When you search for something on the internet using a search engine, how often do you go past the first page of results? If you’re like most people, you don’t need to go past page one to find what you want. And that’s why your website needs search engine optimization, or SEO. Here are a few ways to make sure your site shows up at the top of the list.

Most websites can benefit from an internet marketing strategy that encourages customer loyalty and repeat business by fostering a sense of community among customers. By giving customers the opportunity to communicate with each other and staying in contact with them, well-organized websites can build a strong base of repeat business. Loyal customers should feel rewarded for sticking with a particular online business.

Make sure you didn’t forget to leave robots.txt set. In many cases, when a site is in development, web designers will use a robots.txt file to prevent search engines from indexing the site at all. Some of these same web designers forget to remove the robots.txt file when the site goes live. If you know what date your site is going live, one tip is a create a cron job that deletes the robots.txt file automatically on the designated date.

You have to fully commit yourself to search engine optimization in order to succeed. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing so tactics that were successful 6 months ago may be redundant today. SEO requires you to create a long-term plan, regularly educate yourself about new changes and make appropriate adjustments to your methods.

Remember that SEO results are rarely instant, so be patient and try not to get discouraged. Because of the way search engine algorithms work, it can sometimes takes months to reap the rewards of today’s effects. As long as the SEO methods you are using are solid, try to think of the work that you are doing today as a long term investment for the future.

You can bring in new traffic to your web site by posting on forums in your chosen niche. Most forums allow links in, either your signature area or on your profile, but read the rules first. When you comment on the forums, make sure your comments are helpful. Answer questions, ask pertinent questions, be friendly and have fun.

To optimize your search engine results it is important to make your URL easily identifiable. Include words that are relevant to the site as opposed to numbers and symbols. People will recognize those keywords in the URL, and are more likely to click on your link if they think it will bring them to a relevant page.

Get to the point with keywords. Most searches are only two or three words, and if your keywords are longer than that, you may be more difficult to spot. Shorter is better. So, if you can eliminate unnecessary words, do it! Your goal is to be seen by as many people as you can, not describe everything you do in the keywords.

Use categories to separate your site as it grows. This not only helps search engines direct people to the exact part of your site they are looking for, but it also helps established readers find their favorite content quickly and efficiently. Categorize your site with keywords to watch your site hits grow.

A popular way to optimize your search engine results is to use Google AdWord’s own keyword tool. Using it, you can examine what keywords people are using to search for specific things. With this data, you can then begin adjusting your own keywords to match what other are using, to generate more hits.

Develop a free calculator, e-book or other electronic product to give away on your website. Be sure it features your website address and business name so people can come back for related products. Post links to the free product on forums related to your field to drive more traffic to your website.

Think about what people would search for to find your site, and use those keywords often in your articles and throughout your web page. While you want to make those keywords present in your titles and in the content of your articles, you need to take caution. Using the same keyword too often can flag your site as spam, and that will really hurt your rankings.

An effective technique in the world of search engine optimization involves incorporating relevant keywords in URLs themselves. It is always optimal to have critical keywords as part of the domain name itself, but it is also useful to have them within the file name or directory pathway of your URLs. This helps search engines identify yours as a site most relevant to users based on the terms they most frequently use to find a particular type of content.

Long loading times are enemies to all webmasters who want to get more traffic to their sites. Load time is a significant factor in search engine performance. Pages that load slowly, are indexed slowly or even skipped over entirely. Of course, long load times are not appreciated by website visitors, either. Making pages load faster is a sound practice, all around.

Do not place yourself on the same server as a banned site. If you unknowingly share a proxy with spammers and/or banned sites, it will have a negative impact on your search engine ratings, and you may have trouble getting good traffic.

When choosing a search engine optimization consultant, do not be afraid to inquire about the specific techniques the individual or company will use. A legitimate consultant should never hide information from you or utilize deceptive techniques for increasing your page’s rank and you should be wary of those who appear to have something to hide.

SEO is the best way to make sure your website gets to page one of those search results so that people will see your site and hopefully purchase your product or service. Following these tips will keep your site rising until it’s number one on the search engine results pages.