What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a multi-layered strategy of improving the visibility of your website to rank high in search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing.
If your website does not rank on page 1 for industry-specific terminology or the goods and services you provide, you will be losing considerable money to your competitors.

Content is King
In the competitive world of SEO, content is king. Some may view this as a cliched term, but to the developers of the Google algorithm, this is a true statement. A website full of engaging, relevant content is critical to gaining a competitive advantage over the competition.
However, the way this content is presented can be the difference between a page 1 listing in the search engines and a website that is nowhere to be found online.
The content on your website should be full of keywords and phrases but at the same time sound natural when read aloud.

Backlinks are Queen
Throughout the centuries, behind every great king stood a strong queen. In SEO, the story is no different.
Backlinks are queen. While your website may be full of relevant content, there are other websites in your industry niche that go that extra mile to make sure they are in the top fold of page 1 in the search engines. This is where the behind the scenes work of the queen comes into play.

Earning Quality, Relevant Backlinks

Backlinks are the links on other websites which point to your website.
Google’s algorithm uses the number of quality backlinks a website has earned or achieved as a major factor in determining that website’s ranking.Websites with a high amount of quality backlinks show up higher on the search engine results pages than websites of businesses offering similar goods or services.

Don’t Buy Backlinks…Ever!!!
Lurking on the Internet are opportunists who will promise you thousand of backlinks really cheap. These poor-quality links are a waste of money. Google will treat your backlinks as spam links and your website will be penalized and possibly be banned from Google’s search engine results pages (SERPS).

“Do-Follow” vs. “No-Follow” Links

A “no-follow” backlink tells Google not to follow the link while crawling the website.
Thus, if you place a backlink on a site that is “no-follow”, you are wasting your time and receiving no benefits from that particular website. However, earning do-follow links is important!

Earning Inbound Links

Although you can get backlinks from many websites, Google assigns greater value to editorial inbound links. One great way to earn backlinks is by participating in your business niche community on blogs, forums and message boards. Don’t be the person who spam bombs comments or comments on websites that are irrelevant to your line of business. Share your wealth of knowledge and expertise in a polite, professional way and become part of the conversation on a regular basis. People will then trust your advice and look to you as a subject matter expert. In turn, you will earn their respect and receive inbound links to your website.