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So what exactly is SEO? The acronym SEO stands for “search engine optimization”  and  in simple terms means the process of optimizing a web site by improving the coding, design and off page factors thus making it attractive to search engines. Although it can be broken down into much smaller categories, basic SEO falls under two primary areas.

On Page Factors

The first area is ‘on page’ factors. If you have good ‘on page’ factoring, it means that the pages of your website are properly optimized to let the search engines know what your site is about and that you offer quality content and proper coding. In terms of importance ‘on page’ factors account for about thirty to forty percent of the SEO mix.

Off Page Factors

The second area contributing to good SEO results are the ‘off page’ factors. ‘Off page’ basically refers to links from other web addresses that are pointing to your site. Having other websites point to your site gives your pages a vote of confidence and, in turn, helps the search engines determine if your site is important and relevant. ‘Off page’ factors carry a lot of weight and account for about sixty to seventy percent of SEO relevance.

If you are new to SEO, learning what works and developing an effective strategy can be an intimidating proposition. But in reality, implementing only a few basic and simple tactics will go a long way towards helping your website look more attractive to the search engines and propel you to the coveted first page of search engine results.

Why Bother?

You might ask, why should I bother trying to get my site to the first page of search  engine results? The answer, my friend, is free traffic, which is personally my favorite kind! In search, there are two methods to get more traffic to your website. Paid search and organic search traffic.

Organic search results for a particular website appear on search engine radars because the search engines believe that particular website is very relevant to the specific search term. This type of search engine traffic is considered free traffic and is based on the credibility and authority of the website.

Paid search results are based on advertisers who are paying to have their sites show up when a particular search term is being researched. Usually, but not always, paid search results will be visibly segregated from organic results.

In commercial real estate, a common saying is location, location, location. If you want your brick and mortar business to prosper, you need to be in a location where there is heavy traffic that is looking for what you have to offer. The same is true  for your internet business. If your website is ranks well with the search engines, you will have a lot of free traffic from folks searching for what you have to offer. This is the allure of organic search results. With the exception of a little sweat equity, your traffic is basically free!

Once you understand the benefits and importance of free organic traffic it pays to learn about the major players. According to the Nielsen Reports in December 2009, Google Search accounted for 67.3% of all search traffic on the internet, followed by Yahoo! at 14.4%, with MSN/Windows Live/Bing Search coming in last at 9.9%. It is pretty easy to deduct from these stats that Google is the 800 pound gorilla of search engines. With this in mind, it is logical  that most of your optimizing efforts will be for the mighty G. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t keep an eye on your stat results from the smaller engines. Sometimes a key phrase that is difficult to rank high in Google will perform well in a less competitive search engine. It pays to keep your eye on your site traffic statistics to help uncover and develop a keyword diamond in the rough.

Now that we have “what is SEO” out of the way I will concentrate on how to get free traffic by using SEO. In future articles I will provide you with the Do’s and Don’ts of SEO in easy to understand language that will give you the tools to become your own SEO in-house expert.

My next article will explain Keywords and will answer the most common questions I hear. What are keywords? Why they are important and what tools should I use to find the right keywords for my website. Until then, may the Gods of prosperity shine down upon your website!

Rob Burns is an internet marketing expert. He also consults, speaks and writes about search engine optimization, internet marketing, and social media. For more of his irreverent tidbits on internet marketing visit Rob Burns Brain.com

This post is in: Search Engine Optimization, Traffic Generation

Tags: Search Engine Optimization, SEO