This is the conclusion of the SEO lessons from Identity, we have hoped that you have found them useful and informative. In closing there are a few other important things that I wanted to go over.

Site Builders

I didn’t talk at all about Site Builders and this is an important topic.

Unfortunately many people are living a perfect example of “If you build it, they won’t come“.

Now that your site is optimized, your link campaign is under way and you are diving into social media, it’s time to talk about maintenance.

SEO is an ever changing industry. Optimization is not a “set it and forget it” kind of thing. You have to monitor rankings and tweak your site if the results you were hoping for don’t happen. Even if you get the results you were after, you need to stay on top of industry news and make any necessary changes to your site. If you don’t stay current with what the engines are looking for, you risk losing your rankings.

The search engines like to see that your site is growing. They like to see new content being added. It’s actually an important part of their algorithm. Many people add content when they optimize their site, and that is a great idea but you shouldn’t stop there. Create a plan to add content on an on­going basis. We all get busy and forget, but if there is a plan to guide and remind you, you are more likely to remember.

Links are important to the search engines because it shows the engines that other sites think your information is worthy of sharing. Each link is like a vote for your website.

Links are not only good for the engines but good links open up new sources of traffic from relevant, complementary but non­competing websites.

Linking has gone through so many transformations over the years. First all reciprocal links are good, and then only relevant links are good. Then reciprocal links are not helpful, you need one way links.

Google has given us the gift of Google Webmaster Tools. In one convenient location you have access to great tools. In Google’s own words, Google Webmaster Tools is:

“Statistics, diagnostics and management of Google's indexing of your website, including Sitemap submission and reporting.”

Identity will be giving you a series of short lessons to help you with getting better results in search engines. Currently Google has over 200 algorithms that are used to determine how your site will rank. No one knows the details of these algorithms work, but with industry testing and analysis we can use certain techniques that will help with your website ranking. There are no shortcuts (that are safe to use) or magic tricks. The closer you follow and implement the guide the better your site will perform.

Lesson One: Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis

Finding the right keywords is the foundation to your campaign.

Here is an outline of the steps you should follow for keyword research: