Search engine optimization: Who needs it?

Search engine optimization, or SEO as it is often more popularly called, is a controversial topic in many internet circles.



There are supporters of search engine optimization, and there are people who believe SEO is some dreadful plot. They place it it the same conspiratorial basket, with concerns with flouride in drinking water, and alien experimentation on human subjects.



The truth, as in most things, is somewhere in the middle. It all depends.



SEO does indeed have some very dishonest practitioners, dispensing advice like a medicine show quack hands out sugar pills. Often the advice offered is at best worthless, and at worst so far against search engine guidelines, that your blog or website get banned from their listings.



Those unscrupulous techniques, for achieving high rankings, are usually very short lived. The search engines quickly discover the dishonest websites, and ban them from their search listing results.



I believe in only utilizing "best practices" for search engine optimization.



By that, I mean that I would never recommend that anyone use SEO "techniques", that violate the search engine webmaster guidelines. The leading search engine Google, has set out some very specific guidelines, about how to properly SEO your website.



Okay, you say. Fine.



What is search engine optimization anyway? And why should you care?



Search engine optimization, in the best sense of the term, is achieving high rankings in the search engines for you most important keyword searches. At the same time, and this is important, you maintain value for your blog visitors in the form of content.



You say you don't care if your blog is ranked highly. You say you care about writing what you feel is important, and you care about making your readers happy. That's fine.



In that case, I do have some very interesting news for you.



By being a blogger, you have already scored some built-in search engine optimization benefits. I'll bet you weren't even aware of that.



Blogs are updated, on a very regular basis, with fresh content. That is precisely what all search engines  like to see from any website.



Your daily posts are written about your favourite topics. Those same blog posts are packed with the search terms, called keywords, that are likely to find your blog. You may be interested to know that MSN Search and Yahoo Search value keywords very highly.



Your blog has many incoming links from other blogs. Many of those bloggers, with whom youshare links, write about the same topic as you. That gives you double link value. You get search engine credit for the incoming link, plus you get extra credit for your link partner sharing the same topic or theme as your blog. That theme aspect is very important to Google.



You may have a few links from some very important blogs in your subject area. Those major blogs may have already been accorded what Google calls Authority Site status. An Authoity Site is considered to be one of the most important sites for that particular topic. Having a link from and sending out a link to and Authority gives your blog extra link credit too.



You probably write titles for your posts. If those posts have keywords in them, you are likely to have them well indexed in keyword searches. Good titles will lead searchers to your blog too, as search engines rate them very highly as well.



All of those things, taken together, mean that you are a search engine optimizer and you didn't even know it.  As a blogger, you are already doing, what many website owners pay many thousands of dollars, to have an SEO professional do for them.



Blogging is very good SEO.



The next time someone tells you that SEO doesn't work. You can smile to yourself and nod, knowing that your blogging is a great search engine optimization technioque.



Better yet, it's all very well within the webmaster guidelines, provided by all of the search engines.



Blogging is considered "best practices" SEO, in the search engine optimization community. In fact, many of the better SEO professionals are now recommending blogging to their clients.



Did you know you are practicing good SEO, every time you post to your blog?



Now you do!