The SEO field is so exciting I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I guess it must be the challenge of reaching the top and more importantly, staying there, that’s pulling me to invest time and resources in this field. SEO gives you the chance to take on those challenges, while making a few bucks along the way. I know the same challenge exists for most people. And why not, SEO is a metaphor for life :)
Some ask me why I want to share the knowledge. SEO is a fiercely competitive industry and it pays to keep ranking advantage information a secret. Well much of the knowledge I have was just “loaned” from some other SEO willing to share that information. The best way to repay his act would be to share the same information with others, and what better way than to blog about it. That way, I can reach and teach more people. It’s not like I’ll be teaching “from scratch”. I’ve always thought bloggers were the ones best qualified to take up and take advantage of SEO.
The other reason is economic. There are about 2 to 3 foreign-owned SEO operations in the country right now (which for now will remain anonymous). Still small, compared to that of India where most page optimization and link building contracts are being outsourced to. I take a look at the projects being posted at eLance and I smile. With so many talented copywriters, developers and marketers in the Philippines, I know we can become a force in the outsourced SEO industry. But to get there, we need to develop a lot of local SEOs. I hope the Practical SEO Tips series generate enough interest to attract some Filipinos to join the field.
So here’s part zero of my SEO tips/tricks/techniques series. I’ll share stuff I’ve picked up over the years that I’ve been into SEO (and there are a lot!). Mind you, the learning process never ends so we’re actually taking the journey together ;)
BTW, for those interested in learning more about advanced SEO techniques and SEM in general, please join the SEO Philippines mailing list. Send a blank email to seo-philippines-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Now enough of that mushy stuff. Roll up your sleeves. Time to get to work.
What is SEO?
Simply put, search engine optimization is a general term used to describe specific techniques that can be used on websites in order to rank favorably with search engines. SEO is generally used to “increase web visitor counts by ranking very high in the results of searches using the most appropriate keywords describing the content of your site” (Bruceclay.com).
Benefits of SEO
Optimized websites get three main advantages:
- SEO can bring high volume traffic
- SEO can bring targeted traffic
- SEO can increase brand awareness
SEO is sometimes used interchangeably with search engine marketing (SEM) but SEO is just one type of SEM, with pay-per-click (PPC) marketing being the other major type. Sometimes, SEO can also refer to the practitioner (as in a search engine optimizer).
Search Engines to Watch
Depending on who you ask, there are about 2 to 5,000 search engines out there. But for our purposes, we’ll only concentrate on the big 3: Google, Yahoo and MSN. These three search engines power 2nd-tier search engines like Altavista, AOL Search, Teoma, etc. To get a better understanding of the relationship between search engines, check out this relationship chart. And no, we won’t be optimizing for Yehey ;)
Why those three? Here’s why:
Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search were responsible for more than 93 percent of U.S. searches on the major engines last month, according to new data from Hitwise. Google accounted for 59 percent of searches across the major search engines last month–14 percent more than July of 2004. Yahoo! captured 29 percent of searches–about half as many as Google–while MSN trailed with 5.5 percent.
SEO Forums to Watch
SEO is a very forums-driven field. I guess because of the tight-lipped policy of the search engines, exchanging information in forums provide the next best thing. Like the search engines they follow, there are a lot of SEO forums out there, but the big ones are where the party’s at.
DISCLAIMER: Much of the SEO information out there is purely speculative. Search engines generally won’t confirm or deny SEO claims. Doing so would give away their algorithms and drive them out of business. Search engines change algorithms all the time so some of the stuff you’ll be reading won’t be necessarily up to date. Do your best to verify each resource. Also, rankings on search engine result pages (SERP) change too because of these algorithm changes. To maintain top rankings, constant monitoring and site experiments is the way to go. Good SEOs are the ones that are able to adapt to algorithm changes immediately. Lastly, don’t take anyone’s advice, including mine, as the truth. During the course of your journey, you will be faced with countless contradictory information in SEO. That’s the nature of the business. Take what you can then build on it.
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