The Cardinal Rules of SEO

Internet marketing is solely driven by SEO or search engine optimization. SEO refers to the process of gaining an impressive rank in search engine listings. This is very important as it decides the fate of a business. If a website is not SEO-friendly, it cannot expect to rule the online world and achieve what it has set out to. For this reason, it is imperative to follow the cardinal rules of search engine optimization so that you can ensure maximum traffic for your website and increase your profit prospects.

1. A website should be designed keeping theSEO factor in mind. This means the website should be rich in text. Search engines always look for content in a site, not intricate designs or fancy graphics. A website containing adequate text guarantees high visibility in search engine listings.

1. While including title tags on your website, do not restrict it to only the home page. Rather, every page of the site should boast of a title tag. Also, relevant keywords should be used in the title tags in each page depending on what the specific page is all about.

1. Each page of your website should be optimized for a particular keyword or key phrase and those placed appropriately in the content and heading tags. Special attention has to be given to ascertain the content does not become over-stuffed with keywords. You can also italicize or bold the keywords since search engines instantly recognize such texts.

1. The website content has to be updated from time to time in order to stay afloat in the game of internet marketing. It should be highly relevant and keywords should be used very wisely. This is one of the most basic rules of SEO.

1. There are many people who become obsessed with the Page Rank system of Google thinking it to be directly related to the performance of a website. However, you should remember that well-written content and good SEO are the primary factors that contribute to the success of a website. A website with an impressive PR but poor content and SEO cannot survive for long.

1. Use of frames, JavaScript and flash should be avoided unless it is absolutely imperative. This is because they are not SEO friendly and can affect your ranking significantly.

1. There should be alt tags for all graphics and images used on the website. Relevant keywords ought to be used in the alt tags.

1. The site’s internal architecture deserves special attention. All internal pages of your website should be linked back to the sitemap and homepage. A well-formed internal linking structure and good sitemap can ensure all pages of a website being indexed by a search engine.

1. It is good to manually submit a website for inclusion in search engine but indexing can take a lot of time in such a case. That is why you should search for sites that permit ‘Do Follow’ links and boast of a forum or blog which is regularly updated and is reasonably popular. It should be checked whether the blog permits links in signatures, posts or profiles. The main keyword should be used as the anchor text. This will increase your site’s chance of getting indexed.

1. Quality back links have to be built up to your site for effective SEO. One-way links are the strongest ones in this regard. You can ask site owners to put your link on their websites, include your site in vital directories and so on.