SEO is an acronym for “[search engine optimization|Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines]” or “search engine optimizer.” Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on [website development|Web development is a broad term for any activity to developing a web site for the World Wide Web or an internet. This can include e-commerce business development, web design, web content development, client-side/server-side scripting, and web server configuration. However, among web professionals, web development usually refers only to the non-design aspects of building web sites, e.g. writing markup and coding. Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.]: for example, [hosting|A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation.], [redirects|URL redirection, also called URL forwarding and the very similar technique domain redirection also called domain forwarding, are techniques on the World Wide Web for making a web page available under many URLs.], [error pages|The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server but the server could not find what was requested. 404 errors should not be confused with server not found or similar errors, in which a connection to the destination server could not be made at all. Another similar error is 410: Gone, which indicates that the requested resource has been intentionally removed and will not be available again. A 404 error indicates that the requested resource may be available in the future.], use of [JavaScript|JavaScript is a scripting language used to enable programmatic access to objects within both the client application and other applications. It is primarily used in the form of client-side JavaScript, implemented as an integrated component of the web browser, allowing the development of enhanced user interfaces and dynamic websites. JavaScript is a dialect of the ECMAScript standard and is characterized as a dynamic, weakly typed, prototype-based language with first-class functions. JavaScript was influenced by many languages and was designed to look like Java, but to be easier for non-programmers to work with.]
• [Content development|Web content development is the process of researching, writing, gathering, organizing, and editing information for publication on web sites. Web site content may consist of prose, graphics, pictures, recordings, movies or other digital assets that could be distributed by a hypertext transfer protocol server, and viewed by a web browser.]
• Management of online business development campaigns
• [Keyword research|Keyword research is a practice used by search engine optimization professionals to find and research actual search terms people enter into the search engines when conducting a search.]
• SEO training
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Keep in mind that the Google search results page includes [organic search results|Organic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being adverts. In contrast, non-organic search results may include pay per click advertising.] and often [paid advertisement|Paid inclusion is a search engine marketing product where the search engine company charges fees related to inclusion of websites in their search index. Paid inclusion products are provided by most search engine companies, the most notable exception being Google.] (denoted by the heading “[Sponsored Links|Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on its advertisement that brings one visitor to its website.]“) as well. Advertising with Google won’t have any effect on your site’s presence in the search results. Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in the search results, and it costs nothing to appear in the [organic search results|Organic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being adverts. In contrast, non-organic search results may include pay per click advertising.]. Free resources such as [Webmaster Tools|Google Webmaster Tools is a no-charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites.], the official Webmaster Central blog, and the discussion forum can provide you with a great deal of information about how to optimize your site for organic search. Many of these free sources, as well as information on [paid search|Paid inclusion is a search engine marketing product where the search engine company charges fees related to inclusion of websites in their search index. Paid inclusion products are provided by most search engine companies, the most notable exception being Google.], can be found on Google Webmaster Central.

Additional Resources for Webmasters, Developers and Search Engine Optimizers:

• Check out Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
• Read more on the Google Help page:  Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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Server-side Programs

• Enarion phpSitemapsNG ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.])
• Google Sitemap Generator ([Linux|Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL and other free software licences.] or [Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.], 32/64bit, [open-source|Open source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to software source code. Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.])
• GS Master (Polish, [PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.]/[Perl|Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall, a linguist working as a systems administrator for NASA, in 1987, as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular amongst programmers. Larry Wall continues to oversee development of the core language, and its upcoming version, Perl 6.])
• Outil en PHP (French, [PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.])
• Perl Sitemap Generator ([Perl|Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall, a linguist working as a systems administrator for NASA, in 1987, as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular amongst programmers. Larry Wall continues to oversee development of the core language, and its upcoming version, Perl 6.])
• Python Sitemap Generator ([Python|Python is a general-purpose high-level programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to \'combine remarkable power with very clear syntax\', and its standard library is large and comprehensive. Its use of indentation as block delimiters is unusual among popular programming languages.])
• Simple Sitemaps ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.])
• SiteMap XML Dynamic Sitemap Generator ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.]) $
• XML Sitemap Generator ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.]) $

CMS and Other Plugins

• ASP.NET – Sitemaps.Net
• ClickCartPro $
• Coppermine
• DotClear (Spanish)
• DotClear (2)
• Drupal
• ECommerce Templates ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.]) $
• Ecommerce Templates ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.] or [ASP|Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft\'s first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services (IIS) via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack, it was subsequently included as a free component of Windows Server (since the initial release of Windows 2000 Server). It has now been superseded by ASP.NET.]) $
• LifeType
• mnoGoSearch
• OS Commerce
• PHPNuke (German)
• PHPNuke – NukeSEO Sitemaps Generator
• phpWebSite
• Plone
• RapidWeaver
• Textpattern
• vBulletin
• Wikka Wiki ([PHP|PHP, or PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development, to produce dynamic web pages. It can be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, which needs to be configured to process PHP code and create web page content from it. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. PHP is installed on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers.])
• WordPress

Downloadable Tools

• CoffeeCup Sitemapper ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.]) $
• Devintelligence SitemapGenerator ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• GSiteCrawler ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• GWebCrawler & Sitemap Creator ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• G-Mapper ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• Inspyder Sitemap Creator ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.]) $
• IntelliMapper ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.]) $
• KeyLimeTie Sitemap Generator ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.]) $
• Map-IT Sitemapper ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.], [Mac|Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface. The original form of what Apple would later name the Mac OS was the integral and unnamed system software first introduced in 1984 with the original Macintosh, usually referred to simply as the System software. It was a trimmed down version of the operating system underpinning Apple\'s earlier Lisa product.]) $
• MediaCET Diadematus ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• Microsys A1 Sitemap Generator ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.]) $
• Rage Google Sitemap Automator $ ([OS-X|Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems. It is the successor to Mac OS 9, the final release of the classic Mac OS, which had been Apple\'s primary operating system since 1984.])
• Site Magellen ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• Site Map Pro ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.]) $
• Sorrowmans Sitemap Tools ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• Vigos Gsitemap ([Windows|Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add on to MS DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. As of July 2009, Windows had approximately 93 percent of the market share of the client operating systems for usage on the internet.])
• Web-design-pros.ca Sitemap.xml.gz Generator ([Java Webstart Application|In computing, Java Web Start (also known as JavaWS or as javaws), a framework developed by Sun Microsystems, allows users to start application software for the Java Platform directly from the Internet using a web browser. Unlike Java applets, Web Start applications do not run inside the browser, and the sandbox in which they run need not have as many restrictions, although this can be configured. Web Start has an advantage over applets in that it overcomes many compatibility problems with browsers\' Java plugins and different JVM versions. On the other hand, Web Start programs cannot communicate with the browser as easily as applets. To assist migration, users can also invoke a Java Applet as a Java Web Start application.])

Online Generators/Services

• AuditMyPc.com Sitemap Generator
• AutoMapIt
• Autositemap $
• Enarion phpSitemapsNG
• Free Sitemap Generator
• Neuroticweb.com Sitemap Generator
• Safe Area SitemapGenerator
• ScriptSocket Sitemap Generator
• ResourceSEO Online Sitemap Generator
• SitemapDoc
• Sitemapspal
• Smart-IT-Consulting Google Sitemaps XML Validator
• XML-Sitemaps Generator

Code Snippets / Libraries

• Java library
• Perl script
• ASP script
• PHP class

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AddPro.com

AddPro.com provides a free service that performs a basic submission of your site to 18 of the top search engine providers:

Visit AddPro.com

AddMe.com

AddMe.com also provides a free search engine submission service that auto-submits your website to the following Search Engines:

Visit AddMe.com

FreeWebSubmission.com

FreeWebSubmission.com provides free manual and auto submission to the highest-rated, Free Internet Search Engines and Directories.

Visit FreeWebSubmission.com

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Google PageRank

Google PageRank reflects Google’s view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that they believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.

PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value. Google has always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and their technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page’s importance.

View Google’s Technology page for more information

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