Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization in the web world is so commonplace at this point that it is an almost inherent and expected part of any Web site campaign.  Yet, most people outside of the web sphere don't get it and are almost put-off by the bigger-than-it-sounds terming for the tactic and explanation.  It has crossover implications but not appeal.  It it is a "hidden" - or meta - science and something that you can implement and monitor but not fully promise a result.

 

Yet everyone who holds the keys to a Web site needs to be doing it.

 

Because the first place almost anyone goes for information on a product, company, or campaign is the search engines, it is a crowded and competitive marketplace.  Search engines - such as Google - define how important and relevant Web sites are by scanning these sites with what are affectionately termed "spiders."  These spiders crawl through the Web site and pull key words and descriptions .  Along with how often the Web site is linked to by other relevant Web sites, search visibility - or the search quotient - is formed.  Aside from the content that the public directly sees inside a web site - the pages, the posts - there are opportunities to load "meta" data.  Hidden within the code - anybody could see this data by right clicking outside of the site and choosing "view source" - are key words, terms, and descriptions that play right into the search engine spiders hands, rather "legs".  These information units can be placed within the code of your home page and every single page within the Web site.  Terms can be tailored to specific pages, taken out of others.  Through this, visibility in search is assured.  Search engines also like "friendly-URLS" - ie www.example.com/examples-are-here as opposed to www.example.com/hwidke12345 - and sites that are regularly updated. 

 

Once all of these line items are implemented, monitoring and tracking becomes extremely important to the efforts.  Using analytics software you can track in real-time how your SEO-steps are manifesting themselves in your sites' visits, page views, time spent, ROI-conversion, and a host of other metrics.  This tool can also show what people are searching to find your site - if these keywords are not in the meta-data, they can be added - and which Web sites are referring visitors to your site. Furthermore, a baseline analysis - conducted at the onset of SEO implementation - can be a handy and necessary benchmark tracker of how your SEO efforts are directly improving your search engine results.

 

SEO is integral to being a part of a conversation that is taking place on the web related to your company, product, campaign, or affiliation.  Utilizing tools and metrics like keywords, descriptions, Friendly-URLs, good-ole regular updates, tracking & monitoring, and a strong baseline analysis can give you a leg-up in the crowded marketplace of search.