If you have ever really taken the time to think about what goes into building a successful business on the web, perhaps the biggest word standing out in your mind is “traffic.” This is what you need to succeed more than practically anything online, and SEO is how you can make it happen.

You will need to make your website pop up in the google search results. Build a really solid website and use search engine optimization to get it found. If other local businesses in your area don’t have this, you will stand out like a shining star from the crowd.

Monitor and analyze your search engine optimization efforts regularly. If you don’t do this you will have no way of knowing which SEO methods are working. The best way to track and evaluate SEO work is to join online resources that will show you how search engines index your website, the source of your website’s traffic and your website’s inbound links.

One good way to get people to see your website first on a search engine is to use keywords. The key words should be affiliated with your website or product that you are selling. If you use too many keywords, you will be labeled as a spammer which will hurt your traffic.

The importance of linking out can not be overstated. Creating a resource page that carries weighted links to related sites that are rich with keywords and phrases carry extra weight with search engines. Make the extra effort to garner these resource links to increase the weight and improve the ranking.

To avoid the spam filters of the search engines, avoid duplicating any content on your site. Be aware that you might be using duplicate content without being aware of it. Posting duplicate content can result in the search engines viewing your site as spammy.

You should avoid 404 errors at all costs. A 404 error happens when a user attempts to visit a page that no longer exists or never existed in the first place. When you update pages with new links, be sure to use a 301 redirect. The redirect will automatically take the user to the new link when they arrive at the old one.

Search for education sites that are hunting for sponsors. Sites that are of the .edu domain are much more likely to appear high on the search engine lists. If you have the chance to link up with a .edu domain, go for it. These websites tend to get the most and best quality visitors.

If you need your visitors to know something or to follow a certain set of instructions, make sure you’re providing this information. Some things you know might be obvious because you know them, but your customers might not have a clue. Always be thorough in your explanations if you want to prevent confusion and a mailbox full of questions.

Pay attention to the meta description of each of your pages. These descriptions are used by search engines to present a short summary of your page when it comes up in results. You can attract more visits by writing an engaging and interesting description for each page of your website.

Fill your website with original, informative content. Filling your website with unique, regularly updated content related to carefully chosen keywords can help your website to rank high in search engine results. Also, if the pages of your website are helpful and interesting to your visitors, your visitors will do your off-page SEO for you.

When creating external links to promote your website, the anchor text that you use is critical in establishing the effectiveness of the links in raising your search engine rankings. Make sure the anchor text uses the exact key phrase that you want search engines to rank when locating your website. For example, if you run an office supply company and want search engines to locate your website with the phrase “office supply store,” then this is the key phrase you should use as your anchor text. The more external links that point to your business using this phrase in the anchor text, the higher your rankings for the phrase.

An excellent program to use for search engine optimization is Google’s AdWords tool. With Google AdWords you will be able to look up how popular keywords and keyword phrases are, allowing you to select the most popular keywords for your search engine optimization. This will result in better search results for your pages.

If you come across favorable reviews, stories, or mentions of your brand or product on another site, capitalize on the free publicity by linking back to that site (and possibly even returning the favor). This is a popular and highly successful tactic that increases your exposure to online visitors to other sites that may not even be directly related to your business.

To ensure that search engine spiders take note of your images, be sure to rename your image files with more descriptive file names. “Dog.jpg” is a better choice than “f91717b.jpg”. You should also make use of each image’s ALT and TITLE tags by inserting appropriate keywords and phrases into these fields.

Make sure that you have excellent, unique key words that will get people to your page. They should be very specific and descriptive. This way when people type in exactly what they are looking for, your site will satisfy them, and provide them with a quick stop and purchase.

Feel free to use the meta keyword tag, but don’t include too many words. Use only your top 3-5 phrases of 2-3 words each, and make sure those words are also repeated in your copy. The meta keyword tag has mostly depreciated, but there are still some search engines that make use of it.

After you’ve read and absorbed these tips on search engine optimization, you are one step closer to making sure your business efforts pay off in a big way. The next step you should take, of course, is to implement these tips and tactics, and turn what you’ve learned into a reality by creating your high-ranking site.