SEO or search engine optimization is one of the most popular forms of Internet marketing used by many webmasters today. The success of SEO is mainly because of its personalized targeting scheme. Personalized marketing is an extreme form of product differentiation as well as in marketing. Personalized marketing had been most practical in interactive media such as the internet in which search engines are used by users to find a specific product or service. SEO makes use of the search engine as a way to attract customers to visit their site, increasing the probability of sales and web popularity.
Main Use of SEO
SEO is mainly used as a way to increase a website’s visibility through the use of search engines, particularly with major search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Typically, the higher a website is ranked through a keyword, such as “Web design Philippines”, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. The process of increasing a website’s visibility in search engines is based entirely one the techniques used by SEO consultants.
Techniques in SEO
Like many other forms of Internet marketing strategies, SEO is also known for the many techniques used to make a website more popular in search engines. One of the most important part of every SEO campaigns is keyword research. SEO campaigns is heavily influenced by the keywords used for a website. Keywords are those commonly used by users to find a product or a service.
An example is when a user would like to hire an SEO company from the Philippines. Users would then use a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo! to find the service they’re looking for. They could then use keywords such as “SEO Philippines” or “SEO company Philippines” to find an SEO company in the Philippines. Websites heavily optimized for those keywords are usually ranked higher than those which haven’t been optimized. This is the reason why a good keyword research is very important in every SEO campaigns.
After the keyword research phase, the actual process of SEO would then begin. There are several popular techniques commonly used by many webmasters today which are commonly categorized between the on-page SEO techniques and off-page SEO techniques. On-page SEO techniques commonly include:
Meta tag optimization
Content optimization
Inside linking
While off-page SEO techniques include:
Link building
SEO copywriting
Blogging
Directory listing
And other forms of Internet marketing
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO techniques commonly involves changes and optimization within a website, from the content to the codes. Content is the most important part of on-page SEO. This technique involves the use of text and image contents to not only attract visitors but also search engine spiders. Keywords are then placed in strategic locations in the content, such as in the header.
Other than the content seen by visitors, HTML codes are common places for keywords. Meta tags, Title tags, and Alt tags are common places for keywords. The codes are also optimized to make it easier for the search engine spider to crawl through the codes. The use of inside linking is also important for easy navigation by both search engine spiders and visitors.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO is one of the most important part in any SEO campaigns. It involves techniques used outside of the website. Other than the on-page, off-page SEO factors are what makes every SEO campaigns successful. Part of its techniques include the many techniques in link building. According to many SEO Philippines consultants, link building is considered as the one of the oldest and most powerful technique used in off-page SEO. Over the course of its years, many techniques have been introduced and evolved from older methods. Popular methods used today include:
One-way Linking – It is a hyperlink that points to a website without any reciprocal link; thus the link goes “one-way” in direction.
Link Campaigns – A link campaign may involve mutual links back and forth between related sites, but it doesn’t have to require the reciprocation of links.
Link Popularity – A measure of the quantity and quality of other web sites that link to a specific site on the World Wide Web. Link popularity plays an important role in the visibility of a web site among the top of the search results. Indeed, some search engines require at least one or more links coming to a web site, otherwise they will drop it from their index.
Link Bait – Is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites.
Forum Signature Linking – This is the process of using forum communities that allow outbound hyperlinks in their member’s signature.
Blog Comments – Leaving a comment on a blog can result in a relevant do follow link to the individual’s website.
SEO copywriting is also part of the many off-page SEO techniques used by webmasters. This technique involves a textual composition for web page marketing that emphasizes skillful manipulation of the page’s wording to place it among the first results of a user’s search list, while still producing readable and persuasive content.
Directory listing, like link building, is one of the oldest forms of off-page SEO technique used today. This involves submitting a listing of their website to a web directory. Popular example of web directories are Dmoz which categorizes each website to their intended category, making it easier for both users and search engine spiders to index pages around the web.
