SEO or Search Engine Optimization is an acquired skill that no webmaster can do without. The skills required take a good amount of study and practice. There’s lots of theory and application and there are some basics that need to be followed to get the best out of SEO.
1-Social networking. Social networking is the biggest thing to come along to SEO since html. The reason being is because of the math. One good post or picture can go viral at any given time and then the next thing you know your website has shot to the top of the search engines and people are piling in. This is why Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and the rest are so important. They’ve changed the way that traffic and notoriety is by placing it in the hands of the people. This way you not only get mounds of traffic but also targeted traffic which will convert and return. You can’t underestimate the power of social networking and it’s only getting larger. As new technologies emerge the social networks will be more efficient like what’s happening with Facebook recently. They’re cleaning house and getting rid of the spam pages and fine tuning their ad interface. Now you can get in there and target your ads better and get a better return.
2-Allow for feedback. Having links on your site that allows for visitors to leave comments, reviews, etc. can really be a big boost to your traffic and conversions. There are plugins and scripts that you can easily implement and on top of that you can ask that they share the content on your page via social networking. Have them hit those links to the search engine review site options so they’ll go to Google or Bing and drop a comment or review in your favor. These links will lead back to your site and look good in the eyes of the search engines.
3-Go mobile efficiently. Optimize your site so that it works well on the mobile platforms. Don’t underestimate the power of mobile as indicators are it will eclipse the standard desktop searches. Missing out on mobile efficiency is like cutting your own throat nowadays. It’s not that difficult to do as there is software to convert your site to mobile and manage it easily.
4-Know your tools. There’s a plethora of SEO software out there and a lot of it is free. Even the search engines offer software to use to optimize your sites. Look around for what others recommend and try them out. Don’t fall for that “our software will get you in the top ten of Google” nonsense. No one’s software can do that. Only ethically applied techniques and strategies will get Google and the other search engines attention.
5-Stay cool. Don’t get upset if your efforts don’t happen overnight. It takes time. Sometimes you’ll luck out due to either someone at the search engines will love your site and boost it up or some social networking thing of yours goes viral. You might have your site picked up by one of the big news services and announced on television or a popular television show might mention you. It’s all about staying the course and not letting yourself get depressed because numbers don’t shoot up as fast as you want. Do the right thing and let it ride.
6-Don’t play around with Google. Google has it’s algorithms developed by their experts to handle the constant barrage of spammers and irreptuable types. Dealing with millions of these crooks per day has Google and other search engines on their toes 24/7. Filling your website or blog with spammy terms and black hat scripts is suicide. Google will find out and then penalize you. If you’re representing a client you’ll end up probably getting sued by that client for the detriment of your dirty tricks. Instead, pick up the free Google tools that are available like Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. Do not abuse this privilege and you can gain more by contributing and chatting it up with other webmasters using these tools perhaps on Google Plus. The technologies behind the search engines are changing rapidly and pretty soon it will be next to impossible to put up an unethical site with unethical SEO techniques. You do not want to get blacklisted or hauled into court.