SEO Tutorial Video
Search Engine Optimization Tutorial Video Overview
This straightforward Search Engine Optimization tutorial video is designed to help you understand how search engines work, how they see your site and how search engines rank your pages.
By the end of the SEO tutorial video you will have an understanding of what you need to provide to the search engines so that they get what they need in order to index and rank your website at the top of the SERPs (search engine results page).
In order to give search engines what they need, you first need to understand how search engines work.
In a way, search engines work as matchmakers between your potential customers and your business website. Your potential customers may not know about you or your website so they will use key phrases (keywords) in search engines when doing a search to find you.
The search engines in turn sort through their vast library of web pages and give the searcher a prioritized list of what it deems to be the most relevant web pages for the search “keyword” terms used.
So how do search engines decide what the most relevant pages are?
Originally, search engines simply used file names to analyze the web pages. Today’s search engines are quite complex and highly sophisticated. They use robot programs called “search engine spiders” to find web pages and crawl over all the content in order to determine the subject matter and its value to a given search.
Every time a search engine spider crawls through your website, it takes a snapshot of your site content and includes your web pages in one of their search engine databases – this is what we refer to as being “indexed” by the search engines.
Once your site is indexed, it takes only milliseconds for a search engine to match someone’s search to your web pages…if your web pages are relevant.
To match your web pages to someone’s search the search engines use “algorithms”, which are sequences of instructions that specify how to solve the problem of determining if your web pages are relevant to the search or not.
Search engines use over 200 factors in their algorithms (which is a closely guarded secret) to determine how to list the most reliable and relevant pages first. It is impossible to know exactly what these factors are, and the search engines are constantly revising and updating their algorithms.
So how can we give the search engines what they need if we don’t know what their algorithm criteria are?
This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO professionals may not know exactly what the algorithm criteria are for the search engines but we can get a pretty good idea through trial and error and by making sure that web pages adhere to search engine guidelines.
Good SEO professionals also take a holistic approach, taking into account all the key players on your team that are crucial in helping your website become more search engine friendly.
The first key player is your website designer. Your website must have a solid SEO-friendly web design that allows search engine spiders to read and index your pages properly. Frames, Flash and large graphics won’t impress the Search engines since search engine spiders can’t understand anything but text!
Good website designers understand what will work and what won’t work for the search engines and provide the best web design so that your site not only looks and performs well, but is also search engine friendly.
Poor web design can block the search engines and prevent your website from ever being indexed, which means you will never show up in Google or BING search results!
The second key player is your web hosting company.
You should know that Search engines also evaluate your web hosting company when deciding where to rank you in its results. Factors such as page load times and server down times, which are controlled by your web hosting company, can reflect poorly on your website when being evaluated by the search engines.
Finally, SEO professionals work as quality control experts. They ensure your web pages pass the criteria of search engines so your pages can be found and indexed properly. SEO experts help find out what is wrong with your site and have the knowledge and tools to correct any issues they may find.
Any SEO work performed on your website should adhere to industry accepted SEO best practices.
Just like a house, a website needs a solid foundation. SEO Professionals focus on stabilizing a shaky foundation by correcting backend issues that prevent spiders from being able to access and crawl your site.
A solid foundation is just the start. Getting your website ready to rank well in the search engines also involves a thorough analysis of your major competitors and researching the relevant search terms searchers will use to find your website.
Do you know the strengths of your competitors’ online presence and how your potential customers will search for your products or services online?
Once you have decided on the best “keywords” to focus your efforts on, you need to develop relevant and unique content that supports your keywords throughout all of your web pages.
Your website must also have optimized content written primarily for the search engines, such as Title Tags, Alt Tags and Meta Data. Search engines use these areas as indicators as to what the rest of the web pages are all about.
Having logical and well developed content will not only help the search engines understand your website, but it will also be useful for your customers.
It is also crucial and possible to monitor exactly how your optimized web pages are doing. Website analytics should not be overlooked.
Analytics collect statistics on important data such as who is on your website, what pages they are looking at, what search terms they used to get to your web page, what other pages they visited and the length of time they spent on your site.
These statistics will allow you to see the strengths and weaknesses of your web pages and help you set goals for improvements, providing a way to measure and improve upon your success.
Search engine optimization is an ongoing process.
All web pages tend to fluctuate in the rankings in Search engines as new pages are being added and the search engines adjust and revise their algorithms. In order to maintain rankings, it is necessary to adjust your web page optimization in order to keep your web pages current. Adjustments are always necessary when there are significant drops in page rankings.
Search engines are constantly refining their algorithms and methods for reading and ranking websites. SEO professionals stay current on search engine updates and changes and can help guide your website in the right direction so that your online presence continues to improve your bottom line.
This Search Engine Optimization Tutorial Video has been developed by 1st on the List Promotions Inc. Watch the full SEO video tutorial for more detailed information.
1st on the List Promotion has provided Professional Search Engine Optimization services to clients throughout the United States and Canada since 1997. For more information on Search Engine Optimization services, Email Our SEO Consulting Team
Or Call Toll Free At 1-888-262-6687.
