by Melissa J Luther

Created on: January 21, 2009   Last Updated: September 30, 2009

The right search engine optimization (SEO) techniques are critical to a website's success.

If you own or maintain a website, you have heard the term "search engine optimization," or SEO. You understand that you need your website to show up on the first page of results when someone searches for what you sell. But how do you manage to rank ahead of the thousands of other sites offering the same thing as you?

First, realize that good SEO takes time and effort. Optimization is not a one-time project that you can finish and forget. Your competition is implementing its own SEO plan, and website rankings change based on how well you each meet search engine expectations. In addition, the search engine algorithms change over time, and tricks that got you to the top last year may not work this year.

Good SEO must balance the needs of the search engines with the needs of your visitors. Pleasing the search engines with keyword-rich, fresh relevant content does you no good if the site is ugly and difficult to navigate. Your visitors will just leave, and eventually the search engines will notice, and your rank will drop.

Finally, an SEO plan can be broken into on-site and off-site factors. On-site factors are the ones you have complete control over. They are easy to change and test and change again if the first attempt did not have the expected results. Off-site factors are harder to control and implement, but they can have the biggest impact on your website's rank.

Despite the challenges, a well-planned and executed SEO plan can pay off handsomely. So let's look at some of the easiest techniques to get started with SEO.

== Onsite SEO Techniques ==

>Your Keywords<

Use relevant keywords wisely. Select keywords that define your site and use them throughout your site.

Beware of keyword stuffing. Having a keyword density that is too high can actually lower your search engine ranking. Search engines change their algorithms regularly to thwart webmasters who try to game the system.

In short, keywords must be related to your website content, they should be sprinkled throughout the page, and they should be used in sentences that are readable to human eyes. Trying to fool the search engines may work in the short term, but in the end will just result in the search engines banning your website entirely. It's a lot easier to climb out of a page two ranking than to be reinstated after being banned.

>The Domain Name<

If you already have a website this section won't apply to

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