What Is Search Engine Optimization?
This three word phrase is probably the most misunderstood phrase known to online website owners.
Common SEO Misconceptions
Some will say search engine optimization is all about how many times the targeted “keyword phrase” appears on your page.
Others will say search engine optimization is about using the keyword phrase in as many different ways as you can; variations, stemming and related phrases plus using them in your body text, your headings, sub-headings, your meta tags, alt tags, etc.
Then you hear others say that search engine optimization is all about the number of good quality incoming links that point to your site.
The fact is, search engine optimization can be all of these things and more, and while these points may play a part in varying degrees, it is difficult to sum up search engine optimization in a one-lined sentence.
Good SEO Follows Search Engine Guidelines
It is possible for your website to be naturally optimized if it is built right the first time.
More than a few website owners have been taken in by in-ept or “black hat” search engine optimization companies who make false promises about how they will optimize a website but then completely ignore or miss many of the necessary core elements of good search engine optimization.
Did you know that you can find out how to properly optimize your website simply by visiting the the major search engine’s guidelines and following search engine recommendations that are given freely on their site?
It may be one thing if, as a website owner, you don’t have time to ensure your site conforms properly to search engine guidelines as posted on the search engine websites; but it’s another thing completely to believe that search engine optimization is a heavily guarded secret only known by search engine optimizers.
Legitimate “White Hat” Search Engine Optimization Companies
The main core ingredients of your website that are pertinent to search engine optimization and that must be easily accessible to search engine robots are your website’s text content, plus your website’s layout, navigation and structure. The rest is really just icing on the cake.
Unfortunately many websites have an abundance of icing and no cake or worse, a website may have hundreds or even thousands of pages of good content that desperately needs to be organized in a way that is user friendly and search engine friendly.
Legitimate “white hat” search engine optimization companies have access to a host of professional SEO tools that the average website owner simply does not. This allows good SEO companies to analyze and compare your website to your competitor’s websites.
Through proper website and server analysis, a good search engine optimization company is able to pinpoint and correct any back-end issues of your website plus they can discover keyword phrases that you may have missed, or to look at keyword densities, keyword frequencies, etc., in order to put together an SEO strategy that will not only improve your website, but also improve your user experience.
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