Here are the issues that create all the fuss. Most of any reputable sites that publish Internet search usage will follow along with these statements I'll be discussing.

First, over 80% begin looking for info through one of the top search engines and directories. So, you can see why having a top position with your keywords is so valuable.

The flip side is that none of the search engines could ever contain all of the sites that available (even Google). Its estimated that they cover maybe approx. 20% of sites give or take. There are different reasons for this.

The search engine may not be able to crawl a site because it requires registration or the webmaster may be using software that scrambles the code (to prevent code hijacking). These sites are a part of what's called the 'Invisible Web'. Learning to find these sites allows you to increase your research capabilities exponentially.

I think that search engine positioning is a vital strategy, but its definitely a long term endeavor. You may be able to generate quality visitors by having links pointing back to your site that are related to your business. For example, if a mortgage broker had over a 1,000 links pointing to his site he'd be doing very well. This assumes that the incoming links are related, like from Realtors.

This is why I think SEO (search engine optimization) is a long term strategy. Having those many quality links improves the amount of quality traffic coming in to the site. This should improve his sales conversion ratios. Eventually his site will become aged in the search engines and his ranking will automatically rise. So, no matter how great your site is, chances are it won't rank as high (initially) as a site that has been in the database longer.

Keyword Discovery

I strongly believe that content is king and that is what will ultimately determine your rankings in the search engines and directories. Yet, there are some things that can be done to greatly improve your chances of attracting highly targeted visitors to your site. In this article, we'll be discussing ways of finding the 'magic words' that your potential clients will use to find your site. The next article will discuss where to strategically place these in your site to obtain higher rankings.

The majority of your work has already been done. Remember in the earlier lesson when you broke down your product/service and listed your features and benefits? Well, those are the very same topics your customers will use to find you.