Its a known fact that 80% of the traffic you will be able to generate for your website would come from the search engines. People log on to the internet hoping to find some information on a matter they are interested with. They know what theyre looking for. But often, they dont know where to go.

So what do they do?

They consult with the search engines. After all, who doesnt know about Google, Yahoo or MSN? With the phrase they have in mind, they type the same and press the search button, to be led to millions of web pages that cater to the same search phrase.

Yes. Millions.

And where does the user usually go to? Naturally, to the first websites hell find those which are on top of the list in these search engine results.

Your goal as a webmaster would be to place your website as high as it can in the search engine ladder. Doing so is no small feat, that is certain. But it is doable, and this is what search engine optimization, or SEO, is all about. SEO is a collection of techniques or commandments, if you will that webmasters should follow to the letter so that their websites would be able to experience the success they have dreamed for it.

What are these techniques? What are these commandments?

Here is a basic rundown of what are needed to be done.

* Keywords, keywords, keywords! Essential in your SEO campaign is the choice of the right keywords to use. THIS CANNOT BE COMPROMISED. Its either you have the right keywords that would lead to untold riches, or the wrong ones that would only garner for your website some digital dust. Keyword research should be the first step in every SEO campaign. Simply go to www.nichebot.com , or my personal favorite, www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion , type in the keywords you have in mind, and check out how many times they have been searched for. The higher their number of searches, the more profitable these keywords are said to be.

* Keyword positioning. Youd want to include your chosen keywords in your web pages as much as possible. Content would be the number one place where they should be located. Try to strike at least a 2% keyword density level for every page, that is, at least 2 mentions of the keywords for every 100 words of text. Also, include your keywords in your web pages META tags whenever possible. If youre using images, try to include ALT tags that contain your keywords. Your page titles should also have the keywords in them.

* Anchor links. It has been proven that hyperlinking your website to anchor words similar to your chosen keywords would provide a boost for your page rank. You could do this on your own web pages to link them together, or in other web pages where you will be able to submit content that would promote your link.

* Off page SEO is all about building your link popularity. Your link popularity refers to the number of links pointing to your website. This can be accomplished by joining link exchange programs, submitting articles with resource boxes to article directories, actively posting at forums and a slew of other novel tactics you could employ.

* Perpetual adjustments. SEO doesnt stop when your website would go live. The search engine positioning game is a fierce war. Its a constant battle for the prime spot. You will only be able to reach this spot if youd always study and test your websites performance and make the corresponding adjustments.

Your SEO efforts will eventually pay off. SEO has long been the secret of highly successful webmasters, and now that the strategies are slowly leaking to the public, today is the best time to embark on a crusade that would ensure high traffic for your web pages and great business for your online enterprise.