Search engine optimization. You should not be afraid of this term if you want to increase the traffic your website generates. Optimizing your sites search engine performance does not require any black magic or even technological expertise. You can use simple techniques to raise your websites search engine standing. Here are just a few of them:

Make sure you use a relevant and unique meta description and title on every page of your website. The web page title is the most important on-page SEO element and it is almost impossible to rank highly in search engine results, without two or three keywords making up the web page title. Although the meta description tag will not help you to rank, it does appear as a text snippet under your listing in search results, so it has the power to influence whether or not searchers visit your website.

Posting content from your web site on article directory sites can be a great way to get exposure and build traffic. When you post on these directories you will be building a link back to your site which can increase the amount of visits you receive. The more directories you use the more links you create.

If you are writing a blog, optimize your content by using as many heading tags as you can without depleting readability. Start with the blog title in an

tag and work down from there, with the main content of the post in an

tag. This tells search engine spiders which content you have deemed most important.

Make your font size 10pt or higher. In the past, webmasters have used very tiny font to hide keywords and code all over their pages to put them higher in search results. As a result of this, search engines now ignore sites that use very tiny text.

Live by the rule that no page on your site should be more than two clicks away from your home page. Search engines hate deep links and often times ignore them. As well, by sticking to this rule, you help guarantee that all of your pages get to enjoy some residual page rank value from your home page.

Do not make your site entirely Flash-based. Not only will some people not buy due to device incompatibility, others simply dont like Flash and will click away from your site quickly. Do, however, use Flash in product or service demonstrations, as they can convert customers. But, have a text description for those who cant or wont use Flash.

Exercise

Attempting to optimize your search engine results will be an exercise in frustration if you pick keywords that are too general. Use specific keywords to restrict your competition and increase the effect of your optimization efforts. For example, it is much harder to raise your ranking on "auto sales" than "used luxury auto sales in Lexington KY."

Thoroughly assess all of your sites options when attempting to enlist other sites to link your own as a means of increasing traffic. For smaller and start-up sites, this need to exercise extreme restraint in deciding site partners can be especially difficult. It is important to remember, however, that having your site linked by undesirable sites can make decrease the appeal of your own site in the eyes of more well-known, relevant sites.

Hopefully, this article has helped to de-mystify the search engine optimization process for you. SEO is not an obscure or arcane process. Any webmaster can improve his or her sites search engine rankings with easy tactics like those presented above. Increased traffic is something you probably want, no matter what kind of website you run. Basic SEO techniques like these can help you find the wider exposure for which you are looking.