Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Exactly what is search engine optimization and why should website owners have their websites optimized?
To understand search engine optimization (SEO) better let’s compare it to a traditional business model, which looks something like this:
- Businesses hire an advertising company
- The advertising company creates the marketing
- The marketing attracts the customers
- Customers buy the product or services
- The markup difference on products and services generates profit
Now, let’s modify the traditional business model above to reflect search engine optimization and SEO services
- A website owner hires a website promotion company to do search engine optimization
- The optimized website pages attain top 10 (or top 20) listings in the search engine listing results for “key” phrases (or search terms) that searchers are using to find these products and services
- Top rankings on the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN attract highly qualified, highly targeted traffic (customers) who are actively looking for those products or services
- Customers buy the product or services
- The markup difference on products and services generates profit
Online Advertising
Essentially, a website promotion company is an advertising company for websites and search engine optimization or SEO, is the predominant marketing strategy.
Only a few years ago most business advertising dollars were spent on offline advertising (magazine ads, radio and television). In recent years there has been a huge shift.
Today, more and more companies are spending the majority of their advertising dollars online in order to promote their products and services. A lot of this may be attributed to the effectiveness of search engine optimization and other online marketing strategies like PPC advertising.
The bottom line is; search engine optimization is highly recommended for any revenue generating website.
But What Exactly Is Search Engine Optimization?
The simple answer is this; using industry accepted SEO strategies or techniques that conform to search engine guidelines to create “search engine friendly” pages so that the optimized web pages can easily be found, indexed, ranked and listed in top organic search results of the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Essentially search engine optimization is the act of modifying websites to be more “search engine friendly” while improving the site content and the user experience.
What Areas Are Involved In Search Engine Optimization?
As part of the search engine optimization process an SEO company will look at all aspects of your website to improve site content and make your web pages more search engine friendly, including your website’s coding, navigation, usability, text content and web design.
SEO optimization strategies also involve addressing any backend problems that may prevent the search engine robots from properly crawling, indexing and ranking your web pages.
There are four key stages of search engine optimization including:
- Site and Server Analysis
- Keyword Research (and Competitor Research)
- Development of Optimized Relevant Text Content plus Link Building and URL submissions
- Reports, Analytics and Progressive Optimization
On-Going Search Engine Optimization for Continued Success
To properly index and rank web pages in the top of the search engine listing results the major search engines use complex mathematical algorithms, which they continually adjust and tweak.
Top SEO companies who are able to consistently get great listing results for their clients understand that it takes more than just adjusting SEO strategies to accommodate these algorithm shifts.
The best search engine optimization companies provide SEO services that stay within the search engine guidelines and work with the search engine updates to keep their client’s optimized pages current and relevant in improve site content and improve the user experience and in the long run maintain their top listing results.
On-going progressive optimization is recommended as part of any successful search engine optimization program.
Search engine optimization (SEO) also has many other pseudonyms including:
- Website Optimization Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Search Engine Positioning Search Engine Placement
- Website Marketing Website Promotion
1st on the List Promotion Inc is a leading SEO services firm providing professional search engine optimization services to clients throughout the United States and Canada since 1997. For more information about search engine optimization services, email our SEO consultant or call Toll Free at 1-888-262-6687.
