Now that you have a web site, you may be feeling like it isn’t doing you any good. Well, it could be because people are not able to find it in search engine search results.
When people are looking for a particular good or service, they will typically type a keyword, or phrase into a search engine, that will hopefully help them find a retailer, or service provider that can meet their need. For instance, if their car breaks down, they might type in “Mechanic”, or “Car repair” into the search box. The search engine, then returns a list of web sites that it thinks best fits the needs of the customer based upon the keywords they typed in.
Organic Search Engine Optimization is simply the process of presenting content on your web site that the search engines would consider highly relevant to someone typing in a particular keyword or phrase into their search box. The algorithms the search engines use to determine what is relevant and what is not are very complex, and are constantly changing so there is no guaranteed method for being the number 1 result for a particular keyword or phrase (unless you are willing to pay for it, which is a different topic altogether).
Some basic rules that the search engines will use are:
Keyword placement, Keyword frequency, and the importance of the keyword (usually whether or not an <h1> or other header tag is used.)
And Link popularity (how many other web sites link back to your content, and how reputable those sites are).
Of course there are many other variables that can affect your ranking for a particular keyword or phrase so it is usually best to consult with an SEO professional about improving your ranking. Getting a number one, or even first page result for a popular keyword should more than pay for any costs involved. However, don’t confuse this with SEM (Search Engine Marketing) or Pay-per-Click Marketing which is where you pay for a desirable listing result and pay the search engine for each click through to your site. It is actually a very good, and focused method of marketing but you should try to get as many free clicks as possible first.
