by Bonnie Haskins

Created on: August 10, 2010

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of tweaking the code and content of the pages of a website so that those pages rank highly for target keywords in search engine results pages (SERPs). Properly optimized web pages will rank higher in SERPs than those sites with poor or no optimization. Learning how to properly implement search engine optimization can build and generate website traffic... and it's easier to do than most SEO gurus lead their customers to believe.

Good SEO begins with understanding what customers are searching for. If the website was created to sell a book on marketing, the site owner must begin by thinking of the words and phrases a potential customer might type into a search engine to find the product he is looking for. Once the website own has a lengthy list of the words and phrases he believes a customer might use to find his product, he should take that list to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to determine which words and phrases generate enough traffic each month to make it worth trying to attain high ranking in SERPs.

Now that the website owner understands which keywords and phrases his potential customers are searching for, he can begin to optimize his site for those keywords.

The two most important elements of the page for search engine optimization purposes are the META title and description tags. For sites that are performing poorly in SERPs, rankings may sometimes be raised just by improving the wording of these two important little tags.

While there are differences of opinion as to how to craft a good title for a web page, the following best practices should help website owners inexperienced with SEO to improve upon existing title tags:
  *  Limit titles to no more than 65 characters.
  *  Include keywords descriptive of the content.
  *  Include site branding at the end of the title.
  *  Separate keyword / site branding with a pipe.
  *  Use title case when crafting titles for pages.

Website owners may wish to reference the following sample title tags when crafting tags for their own websites:
  *  Toy Dump Trucks | ToysExample.Com
  *  Vinyl Siding Installation | VinylExample.Com

Though some website owners are inclined to craft clever titles for their pages, cleverness and creativity is best reserved for the META description tag. This is the blurb of text that appears directly under the title in the SERPs. Good descriptions will lure potential visitors

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