Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization isn't voo-doo. It's simply making all the elements in your site to work together. Beware of any company that claims for $xxxx a month, you'll be on top of Google.
A helpful resource provided by Google.
Here are the main ingredients to a good ranking.
1) Find keywords. Pick a list of words relevant to your business. Which words do you think your target audience would use to search for you? Focus on those words. Then pick one word (or phrase) to use on one page of your site. A general word such as "remodeling" alone won't put you on the top list. Portal sites such as ServiceMagic are too large to compete with. However, "remodeling yourtown yourstate" will zero the search to a geographical area, and has a better chance of having a good result.
2) Keywords in Page Title. The Page Title is one of the most important things that Google and other search engines evaluate to determine what is on a web page. Put your keyword or phrase in the title, keep it short.
3) Keywords in Page URL. Google and other search engines also use the text of the URL of the page to determine the content of the web page. A page named kitchen-remodeling.htm is more valuable than kitrem.htm.
4) Keywords in Metadesciption. Write human-readable key phrases. The description should make sense and the keyword metadata should focus on your keyword or phrase. Google doesn't use keywords in metatags, but some other search engines do.
5) Keywords in your H1 text. The H1 text is the title of an article or some larger bold text at the top of your page. Google puts extra importance on the words in the H1 text.
6) Keywords in the page content. Putting the keyword in your page content also signals to search engines that the page is actually about the keyword BUT must make sense. "Packing" keywords won't help if a person can't read it.
