Google® Business Solutions All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 4. Search Engine Optimization Basics

In This Chapter

• Optimizing your Web site organization for search

• Understanding SEO "tricks"

• Directing traffic to your home page or product page

• Creating content for SEO

People think search engine optimization (SEO) is difficult — and it is, especially if you try to "trick" the search engine into showing your page when it's not really a good result for the user. As Google changes its algorithms and other "tricksters" compete with you for high rankings, you are in a constant battle for top spots.

But "honest" search engine optimization is not that hard, at least from a technical point of view. Google "drills into" your Web site and finds key terms so it can offer your Web pages to searchers. If you pick key terms that relate well to what you offer and arrange your key terms so that Google can find them reasonably close to one another on your Web pages, search optimization will work for you.

A Sample Business Web Strategy

Discussing SEO in the abstract doesn't do much good. It really makes sense only in the context of a specific Web site.

Real Web sites change all the time, so let's create an imaginary one and use it as an example. Let's say we're starting a horse-related shop on the local Main Street in our suburban location, Pacific Beach, in San Diego. (We know we won't offend any real horse businesses here because PB, as locals call it, is pretty much full of people — no room for horses, stables or, as horse people call them, tack shops.)

Let's ...