But what are search engine looking for?

If you shop around with SEO consultants, you’ll find a lot of similarities
with Feng Shui advisors. They’ll tell you to move things around, talking
about how the flow and energy in the room/website work, hand you the bill,
and you’re left crossing your fingers.

While the specifics of how search engines index content are a carefully
guarded secrets, there are a lot of things you can do to avoid making the
most common mistakes! Some basic principles can be applied without an
expensive consultant! Use a handful of free web analysis tools to find
your biggest blunders, and work from there. The best way to find SEO
evaluation and analysis tools is to search for them.

Here are some basics that should not be ignored:

TITLE TAG:Used to define the title of the document. Title tag wording will show up at the top left hand corner of each browser. Take a look at the title of the page you are reading right now. It is important to place your most valued keywords in your title tags. Search engines will typically display your title tags in search results. The title tag is also used as the words to describe your page when someone adds it to their “Favorites” or “Bookmarks” lists.

META TAGS: Sections of HTML code that tell search engines what you’re about. Your Meta tags should be focused and relevant to the content of your site, or you could get penalized.

HEADING TAGS:  With H1, H2, etc. tags, you are
telling search engines what is important about your page. Be sure to
have headings, and make sure they accurately describe what the page is
about.

ALT TAGS: It’s important to realize search engines can’t see images.
Your images should have ALT text, which explains what is in the picture.
ALT tags are also important for screen readers and other accessibility tools.

But how do you know if your SEO is working? After a week or so, do a search for one of your titles (or part of it), with quotes around it. If you see
your web page indexed with a desirable position, your effort was well worth
the time you spent “behind the scenes”.

On a final note, SEO is an ever changing craft. Stay updated with relevant
information found within webmaster forums and discussion groups.