Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization is a fairly addictive, and absolutely necessary part of a webmaster's job.

I've picked out topics regarding SEO that I've found interesting and useful - so in this section, we're going to take a look at

• optimizing elements of your site

• search-engine specific optimization techniques...

• ...and some expert resources about SEO from around the web.

There's an emphasis here on Google, of course - it sends most of us the vast majority of our traffic.

If you're implementing search engine optimization strategies for Google, you'll pretty much be pleasing the other engines too... and if your positioning for a keyword is high at Google, you'll probably find that you're ranking well for it on other search engines.

Website optimization

Plan your pages
A focus on planning your site's structure and navigation.

How to optimize your pages
The essentials on how to optimize your pages by using keywords sensibly.

Meta tags optimization
Better metas explained here!

How to optimize title tags
Important little things, title tags - find out why.

Search engine optimization info and tips

Google PageRank
A simple analysis of PageRank and how important it is - or isn't!

Google's supplemental results
Do they exist - or are they just a figment of our imagination?

Search engine sitemaps
Find out what sitemaps are and how they can help you.

Organic optimization
Tips and tricks to keep things real when optimizing. Go organic!

More search engine traffic - basic SEO checklist
The process explained - research, planning, writing, optimizing...

SEO - does it work?

The only problem is, you're not the only one optimizing for your site's theme and keywords.

Plus, you're not 100% sure that you've cracked Google's algorithm...

But - using your common sense, finding out a bit about the search engine world, and doing that little bit extra for each page of your site can really pay dividends.

Some people believe SEO is dead;
there are indeed sites that rank very well that have never optimized for anything. No pages optimized for keywords, a site structure that would have an SEO specialist wringing their hands in despair and a seemingly slap-dash approach all round to sitebuilding. Yet these are sites the search engines love.

Why?

Probably because they have focused on their visitors - and they love those sites too. Never forget your visitors - as all your search engine optimization efforts will go to waste if you do!