Hi, I have to agree with Steves` description here for optimizing your site for search engines in general. Going a bit further some have asked about using other tools to help optimize their site. A lot of them are based around the same principles but you need to test and analyze what can make the changes. This can take time of course. Most of these are desktop software whch always seem to update themselves before you actually get around to using them. A Free web based tool I find useful is Googles own set of Analytic tools at http://www.google.com/analytics/
I have found over the past two and half years of research that keeping it simple and following Googles own guidelines, better than some sites that promise to promote your site for x amount. Links are still the most important part of any websites development. The better the link from a mature website 2 years plus as a one way link the better. Some have frowned at times of the value of reciprocal links. This is still an important part of the linking process. GotLinks.com have a large community and they monitor the links each one places with you. Very necessary when most will place a link then remove it months down the line, it`s also Free to use.
I also just use CCS web templates these days as there are less tables for the search spiders to navigate, making it easier for them to collate data. Another way to do this if you have a stable tables based site is to write a pdf and link it from your index page. This is an HTML document and has no tables. This is pure HTML which the spiders suck up. Even writing one or two pages with your websites main keywords sprinkled through and of course your websites url as the pdf will be indexed seperately. I had one of these rank higher in the search engines than the actual site!

Very well said Steve and AnyoneElse. Keeping it simple and following googles guidelines will increase your search traffic from google.

An important ingredient to successful SEO is tracking. What keywords are relevant to your products and services TODAY? For example, which are more popular keyword phrases: dual core or quad core? SAS or SATA? DDR2 or DDR3?

Do any of these apply to you?

Tracking is an important part of deciding what is working for your site and can be obtained through checking your weblogs within cpanel. However using accronyms or abbreviations such as SAS will not give your site any relevance as these are general terms and can be misinterpreted for any amount of organisations. Your website such have a theme running through all your pages and this is what will determine your sites main keyword and structure. Even keywords branch out. A keyword has derivatives in different English languages and so search engines treat each one differently in spelling such as "civilisation" and civilization" . Wordtracker has a search count for the first of 1528 and 11205 for the latter. Synonyms are also a branching out of a particular keyword and will help in two ways. Firstly it will open up the content perspective of how you can describe your site, keeping within the sites theme and secondly as a search phrase it will help broaden longtail search phrases. SATA is a registered company name and harddrive is the main keyword here. Not a lot of emphasis should be given to keywords as most search engines prefer to `make up` their own mind by assesing the full sites theme.

This really goes deeper than what's working for your site as it stands today. First, you need to define the core focus of your business and search for keywords that aren't necessarily already in the theme of your existing site. If you're offering dedicated and colo services, would it be to your advantage to offer shared services as well? Is anyone searching for shared hosting now? When I talk about relevancy, it's not necessarily those products or services you advertise online today, rather matching what prospects are looking for - that may be within the framework of your abilities, but not yet commited to as a business model.

This is a very good, plain-English write up. Nice work, Steve.

One of the common sense nuggets I will pass on to people if I am asked is that if a person isn't going to make sense of your page when they read it, neither will the search engines.

12 years ago, it was popular to use the bottom half of your page to put in all sorts of random words to try and elicit search results. Literally, people would stuff in all sorts of "keywords" (which may have had nothing to do with their actual content) in very small font and take up 1/2 (or sometimes more!) of the length of the page. Crazy. Times have certainly changed!

I still come across that from time to time and wonder what the heck they're thinking? Or having meta keywords that have no relevance to the site whatsoever.

Yep, there are still a lot of sites out there that do this. It is just amazing to see it.

Thats a really well defined article. Thanks a lot for that. I have bookmarked it.

This thread is worth making sticky.

Nice post, thanks..

Thanks for the excellent tips! These should help a lot of people.

Great tips. Just wondering, is anyone using any particular tools to manage your SEO functions? I know there's this tool called Internet Business Promoter that comes highly recommended. Does anyone recommend anything else?

Nice for On-page SEO!
Title and descriptions will sure help but H tags will definitely gives more SEO friendly site.