You have heard it, read about it, and probably encountered it online a hundred of times. In fact you've seen too much of it, you can't help but wonder what exactly is SEO and why does it matter so much for blog or site owners. Well, I'm telling you now, there's nothing magical or mysterious about it, and those SEO experts do not use anything that is out-of-this-world at all. SEO can be learned and that makes it amazing and exciting.

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Search Engine Optimization is exactly what its name suggests - it is the practice of optimizing sites and blogs such that they appear on the first pages of famous search engines. Using methods called SEO techniques, Internet marketers and SEO experts can dramatically improve a site's or blog's visibility on the Internet. Increased visibility means higher credibility and pagerank to search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and the like. Like a cycle, the higher your site gets in pagerank, the more you gain visitors - yep, increased visibility. When a site has established credibility among its readers, sponsors will not think twice in advertising on your site. Here comes your revenue. That's our target. That's your target.

Though the process sounds complicated, it really is not. What's important is that you get to understand each step and be able to employ the process and practice it continuously. To get you started, you need to know the different techniques and components in SEO.

There are different SEO techniques that a blog or site owner can employ to optimize his or her site. We will try to discuss each briefly here. After this, you will be ready to get deeper in understanding each technique.

Choosing Keywords
Keywords are like your main ingredients in SEO. They provide focus, uniformity and direction to your site or blog. Users will use these keywords in searching for your site. Because keywords are critical, one should not simply use any word/s. Using the wrong keyword can lose your site in the middle of the forest never to be seen. To make sure you have the correct keyword, it is important to do some research and find out what potential viewers and customers type in search engines to get to your site. What you want are keywords that are used in search engines but not overly used by other similar sites.

Using Title Tags and Meta Data
The components used to describe a page or section in your site in search engine results are called title tags and meta data. Search engines, when crawling your site gather these information and record them to index what this section or page is about in your site. Say, you have a site that displays different products. For product A, you can use the name and model number of the product as title tags and meta data.

Using Keywords on Content
After you have selected your keyword/s and applied title tags and meta data, it is time to unclutter your content. Your content is the body of your site, which means, it should be consistent with your niche. Using keywords within your content provide linkage among all your contents, therefore a focus to your site as a whole.

Site Architecture/Map
Help search engines find their way through your site by using a clean and organized site map. By this, I mean there should be a link that connects pages together. An organized list of these links, usually entitled as "pages", should appear on every page of your site to provide easy access to all the pages especially the home page.

Build a User-friendly Site
Finally, think about your human visitors and check the overall look of your site. Believe it or not, any SEO technique may fail to gain visitors if your site is all over the place. Things to consider: Is the design of your site appropriate for the services you offer or for your niche? Are there enough images to provide life but not too much to overshadow your content? Are your graphics well-designed? Are your articles well-written? Is it easy to navigate through your site?

So, that's it for SEO basics. Good Luck on your site/blog!