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SEO means search engine optimization ' a method that will improve the visibility of a website in the search engine listings, but you probably already know that. Then I should probably let you know what SEO is not: a magic wand that will bring your website a top 20 position over night. SEO takes time, commitment, skills and effort. SEO's purpose is to increase relevant traffic to your website and generate more revenue.

For SEO to work you need to have a website designed according to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), that means a website without technical difficulties (flash, improper Java scripts, frames) and with a clear, user friendly design. Once you have that, start your SEO work.

As you've often heard, keywords are important. Don't optimize your website for terms no one has ever heard about, but for what people might want to find on your website. Use the keywords in your Meta tags: title, description, keywords. Search engines find the title tag crucial to determine what a page is all about and index it. So don't give the same title to all your web pages. Write a short, descriptive, keyword rich title that would also act as a sales pitch. The Meta title's text goes on page, maybe a longer version. The higher on the page the better. Maybe you should place it in the visible title as well. Use tags.

Content is king. How many times have you heard that? Well, that's true if we put it this way: 'fresh content is king'. If you want higher rankings add new pages of content to your website on regular basis. Make them interesting and carefully place them in the right category.

Linking is also very important: both incoming and outgoing links mater. Don't exchange links with irrelevant sites. Your linking partners should be somehow related to your industry. Linking with spammy sites and link farms will only damage your website's position in the search engines results. It's also a good idea to interlink the pages within your website. Don't do it with a 'click here' button, but with a keyword rich text link.

Google maps ' the new trend ' will help search engines find all the important web pages you want to index. It's important that you make a site map for your visitors as well ' that means a collection of plain text links to the most important categories of your website.

And here's what you should never do: repeat words too often on a page ' that's considered keyword stuffing and will get your site penalized. Also don't use hidden text on your pages. Google and other search engines know when you use hidden text, so don't try to fool them. Stick to ethical SEO practices and you'll see, in time, you will get the results you want. The key is, it takes time so be patient!