Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

to turn and un-blur a grainy image from a security camera just the way you need it. In

the real world, we just aren’t there yet. Search engines remain very literal creatures,

unable to improvise very much beyond the exact words, even the exact syntax of

words, they are given. Which leads us to our next Eternal Truth.

Text Matters

You probably

can

etch this one in stone:

The entire process of a web search is text-based, even when the item being

sought isn’t text at all, like a picture or video file. The search engines care about how

much text you have on your site, how it’s formatted, and, of course, what it says.

In Parts II and III, we will walk you through the process of keyword selection and

placement. To help prepare you for these tasks, you should know some Eternal

Truths of text.

Keyword Selection Is Key

Careful keyword selection is the heart of the SEO campaign. Site owners who are on

top of their SEO game have a list of top-priority keywords that they use on their site,

with reasonable repetition, in strategic places. We never let a site go for six months

without checking the keywords to make sure they’re still appropriate. If a site’s focus

or positioning changes, new keywords are in order. If a company adds new products or

services, new keywords are in order. If a new competitor comes on the scene, it’s worth

peeking into its site for new keyword ideas. Even if none of these changes takes place,

regular keyword analysis is in order because search behavior and trends may change

as well.

SEM: ?

When we were thinking about possible titles for this book, we had to take a little bit of our own

advice:look into the minds of your users. Most of our potential readers would use the term

Engine Optimization

(SEO) to describe what we do, so we stuck with it for our title. But

SEO

is actu-

ally an outdated term. Industry insiders like to label our work either Search Engine Marketing

(SEM) or just Search Marketing.

Continues

Pearl of Wisdom:

Text is Eternally Important in search.

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