SEO is a simple process that requires some complex analysis and activities to execute properly.

Contrary to common belief, SEO is a web PAGE based process rather than a web SITE focused process.

When you enter ] a search query into Google or the other search engines, they search their index for PAGES that are most relevant to the search terms and then present the URL and a short description of each matching page on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). These pages are typically presented ten results to a page, so in order to be on the first page of Google, a page has to rank in the top 10 web pages Google has in it's index for that specific search term.

As mentioned above the SEO process is simple in concept:

You must find the key phrases that potential customers are using to find your products or services on your and competitors' pages.

You then develop a separate page for each specific keyword and fine tune certain on page factors on each page to help them rank highly in the SERPs.

Once the on page optimization is done, you need to build inbound, one way links to the page or pages, preferably from topical sites that have a high page rank. Search engines respond best to a consistent number of links being added on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Adding a large number of links in a month, then nothing for the next couple of months looks unnatural to the SEs.

You then monitor the results over time, all the while steadily adding inbound links and making changes when needed to the on page factors.

A good way to get started on optimizing your pages is to enter each search term in Google and take a look at the number 1 page on the SERPs for each term.

You then mimic what that page is doing to fine tune for the search engines but do it a little bit better. Looking at the source code (View Source in your browser) will help you determine what to do in terms of on page optimization. (Note: do not COPY the source of the page and use it verbatim. You can land in legal trouble by doing so.)

For off page optimization (i.e. inbound, outbound and reciprocal links), you'll need a software tool in order to determine which sites to try and get links from. Google provides tools for this and there are various commercial software packages available as well.

Once you determine which sites you need links from (hint: high page rank and sites relevant to your market will work best) there are a number of ways to proceed. Some are obvious, i.e. emails or phone calls to the web site owner you want a link from, some are less so i.e. go to the site and look for an Add Site link. You can also write articles with a link to your site in the "author box" and submit them to article distribution sites. There are numerous other methods to achieve inbound links that space doesn't allow me to go into here. Link building is a high effort activity that needs to be done on a consistent basis over time, however getting a lot of high quality one-way links to your site is currently the best way to rank highly on Google SERPs.

As you can see, a relatively simple process,

find keywords -> find #1 ranked page -> copy what they do a little bit better

can be pretty challenging to achieve successfully, especially when you consider that the description above doesn't really convey the options, complexities and the amount of effort required.

75-C Services specializes in helping small to medium size businesses maximize results from their web sites through the use of advanced on page and off page Search Engine Optimization techniques.