One of the hottest topics on the Internet is that of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There is no question that optimizing your site to the extent possible is an important function. The operative phrase here, however, is "to the extent possible". You can burn a whole lot of time and energy trying to follow every last "tip" you get for SEO (nevermind the fact that some of these tips turn out to be contradictory). You can also spend big bucks on those who will claim to increase your PR. Or you can do most of it yourself. In this article. I will explain some of the fundamentals of SEO.

The actual programs that go out and look at all the sites on the web to collect, classify, and rank them for the search engines are called "spiders". They are also know as "bots", "crawlers", and a number of other names. Basically speaking, the spiders look through your site to see what you have. The keys to successfully convincing the bots that your site is "worthy" are simple and straightforward.

CONTENT: First and foremost, it's all about content. We are talking about text content here; relevant content. Search engines love content rich sites. Flash intro screens may be all the rage, but they tend to be a problem for search engines. They can't pick up any discernible content from Flash intro screens. Same thing applies to sites that have more graphics than content. Pleasing to look at, but they don't do anything to help your page ranking. As it relates to SEO, you can actually wind up shooting yourself in the foot by making your site too flashy.

So when you design your site, make sure it includes lots of text-based information. You also want to make sure that the keywords you believe people will search for are used within that text. If at all possible, you also want to have more than just a few pages. A minimum of 20 pages would be my recommendation. Spiders just love to crawl around interconnected pages. A one or two "sales page" might do great in the Traffic Exchanges, but the spiderbots will be left feeling unfulfilled. A great technique is to use the Google or Yahoo keyword selector tools to determine what people are actually searching for. DON'T guess when it comes to this! Use the tool. Most of the time, what you think people are searching for is not reflected in the actual statistics.

Spiders also love "fresh" or new content. Sites that don't change much tend to lose page ranking. So try to add new content as often as possible. Two great techniques for this are discussion forums and blogs. If you can get other people to participate in your forums and blogs, they in effect, provide content for you on an ongoing basis. Another possibility is to provide RSS feeds on your page related to your business. But forget the javascript based feeds. All they do is provide linkbacks to their sites, not yours. Your best bet is to use a PHP or ASP based RSS feed that puts the content on YOUR page.

META TAGS: Most spiders don't really pay that much attention to meta tags, but even so, you want to use them. Your Title tag should be short and concise; no more than 60 characters or so. Same thing for the description tag: short, concise, and containing some of your keywords. Maximum length shouldn't be more than around 160 characters.

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