What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Simply put, it is improving the volume and quality of traffic directed to a website from a search engine, in other words, creating web pages that conform to specifications of different search engines. These are not tricks, but optimizing web pages according to a set of rules set by the search engines.
During the optimization process, you are making your site “search engine friendly” so that the search engines are more likely to rank your site higher in the search results. With millions of websites competing to be indexed by search engines, it's necessary to make it as easy as possible for them to find your site.
Many people assume that there is a human aspect involved to search engine rankings. They think that people are assigned to review websites, then ranks the pages accordingly. Not true, search engines are entirely automated.
Imagine, Google indexes over 4 billion web pages and therefore it would be impossible to employ enough people to categorize them. Search engines have very sophisticated, fully automated computer programs called “search engine spiders” that examine each website to determine which search terms they should appear in. The optimization process involves the entire website from design to the marketing strategy, the copy, the structure and finally the popularity.
A few steps for effectively optimizing a website:
- Writing pages for only a single search term;
- Keyword placement - Strategic placement of keywords that drive traffic to your website;
- Keyword Density - The total number of keywords in relation to the total amount of words on a page;
- Meta Tags 1) Meta-Keyword, or informing the search engines about the page content, 2) Meta-Description, or what the search interprets as the description of the page content and how it may be used by the search engine to identify the page in a search hit.
In addition to SEO, there
is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which refers to the marketing of the website to generate traffic to the site. This is also referred to as the "off-page factors". This would include submitting to directories, linking to and getting links from other websites - preferably websites in the same industry, blogging, and writing articles. Some examples include: - Directories are a list reviewed by people and indexed by category. These create good links to your site;
- Link Exchanges - Links with other websites preferably in the same industry or content relation;
- Blogging - Another place where you can get your message out about what you do; and finally,
- Articles - Writing short articles for publication in forums and e-zines, or electronic online magazines.
Why is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so important?
The Internet has taken over every marketing venue in terms of spending, and being visible online is vital to the success of any company. Corporations around the globe are directing more of their budgets online trying to build their brand and engage end-users.
Being at the top of Google's organic search is crucial for virtually every business online. Just how important is top placement? The difference between being at position#1 and #11, in most cases, means the difference between being profitable or just scraping by.
You can also pay to have your website visible to thousands of targeted consumers and be seen in the top of a search for the keyword or keyword phrase the company targets by using Google Adwords. This is a paid tool that advertisers can use to bid on terms related to their business, and potentially show up on the first page of results for those keywords. Although this can be very expensive depending on your market and your competition.
The question is, do you need to pay to be seen if you are already showing in the top ten? The answer is absolutely!
According to Google, 1000 impressions on average will net 10 clicks on a top spot in their Adwords arena. A top position in organic results will net you 20 clicks per 1000 impressions. Being at the top of both will net an amazing 60 clicks.
The difference between 1-2% and 6% when it comes time to results is astounding. The bottom line is that you can double your traffic by being at the top of paid placement and organic results.