Today when designing a website one of the most important things to look at is the site’s Search engine optimization. Every website is created to attract an audience for the purpose of selling, informing, or entertaining, but in order to do this people have to be able to find your website on the internet. Search engine optimization or SEO is the art of designing or changing a website so that Search Engines will list a site higher in their “natural” or un-paid search results. So what are the techniques to get the best search engine optimization results in the search engines? Search engines are ever changing animals when it comes to listing their search results so the same SEO techniques that worked 3 months ago may not produce the best results today. As of the printing of this article these are the top 5 SEO techniques to produce top listed sites (in my opinion of course).

1. Content – Writing relevant, concise, intelligent content is a key to creating good search engine results. Be sure when writing your content to think about the keywords you want to searched for and include them in your content. Although be cautious not to overload your content with keywords because in doing so search engines may decrease your results. Also as a reminder that the average internet user has an eighth grade reading level so to reach the greatest number of potential visitors keep your content simple without using confusing acronyms and jargon that some readers may not understand.

2. Inbound Links – A greatly undervalued asset to your website are good inbound links. Great ways to create these links are to initiate and accept link exchanges with complimentary websites that also have a high search engine results. Take time to come up with relevant anchor text so that search engines see the anchor text and index your site for these keywords. Be sure to stay away from spammy “link farms” or websites that acquire a large number of website links and lists them on a few pages.

3. On-line Time – Another item that search engines seem to take into consideration now is the amount of time your website has been on the internet. Although this is an item that a webmaster or company typically has no control over it seems to make a difference with search engines. Sites that have been on the internet for years look as if they get higher search engine results than sites that have only been on the internet for only several months.

4. Title, URL, Description – Do not forget the time trusted basics of search engine optimization. Your website URL, title, and the meta description tag on each page within the website present specific items that search engines index and compare to your content to find keywords. Spend quite a bit of time researching relevant, available URL’s before deciding – a good URL can sometimes make or break your SEO. Create titles and description tags that reflect specifically what each page of your website is about – search engines sometimes confuse pages with similar titles and content.

5. Updating – Keep your website up to date with frequently updated content. Search engine spiders are always searching the internet for new websites and websites with updated content. With every change you make be sure to consider keywords you want to be searched for and the visitors you are trying to attract. Be sure and give the search engines a reason to keep coming back to your website by updating your content on a regular basis. A great way to ensure this is by adding a blog within your website. Add a new article with good content and keywords daily, weekly, or monthly and watch your search engine rankings rise as well as your keyword base expand.

These techniques are only the tip of the iceberg to ensuring your website top rankings within the major search engines. Keep in mind that search engines are always changing their qualifications for ranking websites so you have to keep up with the changes or your website will be like so many that are “here today, gone tomorrow”. For more information about designing websites or website optimization please contact me at [email protected] or visit http://www.nhtg.org/.

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Top 5 Search Engine Optimization Techniques