There are two types of search engine optimization, on-page, and off-page. On-page optimization is concerned with developing relevance by ensuring the right words are present on the page. Simply put, optimization is how the website will be found by sites looking for it. Off-page optimization is purely technical in nature. This often refers to link building and is what most people think of when they hear SEO . On-page optimization is concerned with developing relevance by ensuring the right words are present on the page. Off-Page optimization is partly the technical side of things but it also involves marketing and promoting your website, and pulling in traffic from places beyond your own planet. Understanding the importance of both is crucial for anyone who wants to market themselves effectively online. On-Page Optimization On-page optimization is concerned with developing relevancy by using the right words on the page. One way of developing relevance is by using headings, bold text, and bullet points. It will be easier for search engines to work out what your page is about if these are standards-compliant. It will also help if the page title includes the alt description and anchor text of links coming to your site. It is important to use alt and title tags, which means using a keyword phrase to name an image. Search engines will be able to read this and better understand the site. It will also be easier for them to work out what your site is about. Off-Page Optimization Off-page optimization is the technique of building links on other sites to your site. This is done by using anchor text, which is the text used in a link. Using your keyword as anchor text will help show the search engines that your page is about the keyword you are targeting. Links can be built on a regular basis and will be a constant source of new visitors and income being generated by the site. It is important to build a regular flow of new and non-reciprocal links to your site. This will be a constant flood of new visitors ready to find their perfect provider. Make a list of prospective sites to which you would like to link. You are not expected to link to all of the sites. In fact, reciprocal links have very little value and count much less when it comes to building site traffic. More quality non-reciprocal links will be far more beneficial. Building Link Popularity The theory is that each new link to your site is like a vote. However, it is not about who has the most votes. It is about which votes are of the highest value. Search engines look at link quality, again, and not necessarily all incoming links are equal. The best links will be those that are high quality and have a lot of weight. This may sound like common sense, but it is indeed true. Search engines will reward sites that are getting inbound links by the likes of article directories, government, and educational sites, as well as sites that are seen as important by other sites with similar content. In the SEO world, it is all about quality inbound links which will give you the best search engine rankings. If your site has lots of inbound links from sites that themselves have a lot of inbound links, this will make the search engines take more notice of your site. What Search Engines Are Looking For It is important to have a certain ratio of text to links on your web page. The topic of your site should be presented clearly and concisely. You should have an article or blog for each topic. Search engines regularly index new sites. Expect to see your site's index rapidly updated and ranking improve over time. In order to rank high in the search engines, you should have lots of quality inbound links from other sites. If you have lots of inbound links, this will tell the search engines that your site is important and this will positively impact your ranking in the search engines.