Search Engines Rankings and Search engine optimization

Major search engines rank content based on a variety of factors, the most important of which are content and links.

Your content needs to be 'search engine optimized', but it also has to be 'user optimized' The search engines developed algorithms and refine them constantly in an effort to ensure when someone 'Googles' something, they get what they need.

This mean ultimately that SEO and UO will be one and the same - but we're not quite there yet. In the interim, the focus is on optimizing valuable content for search engine compatibility, while creating links to your site to vouch for its worth.

Content should be informative and easy to read, and either deliver the goods or point the user at the goods (often products or services sold by the website). In order for the search engines to know what the site and each page on it is about, keywords must be used in the text.
Many webmasters used to 'stuff' their text until it reached a heavy 'keyword density'. This lead to extremely stilted, unfriendly content that users would take one look at and turn their backs on. However, it made pages rank high on search engine result pages (SERPs), until the engines figured out the loophole and started demanding outside input to validate each sites' worthiness.

The era of linking took off and revealed its own set of loopholes. Technically, a link from another site is like a vote of confidence - a virtual nod that your site is relevant and valuable. Unfortunately, the same unscrupulous webmasters tried stuffing the ballot box by setting up 'link farms' or trading links back and forth in various reciprocal or three-way schemes to make their sites look better than they really were.

The search engine Google plugged that hole by assigning PageRank and instituting the practice of letting sites already known to be of value pass a little 'link-juice' down to new sites. This led to a spate of link buying as the webmasters scrambled to get 'authority links' for their sites.

Eventually PageRank became so manipulated that Google downgraded the importance of PageRank, and went back to relevancy; investigating links to make sure they came from sites that shared something in common with the site being linked to.

Both content and linking must be balanced properly for a website to succeed. Sometimes this is hard for a beginner to wrap their head around, and getting help is the wisest option.

There are pitfalls to beware of when hiring someone to do professional seo for your site. Two of the most important to avoid are falling for the promise to 'Make your site #1 on Google' or to 'make your company name rank #1 on Google'.

Everyone wants to be #1. However, what good does it do to be #1 if no-one ever sees it? If your company is new, no-one will be searching for it by name anyway, and if you rank for an obscure keyword phrase that gets two hits a week, even a 100% conversion won't even pay hosting fees.

Trying for months to rank for a highly competitive keyword is sometimes a waste of time until sufficient linking is built up, and targeting a keyword with slightly less search and a lot less competition could make you a decent income. Be a big fish in a little pond!

A better measurement of SEO service is a guarantee of a certain ROI or increase in conversions over a specified time period. Remember, SEO properly done takes time, so be prepared to wait patiently for results.