Seen from a basic perspective, search engine optimization is the process of gaining visibility for a company or organization on the Internet. The present scenario of search engine optimization is undergoing a lot of changes as a result of the constant Google updates, all of which intends to value websites that are optimized in the desirable way and with the right techniques. However, prior to analyzing as to which strategies prove useful for the website representing your business, it is necessary to understand the basic components of good SEO. Although these components seem rather simple, realizing their value and following them judiciously often implies accomplishing half of the process of optimization.
Here is a list of these constituents and strategies that are paid utmost attention by the professionals at SEO companies.
- Keyword Analysis– Keyword research is indeed the most valuable constituent of SEO in the sense that the right keywords pay off significantly in the long run. Keywords decide your effectiveness in reaching out to the target market in a desirable manner. Keywords should be such that come across as popular search phrases, typed in by people while looking for something through the search engines. Keyword, as an essential part of the process of SEO, helps your website get not just visitors but the right kind of visitors.
- Meta Tags and Descriptions– Meta tags and descriptions play a significant role in getting visitors if not helping directly in improving the search engine rankings. Precisely written Meta tags with the necessary keywords placed strategically in them compels the users to click through from the result pages of the search engines and therefore, land up on your website. Apart from Meta tags and descriptions, the overall content of the website needs to be appealing enough to let your visitors understand the offerings of your business easily and also take interest in them.
- Effective Content– "Content is King" is a catch phrase in the field of search engine optimization. Good content indeed has an important role to play in attracting traffic and converting them into potential customers of your business in the long run. This is not just with respect to website content but also for other content in the form of articles, blogs and press releases that need to be submitted in important sites. Promoting these interesting and informative articles further through the social media helps in gaining a lot of visits.
- Directory Submission– Submission of businesses to the web directories also forms an important aspect of SEO as directory listings help in increasing both search engine visibility as well as backlinks. There are certain guidelines for directory submission that need to be followed to ensure that your website is well represented before the search engines and that your domain gets good ranking. Choosing authoritative and high PR directories is essential in this regard. You may consider your website listed in DMOZ, BOTW, Jasmine Directory , DirJournal, and other.
- Social Media– Social media and the social networking platforms in particular have emerged to be of extreme importance in the field of search engine optimization. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on offers businesses with the opportunity to reach out to not just the target market but much beyond that. Apart from designing a unique Facebook fan page or timeline cover photo for your business website, there are various other ways of carrying out social media optimization in which the social media can be exploited in a desirable manner.
- Videos– The primary aim of every business is to stay ahead in this competitive world by targeting and appealing to the market. As such, the process of search engine optimization brings forth newer tactics and strategies, out of which creating and posting videos in the popular sites such as YouTube or Vimeo is an essential one. You can create videos, featuring the products, services or works, offered by your organization.
While the above mentioned ones can be considered to be the basic parts of SEO, the professionals at the reputed and recognized SEO companies will apply techniques based on the requirements of your business. The nature of the organization that the website is going to represent determines the way in which the process of optimization has to be carried out.
The author of this article, Keith Berry is associated with digilynk.com, a Dallas SEO company for years now and shares information on few basic constituents of search engine optimization and marketing.
