Search engine optimisation (SEO) basically means making sure your website ranks highly in Google searches (and, of course, with other search engines). It?s a science and a black art rolled into one, but while perfecting it is complex, getting the basics right isn?t really all that difficult.

The problem essentially is this: the search engines are in a continuous battle with people who create web sites ? some of whom are spammers and others who simply want lots of traffic.

Search engines want to ggive people the right information ? relevant information. If you?re creating a web site, the search engine doesn?t necessarily believe what you tell it. You may say (in your meta tags and site description) that your site is about such and such. But are you telling the truth? (Pornographers and spammers typically lie).

Google checks what your site is REALLY all about. How? By READING THE COPY. That way, Google checks to see that your content really is relevant to the search being performed.

This, of course, means that the copy on your website has to be carefully written. You need to think about the search terms people will use, and scatter these throughout your website. Did I say scatter? Wrong! You need to concentrate keywords together on certain pages. You need to aim for a density of keywords that will make that page rank highly for a specific keyword.

So, if you?re selling garden machinery, your home page might concentrate on a few keywords such as gardens, tools, lawnmowers. But another page might concentrate on shredders, another on strimmers. That way, someone searching for shredders might not find your home page ? but they will find your shredders page. Ideal. So ? why not just make a long list of keywords and put them on every page? Because Google and other search engines aren?t fooled so easily. Lists don?t impress Google. It looks for use relevant use of keywords in real sentences.

You also need to get the ?density? right. If you use a particular term too often, Google will think you?re spamming ? and could blacklist you. (I did mention that it?s a black art, didn?t I?)

Google also spots tricks like invisible text (white on a white background). Trying to fool Google can be very counter-productive ? it can get your site blacklisted. Don?t forget, Google became a $50 billion business inside seven years. It?s fair to assume they know what they?re doing.

The best way to convince Google that there is plenty of relevant content on your site ? is to have plenty of relevant content. Carefully written content. With the right keyword density.