There are two distinct parts of search engine optimization, and if one neglects either component, they will never achieve high positions. On page optimization focuses on the website itself, such as design, content, and linking structure. Off page optimization is mainly comprised of link building, in which you develop links on other websites that point to yours. By utilizing a variety of SEO tactics, you can gain a better position than by following one simple strategy alone.

The purpose of SEO is to raise your website's rankings in search engine results for particular keywords and keyphrases. Therefore, one of the fundamental rules for on page optimization is to include your targeted keyword/keyphrase many times in the copy. Having a strong keyword density allows search engine robots to associate those words with your site. Giving identifying attributes to text, such as bold, italics, underline, or color, makes your site more relevant to that text.

Other components of a website are actually more important than the site's main content. Domains that contain a targeted keyword get a lot of power automatically, as domain name is the strongest on-site factor in SEO. The title, designated by the "title" tag, is the second most influential part a webmaster can control. It is essential that you include your most valued keyword or keyphrase in the title. Finally, headers are tags that separate a web page in to parts, and there are six sizes of headers, ranging from "h1" to "h6", with h1 being the biggest. You can get a reasonable head start by simply putting your keywords in to the domain, title, and header. However, because of this simplicity, many professionals also know to do this, leaving the real competition to exist in off site optimization.

Many webmasters are intimidated at the prospect of having to build links. They believe that it is difficult to get other websites to link to you, and thus avoid the task all together. Link building is actually quite straightforward if you know what to do and where to go. Also, it is important to understand the fundamentals of linking so that you can maximize your efforts. All links are not created equal, as some are determined to be of a higher or lower quality by search engine bots.

Relevant links from high PR websites are the most valuable and thus hardest to attain. A relevant link is one that comes from a site similar to yours; for example, if a sports website links to another sports website, the latter websites benefits more because the link comes from an identically themed page. The Page Rank, or PR, of the linking page is equally as important. PageRank is a system designed by Google, and it measures the strength of web pages based on the number of incoming links. Getting one link from a PR5 page is more valuable than ten links from PR1 pages, and if that link is relevant, it is all the more powerful. When it comes to link building, the saying quality over quantity holds true.

There is a multitude of ways to create inbound links to your site. One of the most powerful is article marketing. With this technique, you write or buy articles about your niche, and submit them to article directories. Whenever you submit an article, you can include your website in the author byline, with whatever anchor text you want. Anchor text, or the title of a link, should be similar to one of your target keywords or keyphrases. Another option is to join social bookmarking websites, and fill your user page with links to your site.