Creating a website without investing in search engine optimization is like building a house without installing a door. You can have everything: a breakthrough product, great graphics, compelling sales copy, unbeatable prices and unparalleled customer service, but it’s pretty pointless if nobody can find you.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization helps new customers find your website on the internt. For example, let’s say somebody is moving to Portland, and wants to find a list of all the available apartments in the area. He goes to a search engine, like Google or MSN, and instructs it to look for the websites related to the words he types: real estate types in a few words (called a key word search): “Portland Apartments”. As soon as he presses the Enter key, the search engine buzzes into action, and generates a list. Who gets on that list?
To come up with a list of sites, the search engine follows a set of technical criteria that quickly assesses whether or not a website is related to the search (like a Portland real estate company) or not (like a personal website on pets). The criteria includes key word count, metatags, and the kind of links the website has. We have studied this criteria and can “optimize” your website so that it meets them in the best possible way.
“I don’t need search optimization,” you can argue, “I have a really good website as it is!” That depends on what you mean by “good”. The search engine is a mechanical device. It doesn’t care for the quality of your pictures or the prices of your products. Search engine optimization is a programming function, and it is more concerned with technical relevance than the style of your content. Without meeting those standards, your “good” site will be an “ignored” site, and end up with a ranking of 367,498,673. Which of your potential website visitors will have the patience to scroll through that many pages to find you?
Are Search Engines really that Important?
Yes! The George Institute of Technology said that 85% of website used search engines to find information; The Forrester Research, doing the same study, replicated the results and said that 81% of total Internet users rely on Google, MSN or Yahoo. In other words, if you want to maximize the web, and reach the market, you’ve got to go where your customers are: on the search engine.
How Does Search Engine Optimization Translate to Traffic?
Studies show that at the very most Internet users will only visit the first 10 websites of any search query. The average Internet user, according to Penn State University research, will in fact only visit the first three. Once they reach the end of that threshold, they either type in another set of key phrases or “settle” for the sites that they’ve found.
What happens to the websites that aren’t in the top 10? They get significantly less visitors, simply because they’re beyond the radar of a very busy, very impatient, and easily frustrated web user. Studies show that the 30 websites with the best search engine optimization get 90% of the total traffic of the website, while those in the top 10 get 80% more traffic than those who rank 11-30. Penn State University found an even stronger result for search engine optimization: most users will only visit the top three!
How do I increase search engine ranking?
Search engine optimization can be a complicated process, and is best left to experts who have studied the way different search engines work and the “triggers” that make them more likely to latch on to your site. These are some of the strategies that we employ.
First of all, we know what keyword phrases to use. Remember you are competing against thousands of sites; “apartments” is probably used by thousands of other websites, but a more specific phrase like “affordable Portland apartments” narrows down the search. Most search engine optimization companies also have access to software that lets them find out which keyword phrases have fewer competitors.
Second, we modify title tags and metatags. They usually include a few keyword phrases, but avoid the “red flags” that alert search engines whether or not you are keyword spamming. This kind of error can cause your website to be blacklisted. They have it down to a science, and being programmers, we can fix these tags without causing any errors or confusion. It’s pointless to rank first in a search engine query but have a “dead site” that won’t run.
Third, we maximize hyperlinks. Hyperlinks tell search engines of the amount of information you have on your site; the more relevant links, the “deeper” your content is. This improves your search engine ranking. It also looks at how many times you’ve been linked by other sites, which is a nod of peer approval: if other people think you’ve got good enough material for them to recommend their visitors to you, then you’ve got content worth displaying in the search query.
Fourth, we look at the details: HTML heading tags, the keyword phrases in photo captions. These are typically the most overlooked details in websites that can make a big difference in the ultimate search engine ranking.
Some search engine tricks should be used with caution, though; search engines are on the alert for websites that run meaningless series of keywords or use design scams like imbedding keywords into a background of the same color.
Another important thing you need to remember in search engine optimization is that you have to submit your site to more than one search engine.
Is search engine ranking the only way to build traffic?
Search engine optimization is one of many elements of a full campaign to build up your website traffic. Ironically, while you need a good ranking to get more hits, you also need more hits to get good ranking. So aside from optimizing your website, you should also invest in marketing the site through submitting articles to directories, newspaper releases, and of course, making your website so useful and practical that visitors will come back.