Search Engine Optimization For Dummies – How To Get Free Traffic By Ranking #1 In The Search Engines

If you are wanting to get free traffic to your site, wanting to optimize your site for a pay per click campaign, or just want to be cool by ranking #1 in the search engines, then you will love this search engine optimization for dummies post.

In this post I will give you simple, effective and efficient ways to rank #1 for your keywords using ethical search engine optimization.

I will also apply the 80/20 rule. This means that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. I will not go into every single little part of SEO because that is pointless. For one, it would take waaay to much time and space to cover it all plus I don’t run my business that way. I focus on the most important task that bring in the greatest results.

For most of your keyword terms you will only need to apply the 80/20 rule to get more than 80% of your potential free traffic with less work and less headache.

That’s what it’s all about anyway. Being able to get the most results, make the most money, in the least amount of time and with the least amount of effort.

Yes, you can squeeze out a few more visitors by learning the other stuff, but it’s not needed. Focus on the few activities that will bring you the greatest return. That’s how you win. While others are focusing on stuff that doesn’t matter you will be flying by them in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

Search Engine Optimization for Dummies – How To Get Free Search Engine Traffic

First let’s talk about the two types of Search Engine Optimization:

There is on-page optimization and off page optimization.

On-Page Optimization is simply doing what is needed on your page so that it has the greatest potential to rank well in the Google, Yahoo, and Bing (MSN).

If we apply the 80/20 rule here, here are the most important on-page optimization factors that you need to pay attention to:

Put your keywords in your URL. (If you already own the URL obviously there is nothing that you can about that.)

Put your keyword in the title of the site and in each post. Yes, the keywords that you put for the “entire site” is different than the keyword you put in a post. Each blog post should be targeting a specific keyword phrase.

Put the keyword phrase that you are targeting in the first sentence (or at least the first paragraph), sprinkled throughout the body of the post, and in the last paragraph. Don’t use the keyword more than 4 times per 100 words.

Try and bold the keyword at least one time in the post. I usually do this in a sub-headline or something.

Intralink blog post that are already on your site with targeted anchor text links. Basically link to another related page on your site with text that describes that page and that you want to be ranked for. Meaning if you want to rank a page for how to make money on the Internet, then you need to link to it like that. Intralinking is a overlooked strategy that can really help you rank well.

One last thing about on-page optimization. Target only one keyword per post. In some cases you can target two, but that’s it. Google and Yahoo have shown marketers time and and time again that if you want a high quality score for a page and high relevancy for the keyword that you are targeted, which does effect your ranking, then you need to target one keyword per page. This will make ranking easier.

If you don’t, then you will have a low quality score and need a lot more links and quality links in order to rank for a phrase than you normally would if you targeted one phrase per post.

For the most part that is the 20% of on-page optimization that you need to do that will bring you 80% (or more) of the results.

Now here’s the most important factor of all. On-page won’t mean crap unless you have great off-page optimization.

This is were the ranking really comes from. This is why I don’t believe that you should post more than 1-2 times per week unless you just have ample time to do so, because you need to be spending that time getting links.

That’s what off-page optimization is all about, and this is where you should be spending 80% of your time. Most people spend so much time with posting and on-page optimization and then wonder why they have no ranking. I learned this the hard way.

You have to spend time getting links to your post and to your homepage or you won’t get any ranking.

Off-page search engine optimization is simply the art of getting targeted anchor text links pointing at a page. The more targeted, high quality links that you have pointing at your page, the higher you will rank for a particular search term. If you want to rank #1 for a keyword phrase you have to know how to get one way backlinks. If you can master this, you can master getting free traffic.

Don’t over do it though. It has to be natural. You don’t want to go out and get links and every single one says the exact same thing. That’s not natural.

You don’t want to get hundreds of links of the same kind, out of the blue, pointing to one page and never get anymore links or get any links to any others page on your site.

You need a variety of links, you need them to come in consistently, you need them to point to different pages on your site, you need high and low PR links, and you need various keyword targeted backlinks pointing to you. This is natural. This is how you link… and you need to intralink your own post.

Off-page optimization is where you should spend your time. This is what brings in the rankings and thus the free traffic and thus the money.

Go out and get links pointing to your site for keyword terms that you want to rank for, get them to point to several pages on your site, get them coming in day in and day out for the phrases that you want to rank for, don’t quit, don’t give up, don’t stop. Just do it. You will rank.

WARNING: Keyword Research

Keyword research is critical. It’s not just about getting traffic to your blog, it’s about getting targeted traffic. This is why search engine traffic is the best traffic that you can get. Your market is out searching, looking, trying to find a solution. Your information is that solution.

…But if you don’t target the right keywords they may never find you.

If you target the right keywords, then you can get ranked in the search engines quicker and higher and be receiving very highly targeted traffic.

For instance: if you target keywords that have less than 7,000 sites optimized for that keyword, then you will be able to rank quicker and faster for that keyword than if you were trying to rank #1 for a keyword that has 100,000 targeted optimized sites.

Not that you can’t rank for a competitive term you can, but you want to rank for both competitive and non-competitive terms. Start ranking for long tail non-competitive terms first, then start to go for the more competitive related terms.

If you start with keyword phrases that allow you to rank in an ascending order, then this makes it really easy.

Example:

Rank for this how to get free traffic fast, then how to get free traffic, then how to get traffic.

That way when you are getting links for how to get free traffic fast you are also getting links for how to get traffic.

This will help you when you start to target that phrase later.

How do you check for how many sites are optimized for a keyword?

Just go to Yahoo and type in your keyword phrase in the search bar and put “” around it. Then do the search. The results will be sites that actually are targeting that exact keyword phrase.

This will tell you how much competition you have for a keyword. The less the competition the faster and easier it will be to rank for.

The more of these types of rankings that you can get the easier they are to hold on to also. This traffic can add up quickly.

Everyone likes to see quick results right?

Where do you do keyword research?

I mostly use the free Google External Keyword Tool. It gives me everything that I need, but I sometimes use Keyword Elite to help find long tail keyword phrases… aka non-competitive phrases.

This is how you rank #1 in the search engines, this is how you get free traffic, this is how you make money and cut ad cost and get free advertising on the most visited websites in the world.

Don’t take this info lightly. This is how you use SEO to rank. Yes, you need to learn more of the details like how to get links and what not, but this is the gist of it.

Hey check out this little tip… watch how I end this post. This is how you stick in a keyword that you’re targeting and make it flow for readers also. lol.

Thanks for reading my search engine optimization for dummies post.

Technorati Tags: search engine optimization for dummies, how to get free traffic, how to rank #1 in the search engines

Similar Posts:

• How To Make Money With A Blog
• Bum Blogging: How To Get Ranked On The First Page In 24-72 Hours
• How To Get One Way Backlinks
• How To Make Money Fast From Home – The Beginning
• Mass Article Control Review – Mass Article Control Sucks Compared to This