SEO

Search Engine Optimization. Sounds fast, right? Google can find the answer to most queries in the time it takes you to read this sentence. Finding the exact answer to an exact query make take more time however.

Here's what you need to know. SEO is good for your blog because it helps readers and seekers find you and it makes you feel more important, because you are. It all starts with the question; how does Google search?

Google searches by page rank. Every page on the internet has a rank. That rank can fluctuate based on three factors. First Google ranks your blog by how many pages link to it. Then Google looks at the page rank of the pages that link to your blog. The higher the rank the better. Finally, Google measures linking pages' rank by how many links each page contains. More links means a lower ranking.

So how do you improve your SEO? Here are five tips to get you started . . . in the right direction.
First, look at your post headlines. They act as pseudo search queries. I written a post for my blog about Athar Habib, a highly recognizable person in Howard County. In the headline, I write Athar Habib because Google not only searches for the words Athar Habib, Google searches for the precise ordering of the words as Athar Habib. Write precise and short headlines.

Next, link in to the conversation. Remember your blog roll? Use it as a diving board to jump into the pool of links. Link your blog to relevant pages and readers & get them to link to you as well. This is accomplished by hard work and dedication. Columbia Blog Project has a great SEO because I work hard to bring quality content to readers on a daily basis. This doesn't mean you have to post daily but every post should be well written and crafted for readers.

Now that you're publishing quality content to a readership, those readers will tell other readers about your blog. For the same reason you might tell your friends about a great band, readers of blogs will tell other readers about a great new blog, its human nature. If you think about getting the word out like posting fliers, you want to post fliers in places with high volume traffic. The internet equivalent of shopping malls, schools and other social institutions are social networking sites and aggregators.

Analyzing your analytics can also improve your SEO. I check my analytics daily with statcounter. Among the analysis tools at my disposal is recent page activity. Everytime an IP address (computer screen) projects my page, I can see the path the person using that IP address took to reach my page. According to my analytics, the majority of my readers use Google to find me. The analytics also tell me what keywords readers are searching for to find my posts. This information allows me to insert more precise keywords into my posts.

Finally I label each post with precise keywords. At the bottom of the post composition window is an empty bar. I like to insert multiple keywords into the bar before I click save or publish. I've made it a habit and I suggest you do the same.

Aggregators

What's an aggregate? In short it's a website that compiles lists of blogs by subject, giving readers more choices. For example, I write a blog about Columbia, MD. In order to reach out to readers who may not find me through Google or a referring link, I've added my blog to the list on hocoblogs.

Adding your blog to an aggregate site increases your traffic. Most aggregate sites rank blogs by the time of the most recent post. If you publish a post at 8 a.m., before the morning rush, your blog will be ranked somewhere at the top of the list. Chances are good that readers will scan the top five or six blogs on any given list, so positioning your blog within that list becomes important.

Also remember that there are three main ways readers find blogs on the internet. The first is through a referral. Blogger readers may find your blog through the blog roll of a fellow blogger. That's why its important to put yourself out there and build relationships with other bloggers.

Next, readers find your blog through search engines like Google. More often than not, readers type keywords into their search queries rather than the name of a blog or specific post. Hence the importance of Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. Finally, readers will access aggregate sites or simply look up your blog's url. Remember the more you put yourself out there, the easier it will be for readers to find you.