I posted this article on associated content a while ago and thought I would republish this basic answer to the question "What do I have to do for Search Engine Optimization and PageRank?" Attempting to make money online will eventually lead you on the path to creating a website of your own. Learning Search Engine Optimization is absolutely necessary for any chance of success. The following is by no means an in-depth guide, but rather an introduction for those just starting to create websites.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of developing your webpages in a manner that increases targeted traffic from search engines specific to your website's topic. Entire companies are built upon offering a search engine optimization service. Therefore, SEO is a technique that has to be adopted in order to receive an adequate amount of visitors to make a website meaningful.

What is a Search Engine?

A search engine is an organic crawling keyword based listing service for websites. Without them, it would be near impossible for anyone to find anything on the internet. For instance, Google and Yahoo are the premier search engines on the web, and their internet crawler lists sites according to various criteria. The better your website's optimization, the higher your site's pageranking and traffic will be. For example, if I search Google for "search engine optimization", I want this article to be listed on the first page rather than the 30th that no one sees. The layout, titles, headings, meta tags, keywords, descriptions, backlinks, and content of your website all play a part in determining your position within search engines. Prior to building a website, you will need to determine the keywords and phrases that best sum up your content. Write down 5 ideal keywords related to your site's topic and go to Google’s Keyword Tool.. Type in the 5 words or phrases and click the "Get Keyword Ideas" button. The resulting list should give you a variety of keywords associated with your website's subject, the average search volume, and the Adwords advertiser bidding competitiveness of that keyword. Your ideal targeted keyword should have high search volume and low advertiser competition. Choose 5 or so with the best volume/competition ratio, and search engine optimize your website with these terms.

Search Engine Optimization with Titles

A website title is the text you see at the top of your browser, and is the first thing to load. Search engines hold this piece of text in high regard when it comes to evaluating your site's ranking. Therefore, you're most valuable keyword describing a page's content should be put in the title. For example, this article uses "Search Engine Optimization and PageRank" as a title. I used this title to target those searching the web for "search engine optimization" or "pagerank."

Search Engine Optimization with Meta Tags

Meta tags are unseen html keyword and description elements that categorize your website. Meta Tags are used by search engines to gather a list of keywords, and to provide a description of your website. If you right click in this window, and click on "view source", you'll find the html working behind the scenes. Search for the term "meta name="description" or "keywords" and you will find the resulting code. This is what generates the description within search engines:

Search Engine Optimization with Headers

Headers are subtitles used throughout the webpage to categorize various parts of an article. Headers assist in separating related topics, make for an easier reading experience, and are used by search engines to determine keyword pagerank and subject matter. Second only to the page's title, headers are an ideal place for your chosen Keywords. Throughout this article, most of my headers contain "Search Engine Optimization" which reinforces the search engines assumption of what this page is about. Simply enclose your headers in html code using the bracketed h tag and highlight it using fonts or colors to fit your design. For multiple headers, just change the number following the "h".

Search Engine Optimization with Content

The content is the meat of your website; the information being offered on your site's subject matter. Search Engine crawlers scan your page's content and through complex algorithms determine, along with the title and headers, what the website is about. Appropriate keyword density in the title, header, and content will result in a better pagerank. However, don't spam keywords in any place. Search engines will either ban you or reduce your website's ranking if caught. Write everything with readers in mind, and attempt to place your keywords in locations that are pleasant to read. Make sure your first keyword choice appears in the title, a header or two, and 5 or so times throughout the content and at least a few variants in the first paragraph for it to be effective.

Search Engine Optimization with Design and Link Structure

When a search engine crawler spiders your site, it uses a complicated system to index all the pages. If you don't have a decent navigation system, sitemap, or link structure your ranking will suffer. I suggest supplementing any scripted menus with text links elsewhere to avoid complications, and never use frames for any reason. You should also always have a sitemap, directly linked from your main page, with links to every single page on your site. I recommend creating an XML Sitemap and submit it directly to the search engines. This allows the web crawler to easily index your entire site from one page. In addition, when creating in-content links use descriptive terms. For example, instead of "for search engine optimization tips click here," use "see search engine optimization tips for more." Titles, meta tags, headers, content keywords, web design, and link structure, all have to work in concert for effective search engine optimization. If you're having difficulty, you should definitely inquire with a SEO consultant. The other component of search engine optimization is called pagerank, which is determined by search engine optimization and external sites that link to yours called backlinks. Gaining pagerank is all about following the SEO tips contained herein, creating good content, and then having other websites link to yours. Think of it like a voting scheme. The more votes (links from other sites) the more popular your site is considered and thus a higher pagerank and search engine position.

Afterall, that is the ultimate goal.