Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process used to improve the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” or “un-paid” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the philosophy used here is, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target various types of searches, including image search, local search, video search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives the website a web presence.
The leading search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Pages that are linked from other search engine-indexed pages do not need to be submitted because they are found automatically. Some search engines, notably Yahoo!, operate a paid submission service that guarantees to crawl for either a set fee or cost per click.
Such programs usually guarantee inclusion into the database but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. The two major directories, the Yahoo Directory and the Open Directory Project require manual submission and human editorial review. Google offers the Google Webmaster Tools, for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted for free to ensure that all the pages are found, especially pages that aren’t discoverable by automatically following links.
In order to avoid any undesirable content in the search indexes, webmasters can instruct spiders not to crawl certain files or directories through the standard robots.txt file in the root directory of the domain. Additionally, a page can be explicitly excluded from a search engine’s database by using a meta tag specific to robots. When a search engine visits a site, the robots.txt located in the root directory is the first file to be crawled. The robots.txt file is then parsed and will instruct the robot as to which pages are not to be crawled.
As a search engine crawler may keep a cached copy of this file, it may on occasion crawl pages a webmaster does not wish to crawl. Pages typically prevented from being crawled include login-specific pages such as shopping carts and user-specific content such as search results from internal searches. In March 2007, Google warned webmasters that they should prevent indexing internal search results because those pages are considered search spam.
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SEO Explained Simply
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it’s a method of optimizing webpages, content, and other web assets in order to achieve greater visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO makes it easier for people to find the content they are looking for and can increase a website’s traffic and overall visibility.
When you publish a blog post, you need to create SEO-friendly content that will appeal to both search engine algorithms and potential readers. You should work to properly optimize incoming links, improve keyword targeting, enhance the readability and usability of content, and ensure proper coding of the website.
To create SEO friendly content for a blog post, you should pay close attention to the following points:
• Use relevant keywords: Make sure that the title of your post, as well as the content itself, contains the proper keywords that are related to the post’s topic. This should generally be done with a balance of short-tail and long-tail keywords, which are more general and specific, respectively.
• Include links and images: Links provide useful additional information to your readers, as well as extra opportunities for your post to come up in search engine results. Images also draw readers’ attention and engage them, so include relevant images whenever appropriate.
• Follow SEO best practices: Ensure that the post’s title is a good representation of what the post is about, that the post contains logical sections, and that the content is error-free, grammatically correct, and easy to read. Make sure that your post follows basic SEO guidelines and pays attention to meta descriptions and other technical SEO elements.
By following these SEO tips for your blog, you can improve your post’s search engine visibility, making it easier for you to attract potential readers and build your blog’s presence online.