Want to be a Google Star?
Having a website is highly recommended but spending money on high quality web design without a search engine strategy is like building a store underground—you’ll miss valuable traffic and profit opportunities.
What is search engine optimization (SEO)and how can it help?
Have you ever seen, or been a part of, a crowd of people all waiting for someone famous to arrive at an event and the crowd of reporters closing in on those famous people? Did you notice how everyone was pushing and shouting to get to the front where they could be seen and heard. They are all competing to be the ones in the front. They are the ones who stand a chance to have their voices heard and who will be rewarded for their efforts.
What does this scenario have to do with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? The simple answer: competition. Competition in any field is the struggle for survival and for dominance. Most people are willing to do what it takes to succeed and be the best at what they do.
Having a web page online is, in fact, competing with other businesses like yours who also have an online presence. You want to be seen and you want to be seen first. That is the first step, the next step would be to keep your visitor there and keep them interested. First, we need to understand how a search engine works.
- What do search engines do?
- They index text and pages
- They find these pages by following links (crawling the web)
- They measure the number of links coming in from other sites (link popularity)
- They rank your site for any given search term based on the words on your page, HTML tags and the link popularity of your page.
In order for a search engine to index your site they have to know you exist. Search engines usually find you by following a link from another site or when you submit a site map. They then find the deeper pages in your site by following links within your site. If your navigational structure is poorly planned, the search engine won’t “see” all of your content.
Technically speaking, search engine optimization is the process of collecting information on your market and your competitors in an effort to improve your headlines and content so that you achieve more hits on every search a surfer conducts. Each time they search, they will use keywords that help them find what they are looking for. It is up to you to make sure that your site has the best, and the most, of these popular search terms without abusing them. A balance must be found. With them, you jump to the front of the line and get the results. Without them, you fall into the background and never get noticed.
When you use the right terms or keywords to describe the content of your site, you can achieve a higher ranking with search engines. The search engines update these rankings weekly, giving you many chances to score a higher rank. The trouble is, you have a chance to move up and so does your competition. Be sure to modify your site as needed so you can keep your rankings higher and stay ahead of the competition.
In our next addition of “So you want to be a Google star” you will find out about the tips and tricks to rank your site higher & higher.