Search engine optimization refers to any practice related to the end goal of improving your web site’s position in the search engine ‘free found listing.’ The reason you want all of your web pages, or at least your most important web pages, search engine optimized zeros in on what nearly every website owner wants: More new business contacts generated from Web traffic!

According to current search engine ranking requirements, keywords and content on the same page must match a particular set of criteria. Basically, this means – for example – that for every 500 words on a page, you might only be able to write the same keyword 5 or 6 times to maintain the balance required by search engines. But simply adding the keyword to the body of the page is not the only factor. The page title and description (among others) are also factors. It’s obvious that every keyword you have for your site can’t be positioned accurately in each relevant place on one page. Each keyword, keyword phrase, or keyword set needs its own page to effectively return web traffic to your site.

Keyword stuffing is a big ouch! Repeating your keyword 30 or 40 times in the content is called keyword stuffing, and it gets your web page penalized or banned altogether from search results. It’s just common sense not to engage in keyword stuffing. Limit the number of keywords on each of your web pages, and develop individual web pages for each of your most important keywords.

Requirements and standards change rapidly. At this writing, if the web page is unique and if crawlers determine that the page offers viewers substantive content, it passes the first test for ranking.

It goes something like this. The number of words the public sees on a page is analyzed by search engine robots to determine if there are enough words to be valuable to a web visitor who reads the page. If there are enough words on the visible part of the web page, then the robot evaluates the hidden text (called the source code). It looks for key words, descriptions, web page titles, link content and image descriptions just for starters. If the data qualifies, this invisible web page crawler then compares the overall page content with your entire website to look for a consistent theme. In other words, you can’t publish a page about your cat on a site that sells chess sets without breaking the consistent theme rule. Every website must have a consistent theme weaved in and out every web page.

If the web pages pass this evaluation, the robot zips on to calculate all the data in various formats. For example, are there too many keywords on the page as compared to the total number of words on the web page? A comparison of image descriptions and link content also plays a roll. Once all of the various calculations are complete – and this all happens in seconds – the calculated percent of substance is compared to all the other website pages on the Internet asking for the same keyword status. Then the robot determines web page ranking position to be displayed in the search engine ‘free found listing’ when that one key word is used by a web searcher.

It is easy to see why search engine optimizing web pages is a complex, labor-intensive task that requires up-to-date knowledge of search engine standards and requirements, skill in applying the words to comply as closely as possible with top ranking position, and common sense so as to not go overboard (keyword stuffing a page) getting that web page penalized or banned altogether.

Pages that use acceptable standards applicable for each search engine are rewarded in time with a valuable ranking. A top ranking has many benefits for your business, from visibility, free clicks and web traffic to increased sales revenue.

The bottom line is to publish web pages that meet search requirements so visitors can find your page. If it is too time consuming for you to successfully optimize the content on your web site, or if your search engine ranking appears buried on page 99 of the free found listing, you may want to consider a professional SEO service provider. Start by asking an experienced search optimization writer to review 3 or 4 of your existing web pages. Listen to her suggestions and apply them. If budget is limited, engage her services to only optimize your most important web pages. Track results over the following 90 – 120 days.