For search engine optimization from Vancouver BC to Washington DC, what matter most to your search engine optimization needs is getting your site ranked in the major search engines.

Search engine optimization or SEO is not about tricking the search engines. It’s about understanding what elements search engines look for on a page. The elements are what search engines use to “understand’ what your page and site is about. They then use these elements along with other factors to determine how your site will rank for a particular term or keyword. In this way search engines determine the relevance of the page to a search term. If you know what on page and off page elements the search engines look for and making adjustments to better present your page, you can help improve your website’s ranking for the targeted search terms.

With over 8 billion web pages currently available, how do you find what you are looking for online? Search engines. Over 80% of a website’s traffic coming from search engines. The obvious benefit to your site if you can improve rankings is better positioning in the search engine results. However, over 8000 new pages coming online everyday, and competition is growing daily. Chances are your website won’t be found unless you make use of search engine optimization to get high rankings in the major search engines.

The sooner a site comes up in the search results, or the higher it “ranks”, the more searchers will visit that site. Unfortunately too many web businesses focus on creating a website based on looks, only to be disappointed with poor search engine ranking and lackluster sales results. Fortunately, search engine optimization can also be performed after a site is built, often only requiring making minor changes to your site. If you are ready then to take control of your website’s search engine destiny here’s a few critical components you need to know:

The first key to search engine optimization is the page content. The search engines are looking for good quality pages that have the keywords your market is using when they search online. Your web pages should have the keywords and phrases your clients are searching for in the page content. If your site is about “Internet Marketing” then you should have the keywords in the website copy. The more relevant your copy to the keywords targeted, the better the relevancy of the site vis-à-vis the search terms.

The next essential on page tactics to help your search engine optimization tactics are often overlooked and underutilized – meta tags. Meta tags are elements of HTML coding on a website that are used by search engines to index a website. Most meta tags are included within the ‘header’ code of a website and the most important tags are the title, description and keyword tags. Rules used by different search engines govern how such tags are used, how many characters they should contain, and how they should be formatted. However if you know how the big three – Google, Yahoo and MSN – review the tags, then you’ll be targeting 90% of potential web search surfers.

The last on page search engine optimization strategy is the internal linking structure. Your navigational hierarchy plays a key role in passing link gain deep into your site. By optimize your linking structure you’ll be creating a rich web of interlinking within your site. Whenever possible include links to related products, related articles, related searches, etc. Creating a site map can greatly assist search engine crawlers finding pages on your site. At the same time, you should use anchor text when internally linking within your site. Instead of “click here” you should use the keywords or phrases like “Internet Marketing” as your link text.

With these strategies, you’ll be tapping into the core search engine optimization techniques and on the path to higher search engine rankings. SEO is not about fooling search engines. SEO is about making it easier for search engines to understand what your site is about and better able to determine the relevancy of your site. With just a few SEO adjustments to your website and content, you could soon find your site at the top of search engine results for your keyword phrases.