SEO For Beginners

The number one thing you must do before any optimization, is you must determine your desired targeted keywords for your site. What I mean by this is finding the terms you want your site ranked for with the search engines. An example of this would be:

You have a website about fixing computers. People who are looking for information on fixing their computers might search for these terms: how to fix my computer, my computer has a blue screen, or where can i get my computer fixed. These would all be considered long tail keywords, and these are what you would want to target, because they are actual terms that people search the search engines for.

Make sure when picking your keywords or key phrases, they are actually terms that get searched for, otherwise you will get no traffic. (Another tip is to make sure you pick keywords that don't have too many websites targeting them. You may still never get traffic if there is too much competition.) I recommend using a keyword research tool to find some good ones. You can use Google's free keyword tool, or Wordtracker's free tool if money is an issue. They are great starter tools, and they do the job fantastically. Once you start making some money, I do recommend you get a paid tool because they are so much more effective, and you can really find some good keywords.

You can read more on keyword research and finding good keywords here.

Alright, so now that you have your keywords chosen, the next step is to make sure your site is optimized for those keywords. How do you do this? It's pretty simple really.

The number one rule is always make the title of your page or post (if it's a blog) the exact key phrase or word you are targeting. This will be known as your title tag. Title tags have a very big influence on the search engines when they visit your site, so whatever your title is, the search engines will assume it is a keyword and you want to rank for it. This goes for your domain name as well. Your page/post title and your website title (domain name) are very big factors in the SEO world.

Once you have bought your domain (the website address), and you have chosen your targeted key phrases or words, the next step is to add content to your website or blog. Write an article that is at least 400-500 words, and make sure you include your targeted keywords or phrases at least 2-3 times in the content. Do NOT go overboard with this, or you will get penalized. Make sure the keyword density is not over 7% (amount of keywords vs. actual words on page). Staying below 6-7% is much better. If you go over this recommended safety net, the search engines may see you as "keyword stuffing". Keyword stuffing means using your keywords over and over again, and your site will pay for it if you do that, I promise.

The longer the page and content, the better chance you have of being able to get all your keywords in and not make it look like you are keyword stuffing. In other words, keep your posts and pages long, and you can put all your keywords in. Search engines favor long text articles and unique content.

Do not worry about getting every keyword phrase in your article multiple times, because the search engines are smart, and if you have a quality site, Google will rank you for keywords you never even tried to rank for. The biggest goal is getting your main phrase in 2-3 times, and the others at least once.

That's SEO in a nutshell. Learn as much as you can about the subject, because it really will benefit you in the end.

Now that you know how to basically optimize your site, the next step is getting traffic to it. There are so many ways you can promote your site, I really recommend you spend some time on learning different methods. I will make it easy for you to start, though.

1.) Write articles. Search for different article directories, and submit a few. Make sure you have a link pointing back to your site!

2.) Post in forums. Create a signature with a link back to your site.

A hint: The more backlinks (a link pointing to your site) you have pointing to your site, the more authority the search engines see your site as having. So promotion really is key.

An important thing to remember when getting backlinks- make sure you use relevant anchor text. This means if you have a link pointing to your site, try to make the link your keyword or keyphrase. If I want to have a link pointing to my computer site, I would maybe have the text say "click here for a guide on HOW TO FIX YOUR COMPUTER"

The capital letters would be the link. This let's the search engines know that you are in fact an "authority" on that keyword. :) Just always remember to mix it up a bit. Don't always use the same anchor text, because this is just as bad as keyword stuffing.