The Importance of SEO
How do users find new Web sites?
*From the latest study conducted by
the Graphic, Visualization & Usability (GVU) Center at
the Georgia
Institute of Technology.
Search
engine optimization (SEO)
is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a
web
site from
search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic")
search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search
results, or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that
site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image
search,
local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
As a
marketing strategy for increasing a site's relevance,
SEO considers
how
search algorithms work and what
people search for. SEO efforts may
involve a
site's coding, presentation, and structure, as well as fixing
problems that could prevent
search engine indexing programs from fully
spidering a site. Other, more noticeable efforts may include adding
unique content to a site, ensuring that content is easily indexed by
search engine robots, and making the site more appealing to users.
word to the wise: beware of SEO firms using techniques, known as "Black Hat" SEO or spamdexing, use
methods such as link farms and keyword stuffing that tend to harm search
engine user experience. Search engines look for sites that employ these
techniques and may remove their listings (see below).
Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics
may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term
"search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs,
menus, content management systems and shopping carts that are easy to
optimize.
As a
marketing strategy
Eye tracking studies have
shown that searchers scan a search results page from top to bottom and
left to right, looking for a relevant result. Placement at or near the
top of the rankings therefore increases the number of searchers who will
visit a site. A successful Internet marketing campaign may drive organic
search results to pages, but it also may involve the use of paid
advertising on search engines and other pages, building high quality web
pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep
search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up
analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successes, and
improving a site's conversion rate.
To learn more about an
Internet Solution that really works for your
business, use the form on "Contact Us" page to
secure a free one-on-one consultation
session- to help your business gain full
benefit from a web presence.
