Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most important things to learn if you're looking to get to Page One on Google.

There are several different techniques you can use, but they all have one thing in common, and that's to get your website ranking highly in the search engines. By having a high ranking site, you will attract more traffic to your website, gain more exposure for your business, whether that's online or bricks and mortar, and most importantly you will increase your bottom line profits.

Build It And They Won't Come!

Just having a website does not mean that visitors will find it. Even if you think you have the best looking website in the world, it doesn't mean a flood of traffic will suddenly hit your site unless you do the right things to promote it.

The first promotion you need to do is alert the search engines to your website's very existence. There are literally 1000s of new websites coming online each and every day, so unless you wave the right flags to say "here I am, come crawl me", the search engine spiders will bypass your website for the ones that are being actively promoted.

On Site Optimization

The first thing you have to do in order to improve search engine ranking is start out with the right basics. It's no use employing the more technical ways of getting higher in the rankings if you don't have a good foundation to build on.

A solid foundation for your website's future rankings can be created by having good on page optimization. By this I mean, your actual website must be built in a certain way, and the content must contain certain elements, for the search engines to love it.

Proper Use of Meta Tags

Good onsite optimization does wonders for your website. You are in control of your site, and there are things you can do to make your website stand out and shine like a beacon in the mist. Arguably the most important onsite optimization technique is to use good Title Tags. Title tags will definitely improve search engine ranking because it will describe to the search engines what your web page is about in a nutshell. Therefore the main keyword you wish to be ranked for should be included in the Title Tag as part of a short description.

The next most important thing is the Meta Description. Again, ensure your main keyword and some related keywords are included, but definitely make sure it reads well since this description is what will be shown to searchers and will influence whether or not they click on your link. Try to make it a call to action, and keep it to a couple of sentences at most.

Meta Keywords used to be taken into consideration by the search engines, but since this feature was often abused by webmasters and used for keyword stuffing, the Meta Keywords are now largely disregarded by the search robots. That's not to say you shouldn't make use of this section of your website and include relevant keywords, but it will not be a big influence on how your website ranks in the search engines.

Summary

On Page or On Site Optimization is a key tool to improve search engine ranking, and if you implement the things we've discussed above, you have a solid foundation to build upon and further improve your results.

Your website should be seen as a long term investment which you have to look after and nurture, and over time with the right techniques you will see significant improvements in your rankings, and in turn significant improvements in your website's performance in relation to sales.

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