Here are some suggested Resources to help you learn, understand and implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website. This will help get you listed in the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, and help you rank higher:

• Article on Simple SEO Techniques (see full article below)
• Article on How To Integrate Keywords Into Your Web Site (see full article below)
• Article on Basics of Search Engine Optimization (link will open a new tab)

Simple SEO = Quality Search Traffic, It Is That Easy!

By: Suzzi Law

Why being a 'Simple Simon' and keeping SEO simple is the best way to 1st page results.

"Simple Simon met a pie man going to the fair...", a lovely nursery rhyme I tell my little one each day. And how apt. to the SEO industry, even today in March 2010. Because simple is key to SEO; and yes although there are hundreds of different factors to a good search engine ranking, and you could beat yourself up reading, analyzing and looking into every 'nook and cranny' of every possible factor, actually keeping it simple gets the best results.

But, to put a bit of relevance to this, and to adapt the nursery rhyme; you as the webmaster are Simon, and the search engines are the 'fair', and so you need to keep it simple, and try hard not to get caught up in the over-complication of SEO.

Lets take a look at how 'some' people in the industry complicate thing; and not to put to finer point upon it, those that claim wildly that Google, Yahoo, Bing have had an algorithm modification (to 99.9% of readers this means the search engines have just decided to change a few things, and it makes some sites appear a little higher and some sites a little lower) then I simply say, stop looking at 'algorithms' and just concentrate on what worked back in the day, because it also works today, and its all about just keeping it simple.

Yes, of course, over the years there have been changes, but keeping it simple has always been the key. Anyone remember Inktomi? The 48 hour paid for inclusion service that got you into MSN in 2 days. That was a lovely tool, and if you were happy to pay for it you would get refreshes of your website every 48 hours as well. If you don't remember that then you are probably a bit newer to the search engine 'game', so you might remember how in years gone by it was a tad bit easier to get your website ranked well in Google. BUT, was it really that much easier, no not really, so I must emphasize 'the tad' part.

What else has changed over the years? For Google not much really, well when I say not much, what I mean is – from the perspective of a webmaster, from a business owner – squarely focussed on wanting to get more visitors to her website, nothing really has changed over the years. Yes, yes, we all know the 'gurus' who will say A has changed, T has changed, ZZ has changed etc, and yes they may be right – but who really cares, because from the webmaster and business owners perspective all is 'as was'. And again, back to the theme - SEO is a simple approach, but there are many that will deliberately attempt to over-complicate it.

Simple SEO 1 - Get yourself a nice title tag for your website, fill it with some nice keywords but obviously so it makes sense for your business.

Simple SEO 2 - Now add a nice description and a set of keywords; all part of the meta tags.

Simple SEO 3 - Make sure your pages have plenty of content, with keywords splattered about that match up with the title, the description and the keyword meta tags.

Simple SEO 4 - Get some lovely websites to link to yours.

Before I go on I would like to stress how a lot of SEO's might tell you “to ignore the keywords and description tag…blah blah blah” and yes you can ignore them, of course you can. You can also not build a website, not sell anything online and really why did you even bother any of this to begin with, can you even remember?

Sarcasm aside, yes most search engines do ignore them, we “think”, but some still take some note of them which means I recommend you include them, just like back in the day. It will not hurt, and it can only help.

SEO Over? Well almost, the next piece of work really is about getting loads of search engine exposure and as much coverage as possible. Then given a little time and patience things will start progressing and you will slowly start seeing the results.

Or, you can watch search engine algorithms, run endless reports analyzing your competitors, wait and watch for the old 'Google dance' (for those who do not know what this means I do not want to explain it as it will become an endless obsession which you really do not need to know anything about, and certainly do not want in your lives). Even then, you will only get the same results you would have got if you had ignored all those things and did the same amount of work on the actual SEO.

So what do we learn from all of this, well I would go so far as to say to stop reading those constant articles on how to SEO your website, in other words don't overcomplicate things - think simplicity - (I mean, really you should not even have read this far….) and just concentrate on some new, swift SEO and build up your outside presence. Instead of worrying about what others think of your SEO start reading articles on how to 'market' your website, how to get some real promotion done, some great link building and how to build your brand whilst your nice and neat, simple SEO works for itself. From yesteryear to today – nothing really has changed very much at all, and the successful website know all about that.

And now...you know too.

About the Author: Suzzi Law is an SEO PR writer for www.Servicewrap.net full service submission and website promotion service provider since 2002.

How To Integrate Keywords Into Your Web Site

By Kalena Jordan

If you're reading this and your web site doesn't contain any body text on the home page, give yourself a good smack and go to your room without supper. When you're ready to behave and design your site with the search engines in mind, come back out and read this article.

The simple truth is this: search engines read text and not much else. You absolutely, positively need to use text on the pages of your site that you want indexed and ranked highly. Not graphical text that you created in your fancy design software, but actual, visible body text. Not sure if your site uses graphical or body text? A good rule of thumb that I learnt from search engine guru Danny Sullivan is to try and highlight the text with your mouse. If you can drag your mouse over the text when viewing it in a browser, chances are this is body text and the search engines can read it.

Ok, so you've created your body copy and your site pages are loaded with good old-fashioned text. But your job's not over! Now you need to get targeted. Search engines aren't going to rank your web site about socks highly if your body copy talks about foot sizes. You need to get specific. If you sell socks, then for heaven's sake, make sure your site copy has plenty of references to the word socks! At the risk of sounding like Dr Seuss, if you want to be found for, big socks, small socks, cotton socks and wool socks, then mention them all. Better still, sort your copy into categories based on your products and services. If you sell blue socks and red socks, then have a page dedicated to each kind. This allows you to target niche keywords within your copy and meet the relevancy guidelines for logical search queries.

It sounds so obvious, but I'm constantly amused by the number of web sites I see selling particular items without once making reference to those items in their body copy. For example, there are thousands of sites on the Internet promoting web site design services right? Next time you see one, take a look at their body copy. You'll be surprised how often you'll see flashy looking sites without a single mention of the phrase "web site design" in their page copy. Instead they'll use fancy all graphic pages or Flash movies. Or if they do use body text, it might include cryptic jargonised language like "Internet Solutions" or "online brand building".

What the heck does this tell a search engine about their business? Absolutely nothing. Are these sites going to be considered a relevant match for search queries about "web site design"? No way! The creators of these sites might think they're being clever, but they are really missing the boat entirely. What's the point of having a web site if you are going to sabotage its ability to be found?

Anyway, back to you and your web site. So now you've added plenty of text to your pages and the copy flows well for the reader. You've researched your keywords and phrases using WordTracker or something similar and now you're faced with the dilemma of integrating the keywords into your carefully written copy. So how do you satisfy the search engine's craving for keywords without interrupting the copy flow for the reader? The answer is: very carefully.

Let's take a look at a practical example. We have a client that specializes in luxury adventure travel. Before I optimized their site, part of the home page copy read like this:

"We specialize in providing vacations for people who want a personal service. We bring to our efforts a fanatical obsession with quality and exclusivity. We also bring a freshness, an outward-going passion for discovery which justifies our growing reputation as one of the world's top travel providers. We can put together packages that include all adventure activities, accommodation, transport and food".

Extensive WordTracker keyword research for the client had determined that the home page should target the following key phrases:

• adventure travel
• best adventure vacations
• tailored travel
• overseas adventure travel
• luxury travel packages

So taking our original home page text, the challenge was to integrate these keywords carefully and naturally so as not to disturb the logical flow of the copy and lose the interest of the visitor. Here's how I did it:

"We specialize in providing the best adventure vacations for people who want a personal and tailored travel service. We bring to our efforts a fanatical obsession with quality and exclusivity. We also bring a freshness, an outward-going passion for discovery which justifies our growing reputation as one of the world's top overseas adventure travel providers. We can put together luxury travel packages that include all adventure activities, accommodation, transport and food".

Note that the key phrase "overseas adventure travel" accommodates the phrase "adventure travel" too. Voila! The search engines are happy because the site contains text content relevant to related search queries, the client is happy because we were able to integrate the keywords without distracting the visitor and I'm happy because I know the site is going to rank highly for the client's target search terms.

Now go and apply the same principles to your own site...

About the Author: Article by Kalena Jordan, CEO of Web Rank. Kalena was one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australasia and is well known and respected in the industry worldwide.