Improving the ability of your website or blog to be found is what search engine optimization is all about, but it can still be a pretty confusing concept for many people out there. Knowing how to correctly optimize pages is an acquired skill, and here are a few tips you can use to develop it.

Don't put large amounts of information in the TITLE or META tags of a website. Putting large numbers of keywords in these two areas of a page is a common tactic used by spammers. There is evidence that websites that have lots of information in these tags are heavily penalized by Google and other search engines.

A key to search engine optimization is to include a site map. When you have a site map it makes a search engine spider better at crawling your site. A large site might require more than one site map. You should not have too many links on any site map, it becomes too much for the search engine spiders.

Determine if the keywords you are using in your site are conducive to internet searches. You can test this with any "pay-per-click" search engine. Type in your keywords and see how many other people are searching for those terms. Play around with your vocabulary, and see if you can get a key phrase that contains words that most people will search for. When you modify your keywords using this method, more people will find your site using a search engine.

Utilize a descriptive and unique title tag as a way to ensure that different search engines will be able to comprehend the content on your website. Search engines only display 60 characters, so keep it short. If they do show the content, they do not give it as much consideration.

Provide high quality photographs of products, and include an easy to use magnification system so customers can get a good idea of the details. Be sure that colors are accurate and that no parts are obscured by reflections. Try photographing the items from several angles and either choose the most attractive result or allow customers to view each version in turn.

Have your pages as close to the root directory as possible. The deeper into the sub directories a page is place the less likely the search engine is to rank it highly. The reasoning is that items that are directly off of a root directory as generally considered more important the sites that are deeper within.

For search engine optimization, you should avoid purchasing a domain name that is associated with spam. Search engines will not trust your website if they have the domain name you use classified as spam. Read reviews about domain names before you purchase one, or look domain names up on popular search engines to see how they rank.

When considering a professional or company to help you with your SEO efforts, be skeptical of claims that seem too good to be true. No one will be able to guarantee you the top slot on a major search engine, as this slot changes often. Unless you submit a paid advertisement, there is no way to get your site listed any higher than the rank given by the search engine spiders.