SEO Consult Blog

I was talking to a client the other day and we had a long conversation on SEO and I noticed he had a hard time understanding what I was talking about because of the terms I used. I was trying hard to explain these terms to him but I thought for a newbie investigating SEO a glossary term would be a good idea, so here goes.

SEO
Search engine optimisation is the art of improving the amount of traffic to your web site through the search engines IE Google Yahoo and MSN to name but a few.

SEM
Search engine marketing is the art of promoting you website around the Web though the many different form

Keyword
keywords are words or phrases placed within the content of your web site that identify the topic of you website to the search engines. Keywords are tricky…put too many on one page and you will suffer a ranking penalty. Have too little and they won’t have the desired effect.

Off page
This is all the SEO work which is not done by direct change to the code base of the site. Off page tactics can include such things as link building, directory submissions and social media linking as well as many other methods.

On page
These are changes done to the code base of a given web site to improve its ranking within a search engine.

Anchor text
This is the text contained within a link Ie Pay Per Click Management. The text in blue is the anchor text and should relate to your keywords.

Hidden text
This is where keywords are place on a website which have the same font colour as the background they are not thus hiding them from the user but not the search engines. You can get an instant ban if Google pick this up.

Ranking penalty
This is were the search engine drops your ranking within the search engine results page for a misdemeanour, such a keyword stuffing. A harsher penalty can be involved depending on the nature of the misdemeanour; things like hidden text on the page will get you an instant ban when Google picks it up.

Their are two many term to go in one blog so next week i will finish the collection in SEO Glossary Part Two. If you would like to know more in the mean time click here.

Acquiring backlinks to your website is an art form, requiring time, perseverance and a bucket load of patience. For this reason inbound links are priceless whilst being essential for good rankings.

We know that Google has cracked down on the purchasing of links, and has stepped up its algorithm on calculating the performance of your links, but realistically what is the best way to attract valuable incoming links?

Firstly Google is a self proclaimed ethical company; therefore they believe that poverty should not be an evil within the search arena. By this I mean a site that has little or no budget and a site that has a massive budget should not be jeopardised top listings. If your site is informative, resourceful and useful, then any links that you acquire are through genuine interest, whether it be social networking, bookmarking or directory listings.

The best methods for doing so are RSS feeds, blogs and article releases. Doing this on a regular basis with a rich source of information will attract repeat visitors, generating a buzz around your website, obviously something that Google and the other engines want to promote. By releasing a Press Release article you will also attract traffic and links legitimately.

The final method is the most tiresome but in my opinion most lucrative, this technique is to approach websites individually and requesting a link to your site. If it is an ethical company that can benefit by having your link on their site, then you may not even have to pay for the privilege.

These are by no means a quick fix, but having a validation free, well structured site will encourage the spiders to return more frequently, and all the above methods will justify high rankings over time. This is by far the most pure search engine optimisation possible, the results take slightly longer but the rewards are greater, something that we at SEO Consult firmly believe in.

For a completely free analysis of your site use this SEO Analysis form.