Search engine optimization, also known simply as SEO, is the practice of improving a web site's ranking in Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. The goal of SEO is to optimize a web site (on and off the page) so that it ranks well for a specific set of keywords. Although this may seem like a simple enough task, it is actually a very complicated and challenging one. Not only do you have to compete against other web sites, but you also have to deal with the search engines. Every major search engine has a different algorithm, and what may improve your ranking in one search engine could potentially lower your ranking in another one. Although there are many factors and practices within the search engine optimization community, here are some of the more common on page search engine optimization techniques:

Meta Tags-Although they used to carry much more weight, meta tags should still be optimized as a part of basic on page search engine optimization. Every web page on your web site should contain a unique meta description, along with several meta keywords which describe the content of the web page. SEOs should avoid ?stuffing? meta tags. Stuffing meta tags is the practice of using tons of meta tags on one page. Although this used to be considered a ?Black Hat? technique, it is now nothing more than a foolish attempt at improving your search engine ranking.

Header Tags-H1 and H2 tags should be optimized in the same fashion as the meta tags. If possible, the header tags should be slightly different than the meta tags. However, they should still contain the same important keywords that you want your web page to rank well for.

Out of all the on page SEO factors, the most important is original content. When writing content, try to write in a normal conversational tone instead of writing systematically for the search engines.