Search Engine Optimization Bible, Second Edition

Chapter 3. Creating an SEO Plan

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Understanding why you need SEO

• Setting SEO goals

• Creating your SEO plan

• Understanding organic SEO

• Achieving organic SEO

Before you can even begin to optimize your web site for search engines, you need to have a search engine optimization plan in place. This will help you create SEO goals and keep those goals in focus as the purpose of your site changes, and as the methods for search engine optimization change — and they will change.

Your SEO plan will help you see where you need to concentrate your efforts at any given time. This need will change. In the beginning, you're most likely to be focusing on getting started with SEO, which means you'll be wrestling keyword issues, adding metadata tags, and building content. However, after you've put all of your SEO strategies into place, the focus of your SEO activities should become more focused on maintaining and updating the elements of SEO that help you rank well.

Note that I said your efforts will change, not that they will end. Once you've started SEO, if you plan to continue using it, you'll need to constantly monitor and update your SEO plan, strategies, and activities. There was a time when the only thing you had to worry about was which keywords or links would be most effective for getting your site ranked high in relevant search results. Today, very few search engines focus on a single aspect of search engine optimization. This means that over time, those who focused only on keywords or ...