SEO Firm | Search Engine Optimization Tips & Advice

Organic Search Engine Optimization

Organic search engine optimization refers to making your web site presentable to search engines in such a way that they feel that your site is one of the best choices when someone searches for a certain term. Each search engine has a different algorithm to make this determination, but normally this optimization consists of two distinct approaches:

1. Content Optimization

There are a variety of things that go into content optimization, and all of the real or imagined techniques for improving the impression of your site could take up thousands of pages (and most likely do, at the current time), and are thus beyond the scope of this article.

In short, these techniques include

1. altering the HTML
   • include the chosen term or terms, paying specific attention to certain HTML tags which receive more weight than others
   • make sure you DO NOT use techniques which try to trick search engines into seeing things that human eyes DO NOT see
   • make sure you DO NOT use techniques which try to trick search engines into not seeing things that human eyes DO see
2. increasing the number of pages on a site
3. making sure that there is a common theme for the site, and that this theme relates directly to the term or terms chosen
4. using text rather than images or Flash, when at all possible
   • text can be optimized for the search engines
   • search engines cannot really read images or Flash very well, if at all
5. adding appropriate meta tags

2. Link Building for Link Popularity

Most search engines put some weight on how many other sites link to yours. In building this link popularity, it is important to remember a few things.

1. Some search engines do not like pages with huge numbers of links
   • add your site to a page such as this at your own risk
   • do not create pages such as this on your own site
2. Use common themes
   • Add your links to pages with the same theme as your site, and, if at all possible, to sites with the same theme as your site
   • Create directories on your own site that have pages with their own themes so that others can do the same.
3. One-way links are always better than reciprocal links
   • One way links involve a link that does not have a corresponding link going back to the same web site.
   • This can be accomplished by purchasing links, or by involving more than one of your own web sites in a cross-linking scheme.
4. More links are better
   • but more links acquired through regular (and often slow and tedious) methods are the best.
   • Methods for cheating the system work in some search engines (e.g. Yahoo).
   • Methods for cheating the system sometimes result in penalties in others (e.g. Google).