Achieving search engine optimisation can be summarised in 9 steps:

1. Brainstorming: discuss the keywords with your client
2. Search Popularity of keywords
3. Research the competition (are they SEO’d?)
4. Decide the keywords
5. Make sure the site architecture reflects the keyword decision
6. Show the keywords in the Domains/URL of each page
7. Display the keywords in headings tags, atl tags, and meta description
8. Maximise keyword density: mention the phrase in the text’s headings, subheadings, copy and internal links
9. Improve the link popularity of the site

I find it easier to look at good SEO examples, rather than read though the SEO handbook rules. For me, the best SEO example we can find is Wikipedia. Wikipedia somehow always manages to appear at the top of search engine’s results, even when it is not the most authoritative or comprehensive source of information on the subject on the net.

The reason for this is that Wikipedia follows the 9 steps to a T.

Here we can see how when writing Internet Marketing, the Wikipedia result is the first on the page (behind the AdWords ads). The meta description and heading tags show clearly the keywords.

For this entry of Internet marketing in Wikipedia we find how the steps 5, 6, 7 and 8 are being implemented, by stating the keyword as much as possible both in the actual page (title, copy), as in the Title Alt and in the URL.