Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the technique of webmasters creating their website pages ‘Search Engine Friendly’ in order to have a better and higher listing in search engine rankings.
This is done as a method of marketing in order for a larger base of website traffic bringing in potential customers, potential users or just a greater volume in traffic. Thanks to the huge usage of popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, these engines point users to specific websites based upon what they deem as the most appropriate. How they work this out is based on their own algorithms and the keyword/s the user has input. Although these algorithms remain a secret there are common techniques used within web design that help push websites up the ranks for certain keywords. Here are 10 top tips to help you optimize your website for search engines;

1. Content, content, content…
   This is number one for a reason - good quality text which focuses on a specific keyword will be considered more appropriate. A large frequency of keyphrases based around this keyword will also be particulary important because it is unlikely that users will just be searching for the one keyword. A good tool to find out what other phrases are commonly search with keywords is the Search Inventory tool found here.
2. Page Design…
   The design and layout of the page itself is taken into consideration by search engines also. If a page has been designed correctly, conforming to current standards they will be deemed more appropriate.
   Having a formatted layout using headings and tags such as <h1>Keyword based text</h1> show the search engine that the content is focused around the certain keyword.
   There are also things you should avoid such as using frames within a page, having flash based content and having dynamic URL’s (for example http://homegrownforums.com/index.php?showtopic=16073).
3. Your title says it all…
   Another aspect search engines deem important is the title of the page, that appears between the <title></title> tag in your code and at the top of the browser. You should keep your title around 5-12 words which relate around your chosen keyword which will then be picked up by the search engine spiders.
4. Links are your missing link…
   If you think about it, if a website has a link to your website with the anchor text that features your chosen keyword, it is saying your website has worthy information about it - essentially doing the work of the spiders. Having a large number of popular websites link to you using a specific keyword or loosely related keywords will increase your Page Rank and essentially increase your search engine ranking. Although it can be very hard to get many websites to do this, so linking back to tip number one - provide good quality content which people deem worthy. One tip with this is to post about your site (not spam) on related forums and submit it to related directories.

Part 2 coming soon…