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What is Search Engine Optimization or SEO?
Like other forms of advertising, search engine optimization,
or SEO, is a way of getting your company to stand out from
the crowd. No one knows for sure, but one
source estimates there are 29.7 billion pages on the Web.
That's a lot of competition when trying to get eyeballs to
your web site.
According to a recent study of international search engine use, 95% of Internet users use general search engines. So getting your site to perform on one of the top 3 U.S. search engines -- Google, Yahoo and MSN -- is pretty important.
Your site may already be indexed in a search engine, but unless it's appearing on the first 3 pages of search engine results for keywords known to be important to Internet users, it's likely your site is not performing as well as it could be. An April 2007 "iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study" revealed that 88 percent of Internet users will go no further than the first three pages of an Internet search before going to a different search or changing their keyword terms. Further, 56% of Internet users expect brand leaders to be among the top natural search engine results. If your site appears on the fourth page for the keywords important to your business, you're missing out on significant traffic.
The best way to improve your site's position so that it does appear on the first three pages of a keyword search is to have your site search engine optimized. So, what is search engine optimization or SEO? It's the process of working with the content on your site, the site's coding and incoming links in a manner that conveys to the major search engines that your site is relevant to the keywords you're targeting.
Many SEO firms are qualified to work with your website content (perform search engine optimization) to improve your site's search engine ranking on keywords that site visitors would use to locate you. Below are the primary elements to a successful search engine optimization campaign. If you're talking to a company that does not do each of these steps, it's likely that your SEO program will fail. Make sure you ask your SEO firm about each of these elements.
Elements of Successful Search Engine Optimization
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You may know your business and industry extremely well, but you may not know how your customers and prospects think. Keyword research is an important element to the overall success of your search engine optimization program. Keyword research determines which terminology Internet users will most likely type into search engines to locate your type of business. A qualified SEO firm (like Pilot Fish) typically uses a number of Internet tools to perform this research for you.
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Once you know which keywords your site must focus on to attract the most site visitors, it's time to put that information into action on your web site pages. SEO firms will make recommendations on the type of content that Internet users and search engines find the most useful and incorporate the primary keywords uncovered in the keyword research phase in your site content. In addition, your SEO firm will update your site's meta tag coding to make sure the search engines can easily interpret the intent of each page on your site.
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Search engines are just one avenue to gaining visibility online. There are many industry directories, article archives and other sources that can provide your site access to your target audience. Read more about how inbound linking also helps your search engine optimization. Many search engine optimization firms offer programs to locate and obtain valuable incoming links. Because search engines evaluate the number and type of incoming links to your site as a way of determining your site's importance vs. your competitors, it's important to incorporate an incoming link strategy into your search engine optimization plans.
Ongoing Maintenance and Measurement —
Because search engines routinely alter the way they rank sites and your competitors are likely to revise and improve their sites over time, it's critical that you or your SEO firm periodically review your search engine optimization to make sure your site's still performing. Additionally, it's important to continue adding valuable content so that site visitors will return. Most SEO firms can provide you an ongoing strategy for maintaining your site's performance.
Best Practices (or White Hat) SEO Firm
Pilot Fish, an Akron, Ohio, website design and SEO firm,
has mastered optimization by using strategic, content-focused
"best practices" that are accepted by a broad base of the major
search engines. These proven methods result in increased Internet
visibility that's designed to attract the right audience and
generate the most qualified traffic to your web site. The idea
isn't to "deceive" search engines - which ultimately can backfire
- but instead to provide the meaningful, straight-forward content
they desire to make their engines and directories produce the
most accurate and useful results in the marketplace.
As a website design and SEO firm committed to our clients' success,
Pilot Fish is expert at researching the best keywords
for your company. We have skilled researchers, copywriters and site programmers who provide professional content, coding, and link building for optimal performance.
Read
more about why search engine optimization (SEO) is important.
Contact us at
877-799-9994 ext. 2104
or fill
out our form for more SEO information.
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