Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) or the higher it “ranks”, the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of searches. These include image search, local search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As a marketing strategy for increasing a site’s relevance, SEO is a must. SEO efforts may involve a site’s coding, presentation and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site.

The letters “SEO” can also refer to “search engine optimizers”, terms adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term “search engine friendly” may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems, URLs and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

Today there will be millions of searches performed on the Internet, many of them looking for exactly what you have. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of getting your website to the top of the search engines. SEO has proven to be one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing available.

Search Engine Optimization can:
Increase your online visibility
Deliver high quality targeted traffic
Increase Sales
Eliminates or Decrease PPC Costs
Dominate Your Competitors
and more…

Canonical element is a line of code that you add to pages that may be duplicates. In this code, you designate the “canonical,” or “proper,” URL. Engines will note this URL and apply link popularity and authority to the canonical version instead of applying them to duplicate URLs. This should consolidate the authority and link popularity into a single URL, as opposed to splitting them among several similar URLs.

How Do You Use the Canonical Tag?
The syntax of the new canonical attribute is simple. Between the and tags on your page (title element and meta data), place this line:

<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.yoursite.com/correct-url/” />
The actual URL in the line above is for the actual canonical URL that you’ll put in your file.

As an example, let’s assume you have duplicate content issues that result in all of the following URLs resolving correctly, and that the first URL in this list is the “correct” one:

http://www.yoursite.com/correct-url/

http://yoursite.com/correct-url/

https://www.yoursite.com/correct-url/

http://www.yoursite.com/correct-url/default.aspx

http://www.yoursite.com/correct-url/?from=sidenav

and so on…

To apply the canonical element, just add the following line to the section of all pages:
<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.yoursite.com/correct-url/” />