Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a process by which internal and external factors of a web site are adjusted to influence higher search engine rankings on keyword and key phrase searches. These type of search results are sometimes referred to as organic or natural.
The popular commercial search engines drive the majority of web traffic: Google and adjusted to influence higher search engine rankings on keyword and key phrase searches. These type of search results are sometimes referred to as organic or natural.
High placements one the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) usually leads to an increase Bing (Yahoo search is powered by Bing) for instance. Google attracted approximately 66% of worldwide searches while Bing has nearly 19% (according to the Oct.2012 comScore numbers). A number of regionally targeted search engine companies have also become successful in their own areas. For example there is Baidu in China, Guruji in India and Yandex in Russia.
in web site. Seeing that 94% of users click on organic/natural results over PPC or paid placement results and more the half of those click on one of the first three results returned, a high search engine placement is essential. On Google, web sites ranked
number one received an average click-through rate (CTR) of 36.4 percent; number two had a CTR of 12.5 percent; and number three had a CTR of 9.5 percent. Being number one in Google is the equivalent of all the traffic going to the sites appearing in the second through fifth positions.
Achieving a high volume of web site traffic can generate revenue through sales, advertising revenue, referrals, votes or whatever call to action is invoked on landing pages. Effective SEO services generating high organic returns (94% of search engine users prefer organic search returns to sponsored links or PPC) can deliver powerful results.
Anyone promising “top rankings”, “guaranteed results”, “thousands of links” for a low fixed price, probably doesn’t know what they’re doing and worse, may be using Black Hat techniques. The latter can lead to lower rankings if your site is caught, effectively delisting you. It is impossible for anyone to guarantee that your site achieves number one placement own a search engine results or unless it is for a keyword or key phrase no one ever searches for.
Search Engine Optimization is a dynamic discipline with search engines regularly adjusting algorithms and external issues (over which you or your Search Engine Optimization partner will have no influence whatsoever) factoring in.
Search Engine Optimization is as much an art as a science with knowledgeable partners like Wi-Phye working hard to apply it as effectively as possible. High search engine placement is a moving target. Guarantees are worthless in as much as yes, promises can be made but either the terms of the search optimization applied will be so vague as to render the process pointless or so specific as to render the Search Engine Optimization pointless. Iron clad guarantees do little more than illustrate a lack of Search Engine Optimization understanding by Search Engine Optimization professional and at worst deceives the web site owners into paying for results that will never be achieved.
Successful search optimization is a multi-faceted process involving a combination of professional skills. Copywriting, web design, web development, marketing, advertising and analysis are all integral to a planned, focused and well-executed Search Engine Optimizations campaign.
The starting point for any Search Engine Optimization project is defining the keywords and key phrases that will attract relevant visitors to your site. This called the semantic space and it’s the foundation of your campaign.
Semantic Space
Keywords and phrases are entirely dependent on business goals and need to be researched thoroughly to determine which words and phrases best represent the marriage of what your business wishes to offer (the reasons for your SEO campaign) and what terms your audience for these products and services are using to search for them. If your message is well targeted, then the keywords and phrases chosen will bring you visitors that are most likely lead to conversions through your call to action be it a sales, a download, a vote or whatever. This is the primary objective of Search Engine Optimization.
Search Engine Preparation
As well as defining your semantic space it’s important that the web design is optimized for the search engines on a technical level too. A thorough site analysis will reveal duplicate content, any obstructions to search engine spiders and inappropriate Search Engine Optimization preformed in the past. Small things can make a big difference. Fast loading, well coded sites with an accessible structure and high ratio of content to code proves irresistible to search engines.
Copy
Content is king. In the terms of Search Engine Optimization this couldn’t be truer. Search engines don’t understand images, video, audio or Flash very well (they are trying to improve this through the use of meta-data) – they understand text. Good copy can go a long way. While it is possible to achieve top rankings for specific keywords almost immediately based on relevance, some Search Engine Optimization professionals try to be too relevant.
They go keyword crazy when writing copy, a clumsy, short-term approach that reads terribly, turns visitors off and damages credibility. Strong copy that interests and engages its audience (still including keywords and phrases of course) is without doubt the most effective approach in the long term. Quality counts, as visitors will recommend the site, link to it and increase its popularity through word of mouth – especially if the copy is kept fresh and updated regularly.
Structure
In addition to content, search engines respect structure and they like to know what’s important about your organization. In a perfect world sites should have the most semantically relevant information as high up in the site hierarchy as possible and each page should use structural elements – heading, paragraph and other HTML tags – to signal importance.
Link Popularity
Link Analysis is another critical aspect of search engine’s ranking, in fact a large part of website optimization happens off the page with Google and the other search engines determining sites importance by the links from external sites. Global Link Popularity is arguably the most important Search Engine Optimization criteria. Google, Bing and the other major search engines love to see sites that have quality incoming links from other relevant sites. Sources might include partners, online directories and blogs.
Natural or ‘organic’ search engine optimization is an ongoing, holistic, systemic process. It not only improves site ranking it also benefits your overall Internet presence. Site health and value is increased, optimized HTML code increases usability, content will inform and interests visitors, and increased link popularity increases site legitimacy.
Contact Wi-Phye to discuss your Search Engine Optimization requirements now.