Don't Let SEO Intimidate You
SEO is a fancy term to simply describe how material posted to the Internet is formatted. SEO can be applied to content (text) on websites and blogs, images (pictures), and even the coding “behind the scenes” called "meta data." Meta data consists of descriptive text and phrases that is contained in "meta tags" and affects how the content is read and indexed by search engine robots.How is SEO Accomplished?
SEO is largely accomplished by writing “meta data.” Meta data are store in “meta tags” and serve as descriptive information about the page, that the site visitor does not see, but search engine robots look for, “read” and interpret, and then use to index your site.
To see an example of a website’s source code which usually lists the meta data, simply right click your mouse while on any webpage and then click “view source.” While some websites do block your ability to see the source in this way, most do not.
To understand meta data you do not have to be able to understand HTML. The fastest way to find meta data (if the source code page is too confusing) in Windows it to:
- Click “Edit”
- Click “Find”
- Enter “meta”
- Click “Find Next”
Using this technique is a great way to “study” keywords and other meta data that is driving traffic to your competitor’s websites!
SEO is also affected by how you create your content (the information seen on the web or blog page), and even in how you present titles and subtitles. For example, content and paragraph titles (seen on the page) identified as “headers” are weighed as more important than simply putting titles in call capital letters. Titles that have a larger front, or are bolded, also carry more weight.
Important things to consider when developing SEO include:
- Domain Names and Subdomain Names
- URL Names
- Creating Meta Titles
- Meta Descriptions
- Meta Keywords
- Content
- Headers and Titles
- Images and Tables
- Site Index
