What is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website for organic search results. These are natural, undirected searches on search engines and are often referred to as "organic" search traffic. Organic SEO can be described as an ongoing campaign that includes both on-page and off-page aspects. The goal of this campaign is to improve your ranking in search engine result pages (SERPs). There are many aspects to this campaign, but most importantly, it involves two key areas: content and link building.
Content
The first thing you should do when starting an organic SEO campaign is write great, well-optimized content for your site. While there are some sites that will rank high with no optimized content at all, generally speaking, your site's content does matter. So what makes content good? Good content has three main qualities:
It is original and unique - No one else out there is writing about the same topic or offering the same product or service. You need to make sure people find your content useful and helpful.
It is relevant to your site's audience - If your site is about dogs, for example, then your content needs to talk about dogs. Not cats. Not fish. Dogs. Your content needs to have a direct relation to your target market.
It is informative - This means that people who read your content will learn something new. They'll know more than they did before reading your content. This is probably the most important quality of any type of content because if it isn't informative, nobody wants to read it. People want information from their websites; if your content isn't giving them information, then why would they come back?
These three qualities are very important to your site's success in the long run. However, they are also difficult to achieve. After all, how do you write original, informative content without directly talking about what your site offers? It can be done, but it takes a lot of time and effort. And since the competition is so fierce nowadays, it's going to take even more effort.
Link Building
This is another aspect to the campaign that you must get right. Link building is basically getting other websites to point their readers to your page through links. Links are like votes for your site. When someone clicks on a link, that person's browser sends a request to the linked page asking it to send back some text. That text tells the browser what the linked page contains. In order words, links are votes for your site. The more votes you receive, the higher your chances of appearing on top of SERPs.
You can create these links naturally: by sharing articles with friends and family, posting comments on blogs and forums, signing up to guest post on other sites, etc. But the majority of your link building efforts should fall under the category of paid links. Paid links are links that a company pays you to place on your site. There are different types of paid links, including contextual ads (ads that show up next to certain keywords), article submissions, directory listings, blog commenting opportunities, press releases, social bookmarking, etc. Some companies offer services where they do all the work for you while you just pay a fee. Others charge per click. Still others allow you to purchase ad space on their own servers. Whatever method you choose, the idea here is the same: pay a company money so that they will put links on your site that point to you.
One last thing I'd like to mention about content is that it's not enough to simply write good content. You also need to promote it. You need to share it with your friends and family, comment on it, tweet it, blog it, post on Facebook, etc. A good way to spread the word about your content is to submit it to directories such as Dmoz.com, EzineArticles.com, and Article Directories. You can also try submitting your content to free article submission websites like HubPages, Squidoo, and Weebly. Just remember to include a link back to your site in each of your posts.
Conclusion
There is a lot more to SEO than I've covered here. But once you understand what makes good content and what makes good links, you'll be able to start implementing the campaign yourself. Of course, hiring professional help is always better. But sometimes budgets don't allow for this. If you feel like you're ready to take the plunge and start a campaign on your own, then go ahead and give it a shot!