What is Search Engine Optimization and Why is it Important?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. Traffic that comes 'ogranically' generally means that a user is searching and typing words that are directly relevant to your site content, which is why it's important to create a search friendly site, something covered later in this FAQ.

One of the most obvious benefits of SEO is that if you have a good page ranking then you are more likely to draw new clients in need and looking for what you have to sell. Driving more traffic to your site gives you a much broader audience that otherwise wouldn't be there without a web site.

How Can I Improve my Site's Search Engine Ranking?

• There Are No Shortcuts: Anyone promising that they can get you top ranking right out of the gates is after one thing. Your hard earned money. They have no control of where or how high your site ranks. The truth is that gaining a good ranking for your site takes a lot of time, patience and research on your part.
• Using a domain name that contains an important keyword about your site/business is also huge. Many experts feel that keywording your domain name is even more important than meta-tagging your site.  So when deciding on your domain name, give some thought on how to incorporate a descriptive, yet relevant, keyword in your domain name.
• Keep Your Content Fresh and Correct: Search Engines know when sites update their content. Your site is more likely to be indexed and visited more frequently if you keep up with updating your site's content. But it's not just enough to have new content. Make sure your content is informative, relevant and well-written. That goes for grammar and spelling. I cannot stress enough how important proper spelling is to good Search Engine Marketing. Crawlers, bots and Spiders interpret semantically correct content and markup. That is, make sure your content AND your code are structured and spelled correctly. Do make sure that if you have a designer working on your site that they understand the importance of fresh and semantically.
• Use Descriptive Page Titles: Using relevant title names for your pages is also key in making a Search Friendly site. Including a keyword as a part of your page title definitely helps your site's ranking in the end. Don't over saturate your page with keywords. Again, it's important to keep your content relevant and interesting. That will ensure repeat visits to your site.
• Get Linked To: Think about what you do and what you sell for a moment. If you are a personal trainer, is there a local store or retail chain that you frequent that you buy supplies from? The answer is yes, most likely. Make the most of these relationships. Find out if these places that you conduct business with have link directories and then see if they will do a link exchange with you, where they link to your site and you to theirs. If you do this with many sites you are creating more exposure for your site and giving more people a chance to 'surf' your way.
• Submit Your Site: Seems simple enough, doesn't it? Just submit your site to search engines and the rest takes care of itself. Right? Well, er, not really. Knowing where to submit your site is important. the Yahoo! Directory is a good place to start as is the Open Directory Project.
• NEVER EVER USE FRAMES: Generally frames make searching and indexing complicated for bots, Spiders and Crawlers. While there are work arounds, I recommend steering clear of this web design snafu. When somebody follows the link from a search result listing to a frame based site, they will land on an orphaned document, outside of its parent frameset. This is very likely to cause confusion, since in many cases vital parts of the site, like navigational links, will be absent.