How SEO Works

Search engines like Google have software that lets them send out a bot that they call a “spider.” This spider is constantly surfing the web at very high speeds. The spider is constantly scanning web content and looking for web links.

Every link that the spider finds lets the spider find and scan a new page. That's called indexing. Indexing means the spider found your page from a link somewhere, scanned your content, and added it to Google's ultra enormous database of content.

From that huge pool of content Google needs to determine how to display that information on it's search engine results pages (SERP's).

Thats where the famous yet mysterious Google algorithm comes in to play. Every search engine has their own algorithm that analyzes all the content in there database and determines how it will be displayed.

That's where search engine optimization (SEO) gets started. Through years of trial and error many of us in the SEO industry have learned what parts of their indexed content the search engines place more importance on.

The two most important are your title tag (a piece of html code inside your website that tells the search engines what your page is about) and incoming links to your website. This takes us into the next chapter about whats important.

Whats Important

Title Tag

Every webpage is made up of complicated HTML codes. What you see are just words and images. However, behind the scenes there is actually a complex architecture of “tags” that tell your browser how to display your web pages information.

For SEO purposes there is no more important tag in your HTML then the Title tag. It's the tag that tells the search engines what your web page is about. Further more it is also the title of your listing in the search engines.

Those items circled in red are title tags. Search engines are using them as the link for people to click on in order to land on your web page. It's important to put your keyword or keyphrase as close to the front of your title tags as you can.

You can use multiple keywords or phrases in your title tag. However, it needs to stay under 65 characters long or else the search engines will use an ellipse (...). Which makes the link look less attractive.

Speaking of making the link attractive you have to play a little bit of balancing game with your title tag. It needs to have the best keyword/phrase possible for your page but also still “sell the click.”

For example a bad title tag would look like...

SEO | Search Engine Optimization | Link Building | Backlinks

A good title tag would look like...

Idaho SEO Experts Can Increase Website Traffic For You

The first title tag may rank better in some cases. However, it will get a lower click through rate. Which the search engines are tracking on a small level as well. Plus, the real reason we are doing SEO is so people will click through to our sites right... So sell the click!

Also if you are creative and take your time writing out several different title tags you can actually fit in more keywords/phrases. The second title tag is actually one of mine and I rank #1 for Idaho SEO Expert(s).

Here's all the keywords I have a good shot at ranking for with the second title tag; Idaho SEO, Idaho SEO Expert, Idaho SEO Experts, SEO, SEO Expert, SEO Experts, Website Traffic, Increase Website Traffic.

In the SERPs right under the title tag is usually a small description of what that site is about. This information is pulled from another tag in your HTML called your meta description tag.

Meta Description

In the old days of SEO your meta description tag and your meta keywords tag used to carry a lot more weight. Today they are used mostly just to tell people what your listing is about.

If you don't write a good meta description into the code of your website then you are leaving it up to the search engines to tell everyone what your site is about. This could result in gibberish because the search engines just pull in random text from the content on your web page to fill the description.

Having a good meta description tag can dramatically increase the amount of click thru's to your site. The best meta descriptions tell the search engine browser the benefits of them visiting your site.

For example...

Visit Our Site Now And Download A Free Report On How You Can Get More Website Traffic By Having Front Page Listings In Google. 800-758-2651

You don't have to include a phone number if it doesn't pertain to your needs. I like to add one to mine since I am wanting them to call me. By having it in my description I may get calls from people right away since usually my phone number is the only one showing on that SERP.

Changing title tags and meta description tags is called on-page SEO. Because your are manipulating parts of your actual web page to increase the effectiveness of your search engine marketing. The other part is called off-page SEO and it's the most important part of SEO.

Incoming Links (backlinks)

Earlier in this report I told you about the lie that you need a lot of content to rank high in the search engines. That I have one page websites with under 300 words of content ranking in #1 positions.

Incoming links are how I do that... Every incoming link you have pointed at your website is like a popularity vote. The more popular you are the higher you go.

Incoming links may also be referred to as backlinks or one way links. And they are by far the most powerful thing in your SEO arsenal. A handful of backlinks from the right sources could be all you need to instantly be on the first page of Google.

There are 4 main classes of links that you can get. I'll list them in order of their power and then i'll reference them by tiers from now on.

To read about the 4 different classes of links and the rest of SEO Lies please purchase your copy today. I hope you've enjoyed this free chapter!