Introducing Organic Search Engine Optimization

Traffic is the lifeblood of websites. Fortunately, implementing various strategies can help drive traffic to your website. Several involve search engine optimization (“SEO”) – the process of improving your website’s visibility in a search engine’s search results pages.

SEO can be performed in several ways. Search engines approve of “white hat” SEO techniques, but they will penalize or even ban sites that are caught using certain other methods (“black hat” SEO). Organic search engine optimization is a powerful white hat traffic-building strategy that offers several advantages for webmasters: it is one of the most effective ways of attracting visitors to a website, it is viewed favorably by the search engines, and it is free.

All SEO techniques are intended to make websites more visible on search engine results pages (“SERPs”), but organic SEO does it “naturally” – in an unpaid, “organic” way. The top position on the first SERP for your targeted keyword or phrase is the ultimate accomplishment, but being displayed anywhere on the first SERP can increase your visitors. Generally speaking, the higher a website ranks in the SERPs, the more visitors it will receive via relevant keyword searches.

Organic website traffic based on search engine rankings is the result of organic SEO; it does not just happen on its own. The sites listed on a SERP are not randomly displayed by the search engine. Instead, they are ranked and displayed based on their relevance to the particular term being searched. The most relevant sites will be listed above those that are less pertinent.

At its heart, organic SEO attempts to “convince” (but not trick – that is black hat SEO) the search engines that your site is more relevant to your search terms than other sites, and that it should therefore be displayed higher in the SERPs. Successful organic SEO can dramatically boost traffic because your website will rise in the SERPS for your chosen search terms.

Choose your target search terms carefully; edit your website’s content and coding to increase its relevance to those terms; include relevant title tags and keyword-rich meta descriptions; update and add to your content frequently; and remove any unwanted barriers to search engines indexing your website. Avoid keyword “stuffing” and “spamming” by ensuring you do not mention your targeted search terms excessively and your keywords and phrases are highly relevant to your website’s content and purpose.

Every website needs visitors. Organic SEO is one of the most effective ways to bring traffic to your site, and it is free.