Search Engine Optimization

As important as it is to create a well-designed and well-organized web site, it is equally important to get the word out about your web site. Search engine optimization (techniques to improve how your web site ranks in the search engines) is an important aspect in web site promotion, and has been called the cheapest and most effective marketing tool available.

Why Search Engine Traffic Is The Kind of Traffic You Want:

  1. Traffic you receive from search engines is already targeted. Visitors arriving at your site from search engines have entered a keyword relevant to your site, so they are already interested in your product or service. This is the best source of potential customers you can have.
  2. Search engines are the #1 way users find new sites. Surveys show that over 85% of users rely on search engines to locate information on the Web. If you optimize your site to do well on the engines, then register your site with the search engines, you should see increased traffic to your site.
  3. Search engines are free to users and users know where and how to use them. One of the first things a novice to the Internet learns is how to use a search engine.

Search Engines vs. Search Directories:

Search engines (i.e. Google, Excite, AltaVista) have automated programs called spiders that index sites and score pages based on proprietary guidelines. There is no human judgement involved. Search engines index all the information on the web pages they find. The indexes are generated automatically, based on the words and phrases that are found on web pages.

Directories (i.e. Yahoo, LookSmart) have human editors who review web pages, rank them, and then organize them into categorized lists with brief descriptions. The categories and descriptions are based on submissions, but are edited by professional editors.

(Source: www.netmechanic.com)

Because of the differences between search engines and directories, submitting your site to them requires two different approaches. Directories should be carefully submitted by hand. Search engines can also be submitted to manually, or using a submission tool which automatically submits your site to multiple engines.

How to Improve Your Web Site's Ranking:

Simply being listed in the search engines isn't good enough. You need to optimize your site to boost your rankings. The goal is to be listed on the first three pages of the search engine results page, within the first 20-40 listed links (top 10 is ideal).

The following are some general tips to help improve your site's ranking:

  • Create a well designed site with well written content.
  • Pick popular keywords that visitors will use on a search engine query.
  • Include keywords in your TITLE tag and META tags.
  • Use your keywords throughout the text on your page.
  • Have a good keyword density on your page, but don't overdo it.
  • Continually work on improving your link popularity.

As you can see, optimizing your web site for the search engines is a process involving several steps and several elements. The most cost-effective way to optimize a web site is by starting at the beginning of its development - whether a new web site or a web site redesign. We can assist you in this process.

Click here to learn more about our search engine optimization services.