SEO can be incredibly complex, as well as exceptionally simple; it all depends on what you focus on. Precisely akin to everything else in marketing, when it comes to SEO, you have what works the best, what is imperative, what is not so important, what doesn’t really matters, and what is rubbish.

Obviously, you should spend most of your time on what works and is essential, so today I have decided to highlight what I consider the 4 most important elements of Google SEO.

On Page SEO Elements

On-page SEO is where it all starts, that is with your own site. There are just so many tweaks and tricks you can apply to improve your on-page SEO, but out of all those, I only found out 2 elements that really makes a difference in your general SEO work:

• Your Page Title.
• Your Text Content.

Keyword in Title

Having your keyword in your page title is really important.

I realize some of you may disagree that you have seen a first ranking site without their keyword in the page title, etc…, yes you will always be able to find some exceptions to any rule if you really want to, but that’s not the point.

You are required to get the keyword you want to rank for in your page title.

At this point, having it in your webpage title doesn’t signify that you have to spam your keywords everywhere either! For a good measure, compare to the highest ranking pages, how many times they use their keyword, this will give you a fairly good basic indication.

Keywords in content

Ok, when I talk about content, the golden rule is to write quality content; that is content that your readers will enjoy reading.

In all the search engines guidelines, you’ll find out that it is recommended to write for your readers, and not the search engines!

That said, having your main keyword, and some other associated terms here and there surely never hurt anybody.

This doesn’t mean you have to stuff your content with keywords, it’s truly ineffective, and furthermore it could harm you by getting you penalized for over-optimization.

Off-Page SEO Elements

If SEO starts on-page to get you indexed, there’s no doubt that it is your off-page SEO work that will get you ranked where you want to be in the search engines.

Among all the factors to take into consideration, the following 2 are critical to your success online:

• Your site Link Popularity.
• Anchor Text Of Your Inbound Links.

Link Popularity of your site

On internet, the popularity of a site is measure by how many pages, and preferably domains link towards your site or page.

Just think about each of thoseinbound links like a “vote”. In basic Google SEO help, the more votes a page has, the more popular it becomes, and thus the higher it should rank for the search engines.

Therefore your evident effort must focus on building quality inbound link in order to grow your link popularity.

And yes, the more commanding a page or site linking to you is, the more you profit from it; likewise, if the authority level of that webpage is awfully low or none, so will be the worth of this “vote”.

Anchor text of the inbound links

The second key element of your off-page optimization is the anchor text of your inbound links.

The numbers of inbound links do increase your popularity rank, but it is the anchor text used in those links that will notify the search engines what your website is popular for!

Let me say that again:

“The anchor texts of your backlinks tell the search engines what your site is popular for!”

So if you guess it right, your keyword should be there too.

Now, you want to keep things natural, so it’s important to vary your anchor texts, but as far as possible, offer your keyword or variation of it in the anchor text of the inbound links towards your site.

In Conclusion

There are just so many points to cover and learn about when it comes to SEO, and don’t worry, I’ll cover them all in my different free SEO training courses, but for those of you who are getting started or those of you who are getting confused at which element they should mainly focus on, this is the 4 elements of SEO that I consider essentials and will account for 80% of your search engine ranking position.

Pay attention on what works to start with, and sort out the rest later when you have time and opportunity!

Given that you know that internet is going anywhere; you are possibly also aware that having a website is about as crucial today as having a cellular phone. It's a fact, whether you like it or not, this is the way things are.

At this instant motivated by the awareness of the fact that an online presence with a top search engine place in Google could dramatically transform your business, you choose to join the world of online business.

So here you are, you just have finished to build your site, and finally submitted it to Google and then… nothing happened!

What happened! So you go online and look for all the SEO help forums and sites you can find and post your thread:

“Why Google Doesn’t Index My Site?", in the end, you will too affirm that you did the whole thing, as well as submitting a sitemap, that you boast a few inbound links, etc…

Google Indexing Process

Let’s review how Google proceed to index a page or site:

1. You build a site.
2. You submit it to Google.
3. Your site is then queued by Google to be crawled.
4. Your site is crawled.
5. Your website is analyzed.
6. If it's considered relevant it will be indexed.

If you would like your website to be indexed, you have to foremost make sure that it gets crawled, and unless Googlebot is aware of that, it's in no way going to happen.

Maybe a good way for you to start should have been to learn a bit about Google SEO, before you started, but since you are here already, let’s see what we can do about it.

It’s All About Crawling

Googlebot travels across the internet by followings links from different websites it knows until it discovers fresh or new content. Logically, if your website is not linked by other crawled websites, Googlebot will never be able to notice you, unless of course you make a decision to sent a submission request.

Sure you can do that, yet it's not a great way out. If you consider just how many new sites are created each and every day, not even taking into consideration the billions of pages that are updated, let me tell you right now that the waiting list is going to be very long…

Just for your information, here’s the priority order in which Googlebot crawls sites:

1. Fresh content from authority sites.
2. Fresh content from other sites.
3. Random internet crawling.
4. Submission requests.

So by submitting your site for inclusion, you kind of come last on the list… in truth it may possibly take months literally!

Helping Googlebot

Googlebot behaves a lot like human beings, it doesn’t like to be told to do something, but rather do thing its own way, that is finding content by itself.

When you are crawled, generally except if you have done something genuinely wrong, it's very easy to be indexed.

The easiest method for Googlebot to find you is to go where it likes to crawl!

• Wordpress blogs.
• Authority websites.
• Important webpages.

As for your Sitemap, it's just a tool used to help Googlebot know which pages you'd appreciate it to crawl. Bear in mind, it's just a proposition and doesn't warrant at all that Googlebot will crawl all the pages of your sitemap or index them.

In Conclusion

Remember, there’s a huge difference between having a page crawled and being indexed.

If you are really serious about getting an online presence on Google, I strongly recommend you to attend some kind of SEO training course, even free ones, just to make sure that you get at least the basic knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be successful online.

In view of the fact that you know that internet is going anywhere; you are perhaps also conscious that having a website is about as valuable today as having a cellular phone. It's a fact, whether you like it or not, this is the way things are.

At this moment driven by the awareness of the fact that an online presence with a top search engine position in Google possibly will dramatically transform your business, you resolve to join the world of online business.

Finally, you just have finished to build your site, and finally submitted it to Google and then… nothing happened!

What happened! So you go online and look for all the SEO help forums and sites you can find and post your thread:

“Why Google Doesn’t Index My Site?", sooner or later, you will too affirm that you did everything, including submitting a sitemap, that you have a few inbound links, etc…

Google Indexing Process

Let’s review how Google proceed to index a page or site:

1. You build a site.
2. You submit it to Google.
3. Your website is subsequently queued by Google to be crawled.
4. Your website is crawled.
5. Your website is analyzed.
6. If it's considered appropriate it will be indexed.

If you require your website to be indexed, you ought to firstly make certain that it gets crawled, and unless Googlebot is conscious of that, it's in no way going to happen.

Maybe a good way for you to start should have been to learn a bit about Google SEO, before you started, but since you are here already, let’s see what we can do about it.

It’s All About Crawling

Googlebot travels across the internet by followings links from different websites it knows until it discovers fresh or new content. It's a fact, if your website is not linked by other crawled sites, Googlebot will in no way be able to stumble on you, unless of course you decide to sent a submission request.

Sure you can do that, then again it's not a great solution. If you consider just how many fresh pages are produced each and every day, not even taking into consideration the billions of webpages that are updated, let me tell you right at this instant that the waiting list is going to be very long…

Just for your information, here’s the priority order in which Googlebot crawls sites:

1. Fresh content from authority sites.
2. Fresh content from other websites.
3. Unsystematic internet crawling.
4. Submission requests.

Hence by submitting your page for inclusion, you kind of come very last on the list… in truth it may possibly take months literally!

Helping Googlebot

Googlebot behaves a lot like human beings, it doesn’t like to be told to do something, but rather do thing its own way, that is finding content by itself.

After you are crawled, more often than not except if you have done something really inappropriate, it's very simple to be indexed.

The simpliest way for Googlebot to discover you is to go where it loves to crawl!

• Wordpress blogs.
• Authority pages.
• Applicable websites.

Regarding your Sitemap, it's nothing more than a tool used to assist Googlebot understand which webpages you'd appreciate it to crawl. Remember, it's only a suggestion and doesn't guarantee at all that Googlebot will crawl all the pages of your sitemap or index them.

In Conclusion

Remember, there’s a huge difference between having a page crawled and being indexed.

If you are really serious about getting an online presence on Google, I strongly recommend you to attend some kind of SEO training course, even free ones, just to make sure that you get at least the basic knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be successful online.