SEO 2.0

It’s the quintessential question business leaders often ask: How can I increase the search engine ranking for my business? To get a good ranking on any major search engine, you have to make sure your Web site is “search-engine optimized.” Search engine optimization (SEO) just means your site is accessible to the search engines for indexing, visible to the search engine thru inbound links and follows a strategy that will allow all your efforts to work in harmony.

Constructing your site the right way is important. To structure your site properly, make sure to use clean code, and use necessary keywords. Keep in mind that the strategy you use in choosing the words and strings of words that describe your product or service is one of the most important aspect of developing a good search engine optimization strategy.

So… what keywords should you use for SEO?

Think about what your prospective customers type in when they are looking for you. Try to think from your user’s perspective. Once you have the “top level” keywords for your site, you will want to employ the services at this point. The tools and methodology applied at this point can “make or break” your SEO initiative. If you’re not sure how people shop for your services, ask your clients how they got to your site.

When you have an extensive set of keywords, the strategy in which you use them in your site should be systematic. “There are lots of little tricks to this. For example, the most effective page titles are generally less than 75 characters long and include the most important keywords at the beginning. as far as your conent page, keywords and phrases should represent 2% to 3% of the total word count. Don’t overdo the use of key search terms, however. If a search engine’s algorithms interpret your site as “keyword stuffed” and penalize whatever efforts you have made.

Forget about Search Engine Submission

We never recommend submitting a site to the search engines thru their submission forms. Especially new sites. There have been so many people gaming the search engines for so long that we use techniques that will allow them to “stumble” upon a site. In our experience, results tend to happen quicker and more effectively by submitting to any search engine.

Search engine optimization is technical and can be time-consuming, since the major search engines are constantly changing their methodology to stay ahead of competitors. That means you have to keep jockeying for position so your site gets noticed. You can hire a professional to keep your site optimized or do it yourself. Just know that SEO is part objective data and part art form. There is a high learning curve and an even higher form of aptitude that some people can never achieve.

Hiring a Search Engine Optimization expert - What to expect

If you hire a Search Engine Optimization firm, consider the cost and the return on investment, remembering that moving up in the search rankings is a gradual process that may take several months. Chances are, if your corporate competitors control the top 10 search engine results spots, it will be costly and perhaps even impossible to dethrone them.

The good news is that search engine rankings are free, and online searching is the third-most-frequent activity for people who are online: Only checking e-mail and Web surfing rank higher.

Search Engine Optimization - Another plus

Studies show consumers trust organic search engine rankings more than paid advertisement rankings by a wide margin, as much as 70%. And, optimizing your site gives you a huge competitive advantage. Even now, only about 25% of the Fortune 100 businesses have completely optimized their sites in this way. More good news is - with all the corporate “group think” that goes into making a decision, the other 75% of the Fortune 100 are terribly behind the times and stand to never catch up. By committing sooner rather than later, you’ll have a head start over everyone starting after you.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Search Engine Optimization, Variety Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.