What Makes Good SEO Content: Search Engine Optimization for Beginners

I have been fascinated for awhile in what it takes to produce good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) content. I am not writing as an expert in the subject. I myself, am a beginner. If you write web content, your goal is to get page views. I know this is not the only reason we write, but we all need and want page views. Using good search engine optimization techniques can help you write content that will be picked up by search engines such as Google.

What is SEO?

First of all, let's consider what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is. Millions of users search the internet every day looking for information. The higher your content is positioned in the top pages of search engines or directories, the greater chance of more visitors reading your content. Some of the top search engines include Google, Yahoo, Lycos and Hotbot. There are many others.

How Do Robots and Spiders Work?

Search engines use programs called "robots" or "spiders" that analyze your content. The "bots" decide what your content is about and add your data to its index. Your content is evaluated and scored. The search engine bot reads all the text including hyperlinks. When an internet visitor queries words that are relevant to your content, the idea is that your article or website will be pulled up in their search. The more often your page or content is visited, the higher your ranking in the search engine pages.

Title

Your title is a very important indexing tool. The search engine looks very carefully at the words of your title. For instance, if someone searches "Inexpensive Bed & Breakfast Inns in Mobile" and those same words are included in your title, there is a very good chance of your article appearing in the first page of their search.

Keywords

The key words you list for your article are also very important. You should use key words that are included in your content that people would use in a search about the subject. It sometimes take a little effort to come up with the correct key words. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is searching for information. What phrases would they use in their search? You may also use related search word items for key words. The "bot" will recognize that your content is related to another "similar" term and may index your article in this way.

Subheads

The use of good subheads in your article is also good for search engine optimization. Headings structure and organize your content and make it easier for analysis by spiders or robots. It is generally good writing to use subheads in articles as it makes it easier for the reader and makes for a more interesting article.

Spamming

You should avoid over repetition of keywords. Some search engines have a limit to the number of times key words can be used and if you go over this limit, this is considered "spamming" and your article or content will never get indexed.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Good SEO writing is a continuous learning process! Happy writing!

Sources:

http://www.macronimous.com/resources/site_promotion.asp

http://www.metamend.com/search-engine-bots.html

http://www.peterleehc.com/blog/seo/how-to-write-good-seo-content