In the search for increased rankings and sales, many webmasters and site owners get distracted by the “latest trends” and “secret tactics” and forget about the value of basic site optimization. Here are some tried and true site optimization tips and resources.

Keywords

• Research keywords with tools like wordtracker.com and ensure their presence in unique title tags, on-page headings, in text links between pages, as image alt text and within the body copy – but don’t overdo it
• Keep keywords in mind when categorizing your site

Relevant, fresh content

• Add content regularly and make sure it’s in a text format readable by search engine bots
• If no one can find your site, it doesn’t matter how great the design and functionality are

Link out – link in

• Link to a few authoritative, information-rich sites
• Never stop getting one-way links from related web sites
• Get links from pages that are often updated but where your link stays the same
• Vary the text used to link to your site
• Encourage deep links to categorical content from related web sites
• Encourage others to bookmark your site

For more in depth articles on basic web site optimization for search engines visit:

• Intro to Search Engine Optimization - oldie but goodie
• Ten things you need to know about SEO

Additional books on optimizing websites and search marketing:

• SEO Book - Aaron Wall
• Search Engine Marketing Kit - Dan Thies
• The Nitty Gritty of Writing for Search Engines - Jill Whalen
• Search Engine Marketing Book - Mike Grehan

Tags: SEO, Search Engine Optimization