anyone to your web site or not.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC ads are simple enough to look at. They're text-only. PPC ad campaigns are completely controlled by the advertiser. You decide which keywords should bring up your ads, you write the copy, and you decide how much you want to pay. And, as the name indicates, you only pay for an ad when someone clicks it and is brought to your site. There are two main networks of PPC ads, run by Google and Overture, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages, but in both cases, one should be prepared to spend a great deal of time (and money) monitoring and adjusting such a campaign.

The Advantages of These Practices

In contrast to pure SEO, these SEM practices offer the advantage of immediacy. If you need to increase your traffic and your visibility right away, and you don't have a problem with spending a lot of money, this may be the way to go.

The Disadvantages

You knew this was coming, didn't you? Think about it this way: you've spent your time and money to bring people to your web site. What will they see when they get there? You've convinced them, at least for the moment, that your site is worth visiting, so they're expecting to find exactly the information they were seeking. Is it easy to find? Is it there at all? You only have a few seconds to convince them that your site can deliver what they want. Will your visitors, failing to find what they're looking for, click their browser's back button and try another site?

Your site has to be ready for your visitors. It needs to be written, structured, and coded in such a way that the information is clearly laid out and easy to find. If it isn't, your site will either be immediately forgotten by visitors, or worse, it will be remembered as one that fails to deliver.

SEO First

No SEM campaign is complete without SEO. Moreover, since the purpose of SEO is to make the site better for both search engines and users, you may find that it will suffice on its own. In any case, the advantages of SEO over the other aspects of SEM make it clear that, even if you are going to spend additional money on advertising and paid placement, SEO must be your first step in promoting your site.

Defining Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

From SEM and SEO - What's the Difference? by Eric Holter

To straighten out these expectations let's begin with a couple definitions.

Search Engine Marketing: SEM relates to the purchase of AdWords (or other online marketing media like banner ads). Search engine marketing is very controllable. You decide what you want to spend, which words or phrases you want to purchase, and exactly which page you want your ad to link to.

Search Engine Optimization: SEO relates to the examination of a website to find any technical barriers that might be preventing a search engine from accessing a website's content, and then identifying the most relevant site content and improving significant elements (primarily the page's browser title) in order to help the search engine index the content most effectively.

Failure and disappointment follow when companies hire a search engine service to apply SEM expectations to SEO, or vice versa.

Appropriate SEM Goals

If you want search engine traffic directed to your site's homepage when a specific phrase is used, all you have to do is sign up for an AdWords account (or a Sponsored Search account with Yahoo!) and bid on keywords and key phrases. If you bid enough you can achieve your goal. It's actually very easy, and very controllable. You decide how much you want to spend. You define exactly which keywords and phrases you want to be listed under. You define the text of your link and exactly which page you want the ad to link to. You can set up site trackers that record and measure the return on investment of your ads. Google has a free analytics system (what used to be Urchin 6 - see June 2005 newsletter) which allows you to establish goals, track effectiveness and monitor all manner of marketing data from your AdWord links.

If We Had Our Druthers

But, as consumers we'd rather not pay for placement if we can get listed in organic results for free. Besides, we all know that the sponsored links are paid for and so we don't trust sponsored links as much as we do natural ones. Statistics bear this out. Natural links are clicked on seven times more frequently than sponsored ads.

The problem is that we cannot control organic results. We cannot do anything that will guarantee a particular site's inclusion in organic search results. We certainly cannot control which phrases a search engine will associate with our site, and even if we have success getting a site into a search engine, and we achieve good placement on a given phrase, we cannot control which page in our site that the search engine will link to in its results.

The Difference Between SEM and SEO

I have had many ask me what the difference between Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is, so I thought I might throw a couple of definitions out there.

I am going to start with SEO, as it is a part of SEM. SEO is the act of optimising the HTML and other content of your website for relevant, targeted key phrases in order to attain higher natural listings than competing websites. SEO provides a cheaper long term solution for increased qualified traffic and generates customer inquiries that ultimately convert to sales.

Now SEM is broader than SEO. It includes SEO and other areas to improve a sites visibility in search engine results pages, like paid listings and paid inclusions.

You can think of SEM as more expensive and quite possibly more targeted, while SEO is free (not counting your time of course) and its purpose is to obtain better free search listings.

Personally, I would start with SEO and then move onto SEM.

Generally people mix up Search engine optimization and Search engine marketing and employ these terminologies interchangeably, disregarding the main variations in both the words. One of the most used phrase among online marketers SEO is surely an component of SEM. An act of refining a website, SEO is employed fundamentally for organic and natural search engine rankings and is one of the most cost-effective features of SEM.

Alternatively, Search Engine Marketing is undoubtedly an operation of marketing your online business via Search engine optimization (increasing position in organic listings) or by means of sponsored rankings for example Pay per click. In a nutshell, Search engine marketing is a somewhat vast term. Whether it is a component for instance SEO or perhaps the very much wider functions of SEM, the two methods can demonstrate to be an excellent benefit if utilized in proper time and accurate way. .

Some benefits of SEO and SEM are given below for better understanding:

SEO

1. Economical: SEO does not need purchase click/visitors you receive which means you can savor advantages of standing on top without needing to spend on this, consists of long-term rewards, requires low continuous maintenance costs and is ideal for the internet marketers on spending budget. The only real costs would be while employing professional Search engine optimization services from a recognized SEO company, which can be very less as compare to paid advertisements. .

2. Confidence: The natural rankings of SEO are a reliable method to obtain data, meant to be listed and impartial completely by the designed technique of the third party. .

3.Resilient: Although SEO strategies requires about 6-7 months to get outcomes however the results are resilient and help the user for a long time. .

SEM

1. Quick Results: Sem is the mixture of PayPerClick and search engine optimization strategies, rendering it appropriate for the internet marketers to obtain instant outcomes. .

2. Immediate Access to Targeted Market: SEM provides full access to the prospective customers and a possibility to level strategies and adhere to them assertively. .

3. Extra sales: The paid advertisements in SEM are recognized to generate much more website visitors to the web page, which transform into more customers and better revenue, nevertheless needs excessive funding. .

After you have created your website, both Search engine optimization and Search engine marketing would be your main help to promote your online business. Considering that the two strategies are essential and require correct knowledge and expertise, it will always be good to acquire the SEM and SEO expert services of SEO and SEM specialists from a well-known Search engine optimization company.

Their are following details about On page optimization:--
We will make sure your website is ready for the Search Engines.
Keyword Analysis and Selection to best help you get The Most Targeted Traffic.
We will optimize the Meta Titles for up to 10 pages.
Google, Yahoo, MSN Sitemaps to help get all your pages indexed in the Search Engines
In details...
Meta tag optimization
Header tag optimization
Text body tag
Alt-tag optimization
W3C Validations for Home Page
Proper Interlinking
Google Sitemap Creation and Submission

OFF Page Optimization Work:

Link Building
Classified add
blogs comments
article submission
create a blog & post
Social Networking
Directory submission
bookmarking
blog posting...

There are two types of search engine optimization-
1) On page optimization
2) Off page optimization

Both have their own importance.

In Short

Onpage Optimization : You can Physically do to change your website (be it in the design or in the backend code that nobody sees). This includes strategies like altering a title tag, updating the meta keywords tag, or even changing the actual text on the webpage that everyone can see. And

Offpage Optimization : If you want your site to be listed high up in the search engine listings then doing offpage opti.(by link building)

1.    If you want best on-page seo please do it
1. Website analysis
2. Keyword Research
3. Adding Emphasis with Header Tags
4. Adding Emphasis with Tail Tags
5. Bold, Italic effect to main keywords
6. Canonicalization
7. Competition Analysis
8. CSS Validation
9. Google Base Feeds
10. H Tags Optimization (Eg: H1, H2, H3)
11. Header Tag Optimization
12. HTML Code Clean Up & Optimization
13. Image & Hyperlink Optimization
14. In depth site Analysis
15. Link Validation
16. Meta Description Tags Optimization
17. Meta Keywords Tags Optimization
18. Navigation & Design Optimization
19. PR Sculpting
20. Robots.txt Optimization
21. Text Modification Tags Optimization
22. Title Tag Optimization
23. URL Rewrite
24. W3C Validation
25. Working on HTML Source Code


Off Page Optimization is usually consist of different link building methods.
1. Directory Submission
2. Social Bookmarking Submission
3. Blog Posting
4. Blog Hosting
5. Article Submission
6. Press Release Submission
7. Forum Posting
8. Footer Links
10. Affiliate Marketing
11. Blog Commenting
12. Review Posting
13. Rss Feed Submission
14. Css Submission
15. Video Submission
16. Profile Creation
17. Link Wheel
18 Social Media Optimization

2. On-page: Creating a SEO based website required on-page work for optimizing website in SERPs. In this, following points are very important:
   
   * Writing web content
   * Title, Meta-tag
   * Image-alt Tag
   * Website Navigations
   * Sitemap
   * Website Design (color, look, user interactive, friendly, simple), see other threds to know how to create SEO friendly website design.
   
   
   Off-page work include following things:
   
   * Off-page work does to leave website links on other sites which is already in search engine index so that your newly created website can indexed soon and it is also called link building.
   * You can use various method to do this task like article posting, blogging, comment posting, press releases, link exchange with other site etc.

What Is On Page And Off Page Optimization?

3.    On Page and Off Page optimization are two parts of the whole Search Engine Optimization Process.

4.    On Page Optimization:

5.    As the name implies, On Page optimization concerned with all the changes/work to be done on your site to make it superior from SEO point of view. It includes:

6.    1. Selection Of web site URL and Each page specific URL

7.    2. Selection of Page title tags for each page of the web site.

8.    3. Selection of Title tag, Meta Tag and Keywords for each page.

9.    Note: The On Page optimization work must  start after all the keyword research, Competition analysis.

10. Off Page Optimization:

11. Again coming back to the name it self, Off page optimization is more or less concerned with all the link building work. To name from the basics :

12. 1. Submitting  site to different Search Engine

13. 2. Submitting  site to web directories

14. 3.  Article Submission

15. 4. Blog Commenting

16. 5. Forum Posting

17. 6. Video Creation And Submission

18. The major point is what matters is, how many sites are linking to your site. The more authority those sites have got, the more value it will add to you site.

Long Tail Keywords

What are long tail keywords? We're sure that some of you might already know what long tail keywords are. For others, here is the definition - “A long tail keyword is a combination of 3-6 words that are specific and relevant to the products you sell. In simple terms, any generic keyword that has product features, Model number, SKU no. price range, etc. can be taken as a long tail keyword.” (The phrase long tail was coined by Chris Anderson) Keyword research is one of the most significant and basic SEO processes. When identifying keywords for retail search marketing campaign (irrespective of Organic or PPC), targeting long tail keyword is one of the mantras to increase search traffic and improve conversion rate (if your website meets online shopper's expectations, of course!). Here is an example of both long tail and short tail keywords: Long Tail Keywords: Canon power shot digital camera 2MP 17 inch LCD TV free shipping Barack Obama action figure Short Tail Keywords: Digital Camera LCD TV Desktop Mp3 Music player Long Tail keywords vs. Short keywords A person who is using short tail keywords (general keywords to be specific) such as digital camera may be looking for different brands/models available in digital camera or might be conducting some research on how digital camera works. So it is better to make your category pages filled with short keywords. Example: Digital Camera, Desktop, etc… Ranking well for short keywords is not a bad idea, but at the same time it may not work always. A person who is using long tail keyword such as “Canon power shot digital camera 2MP “has already done some research and may be evaluating the product price, merchants selling it, etc… and is more likely to purchase the product. Truth about Long Tail Keywords: Can easily rank in search engines Will not have too much competition Will not be present in keyword database because search volume is very minimal Can boost conversion (but depends on various factors, we shall see this in later part of our article) So make your product pages sing with long tail keywords, but how to find them? Basic Steps to find Long tail keywords: Brainstorm – Step into online shopper's shoe and conduct an imaginary search or ask friends and relatives to suggest long tail keywords if they were to search for products. Competitor Analysis - Peep into competitor's product page and find what long tail keywords they have used. Look into your log files and see what long tail keywords people have used to find your website. Gather all these keywords and check for keyword relevancy. Ignore all those keywords that are irrelevant or too generic to define your product. With a basic keyword research, you can tweak your website architecture, navigation and product content pages. Here is the simple strategy you can follow… Use general keywords in the home page – Example: Camera & Photo Use specific keywords in category pages – Example: Digital Camera Use brand specific keywords in brand category pages – Example: Canon Digital Camera Target long tail keywords in the specific product page – Example: Canon Digital Camera 7.1mp with 3x Optical Zoom. Long Tail Keywords boost conversion – Myth or Reality I personally feel that it is a reality. Let me illustrate my point. Recently, I got a chance to look at the traffic data of an online retailer. I found out Google and Yahoo to be the highest traffic contributors that gave 20,000 (approx) visitors from 13,500 (approx) search terms but the conversion rate was just 0.05% (10 orders and $1,400 revenue), which is a little discouraging. Out of 12,000 search terms, 70% were long tail keywords. Good news is that the visitors who actually turned out to be potential buyers had used long tail keywords. And, bad news is that these conversion numbers were not quite tempting. It would look like the statement “long tail keywords boosts conversion” is more of myth than reality. No, it is actually not. Long tail keywords can make or break conversion. Conversion/sales do not always happen when you get targeted traffic, it's just an opportunity. The point I want to stress here is “Long tail keywords can bring conversion only if your website (landing page) content is relevant to the search phrase along with the availability of other landing page hygiene factors.” Now, do some home work: View your analytics tool/log files to see for how many long tail keywords your webpage ranks in search engine. What percentage of conversion these long tail keywords have given? What is the bounce rate? If most of your long tail keywords just give you traffic with no sales then there could be any or all of the following problems Irrelevant landing page (No relevancy) Weak product description No extensive information product features No Call to actions No Company Logo No Sign of trust No proper content presentation format Poor product image Weak Navigation Sloppy website design No proper placement of shopping cart The product price might be higher Long checkout page and other factors. So the fact that “long tail keywords boost conversion” is definitely not a myth, but to realize it, we need the help of other factors. So, “long tail keywords can boost conversion, if there is keyword relevancy in the web page copy and other elements that constitute a good landing page.” Keywords: Long tail keywords Meta tags: title, keywords, description Optimize your meta tags to improve the searchability of your site! The meta tags are a very important part of the HTML code of your web page. They are read by the search engines but are not displayed as a part of your web page design. Usually they include a concise summary of the web page content and you should include your relevant keywords in them. Most meta tags are included within the 'header' code of a website. The most important tags are the title, description, keyword s and robot tags. How to optimize meta tags? The title tag and the meta description and keywords tags should include keywords relevant to the content of the web page they describe. Besides that, you should consider the length and the order of the characters/words included in each of the meta tags. Note that the search engine robots read from left to right and those words that come first are more important than those that come towards the end of the page. Enter your URL here to see a full meta tag analysis: With the help of the SiteGround special meta tag analyzing tool you can see how well you have optimized you meta tags. To learn how you can improve them read below! Title tag It could be said that the title is one of the most important factors for a successful search engine optimization of your website. Located within the <head> section, right above the Description and Keywords tag, it provides summarized information about your website. Besides that, the title is what appears on search engines result page (SERP). The title tags should be between 10-60 characters. This is not a law, but a relative guideline - a few more symbols is not a problem. You won't get penalized for having longer title tags, but the search engine will simply ignore the longer part. Meta Description tag The description tag should be written in such way that it will show what information your website contains or what your website is about. Write short and clear sentences that will not confuse your visitors. The description tag should be less than 200 characters. The meta description tag also has a great importance for the SEO optimization of your page. It is most important for the prospect visitor when looking at the search engine result page - this tag is often displayed there and helps you to distinguish your site from the others in the list. Meta Keywords tag Lately, the meta keyword tag has become the least important tag for the search engines and especially Google. However, it is an easy way to reinforce once again your most important keywords. We recommend its usage as we believe that it may help the SEO process, especially if you follow the rules mentioned below. The keyword tags should contain between 4 and 10 keywords. They should be listed with commas and should correspond to the major search phrases you are targeting. Every word in this tag should appear somewhere in the body, or you might get penalized for irrelevance. No single word should appear more than twice, or it may be considered spam. Meta Robots tag This tag helps you to specify the way your website will be crawled by the search engine. There are 4 types of Meta Robots Tag: Index, Follow - The search engine robots will start crawling your website from the main/index page and then will continue to the rest of the pages. Index, NoFollow - The search engine robots will start crawling your website from the main/index page and then will NOT continue to the rest of the pages. NoIndex, Follow - The search engine robots will skip the main/index page, but will crawl the rest of the pages. NoIndex, NoFollow - None of your pages will be crawled by the robot and your website will not be indexes by the search engines. If you want to be sure that all robots will crawl you website we advise you to add a "Index, follow" meta robot tag. Please note that most of the search engine crawlers will index your page staring from the index page, continuing to the rest of the pages, even if you do not have a robot tag. So if you wish your page not to be crawled or to be crawled differently use the appropriate robot tag. How to edit meta tags? You can edit your meta tags through the File Manager in the cPanel of your hosting account. You need to edit the file of each web page. The file contains the HTML code of the page.