We’ve written so often about basic SEO practices, and maybe it’s because they seem so simple that so many overlook them. Page titles, word count/keyword density, headings, paragraphs, as well as the research that precedes the actual writing – - these aren’t the whole of it, but they do matter. Web site owners ignore them at their peril.

Perhaps an example might help. I hesitate to tell the story because I don’t want to create the impression it’s SEO lightning that will strike the same place time and time again. There’s no magic to it, and just taking the time to read the Webmaster Guidelines Google offers will tell you that. And, SEO efforts achieve varying degrees of success at different speeds depending on the web site, its subject matter/products/services, and a site owner’s dedication to engage in ongoing best practices.

With that said, let’s look at Inuit Images. John and Victoria have been operating an Inuit Art Gallery for thirteen years, and their web site was ten years old when they called KISS. The Inuit sculptures, carvings, drawings and master works are beautiful, authentic, and both prehistoric and contemporary.

Yet, even with that tenure on the Internet, the web site did not rank well for keywords associated with their art. We were asked to give their site a face lift and help them be found a bit easily in searches. We performed our due diligence on keyword inventory research, assembled a list of keywords to target, wrote new page titles, meta description and structured copy, helped them find a new look and feel for the site, and launched the new version in early October.

Last week, we reviewed the site’s first month performance and were delighted to find that its rank position for the targeted keywords, which for the old site was not in the top 50 results in any instance, had improved into the top 25: “inuit art” has them ranked #25; “inuit art sculptures” at #8; “inuit sculptures” at #13; “inuit art books” #24; “eskimo art” at #6; and, “inuit art gallery” at #18.

These are keywords for which their site wants to rank well – - they all have to do directly with their gallery offerings and the pieces they present. There’s no mystery here, either. You assemble the list of keywords, craft the copy around it, and review the statistical data periodically to see how the content is performing.

Results are not always this quick, to be honest, and not often as dramatic. We always assume the first month will simply establish a baseline performance for the second month’s stats, and hope for some movement by then. The basics don’t change, though, and the exercise is still the same.

Of course, there is more to the work than these steps. There’s link building strategies, social networking (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), as well as content growth and refreshing, to mention a few. Websites are perpetual works in progress, frankly.

But, that’s where it all begins: compelling content that targets the right keywords; words in all the right places; keywords in the right frequency; page titles; headings; main body text; all coordinated for a solid and strong indexing by the search engines.

It does work.

My partner in Dublin, Ireland, Micheal O Donnabhain, was asked to make a presentation to his business networking group recently, and the subject he was to present was search engine optimization basics. Three group members had volunteered their websites for a quick review, and we evaluated their sites using just four of the far more than four SEO considerations – Micheal had to keep his remarks to about 20 minutes.

Those four site elements were: page title, meta description, headings, and word count/keyword density. So that we could make sure everyone was on the same page, we offered a definition of “keyword”: a word or phrase a person was likely to use when searching for a web site’s product or service for which the site would want to be a high-ranked result.

Past columns to this Tao of KISS blog have addressed the importance of page title, meta description, headings and word count/keyword density, and they can be reviewed in the Web Copy Writing/SEO category if you’re interested. What I want to talk about today is the self test we gave the group at the end of the presentation – - our idea for a good “take-a-way” from the meeting. I’d like to offer it for you to take on your own, and don’t worry – - it’s easy, quick, and there’s no follow-up quiz for you.

Pretend for a moment you are not you, and you don’t know your web site exists. Instead, you are a person looking for the real you and your web site, and the product or service you sell. You are that person sitting in front of your computer ready to conduct a search on Google or Yahoo or Bing or one of the other search engines to find the real you.

Make a list of the words or phrases you would enter in the search field to find the product or service you promote and sell on your web site. Write three or four search phrases that occur to you. Remember, now, you aren’t you, and you don’t know your web site exists – - all you know is the product or service you want to find.

Then, with that list in front of you, go to your web site and look at your page title, your meta description, your headings and your home page content. If you don’t find the keywords from your list in any or all of those places, and in the right frequency, you have some serious work to do on your site. If those keywords aren’t there, it’s not likely anyone is going to find you in their search.

There’s a lot more to SEO than this simple test, but it’s a good start. It’s a worthwhile exercise, and it will be very instructive for you.