Search Engine Optimization (SEO), also called Natural Search or Organic Search, is the art and science of creating web sites that not only attract human visitors, but also give search engine robots that scan the internet the information they need to rank your site in comparison with all the others out there. Why care about what robots think? Because the real people you want to come to your web site rely on those robots to find you, whether they know it or not!
One of the most important concepts to understand in developing your internet marketing strategy is keywords. When you type a word or phrase into a search engine, that’s a keyword. Technically, a keyword can either be one word or multiple words so long as they are all entered into the search box together. Search engines devote vast resources towards automatically scanning web sites on the internet and indexing the keywords on each page. This is how they know which results to show, and in what order, when someone types a keyword into the search engine.
Now most people will not look past the first search engine results page, or at most the first few pages. This means if your web site is listed on page ten of the search engine results for a particular keyword, almost no one will see the link. As the number of web pages on the internet grows, it is increasingly difficult to be one of the few listed on the first search engine results page for any particular keyword. And it doesn’t matter how great, beautiful or amazing your web site is if no one is able to find it.
So SEO is a great way to improve the visibility of your web site in search engine results. It’s important to remember that done right, SEO is not about gaming the system but about helping search engine robots properly understand the relevance and quality of your content for the search engine’s users. There are seven key steps for using SEO appropriately to improve your web site’s search engine ranking.
- Develop a Keyword List
- Organize Your Content
- Be Original
- Clean Up Your Web Site
- Invite Search Engine Robots
- Get Relevant Links
- Minimize Bounces
Getting your SEO strategy right also sets you up for a much easier time of Search Engine Marketing, also known as Pay-Per-Click marketing (SEM/PPC).
For more information, add a comment or contact us.
Back to Channels
