Search Engine Optimization
(SEO)
- Article
SEO can be a confusing venture for most people. Even
many so-called-experts can have a difficult time keeping a website
at the top of the search engines.
First... the search engines are
constantly changing their algorithms in an effort to bring you the
most relevant website listings for your search query. Search engines
also change their algorithms to stay ahead of the dishonest
companies that quickly learn how to manipulate the search results.
As soon as the search engines change the way they list websites,
there are unscrupulous people who go right to work trying to figure
out how to cheat the system.
These people are using what's known as
"Black Hat SEO" and if you are trying to run a legitimate website, stay
away from them at all cost! Sure your website will get a high
listing rather quickly using black hat techniques, but as soon as
the search engines figure out what you're doing, they will likely
ban your website from their listings altogether (forever). And
sooner or later, they will figure it out.
Second... There's a lot of misnomers
about what's more important when it comes to SEO. Some so called SEO
gurus will have you believe page rank is the most important thing
when it comes to search engine listings. This is simply not true.
Page rank (or Google PR) is one important factor
when it comes to ranking a site for the search engines, but SERPs
(or Search Engine Results Page) is what really counts.
"Page Rank" is Google's way of putting a number
to the authority of a site. If they believe your site is important,
they'll give you a higher PR.
But it doesn't mean the authority of your site
will get you indexed for you main keywords.
There are thousands, perhaps even millions, of
websites that have a low page rank, but are listed on the first page
of the major search engines (even Google itself), for some top keywords. By contrast,
there are just as many high PR ranking web pages, that are buried in
"no mans land" when it comes to the search engines
(including Google).
Also, the other major search engines (Yahoo,
MSN, Bing, and hundreds of smaller search engines) don't really care
about your "Google Page Rank" at all. They only care about giving their
visitors relevant search results.
So ask yourself this... would you rather have a
low Google PR of 1 or 2, and be listed on the first page of the
search results? Or would
you rather have a high PR of 5 or 6, and be listed on the tenth page
of the search results, where no one will ever find you..? I think the
answer is obvious.
One of the websites I built for my other online
business, hasn't had a Google PR of more than 2 for the last 4 years
(since it's been live on the internet). But it has been on the first
page of all major search engines (for my main keywords) for 3 1/2 of
those 4 years. I'll take the low PR and keep the high listing any
day of the week.
What about this "Alexa Rank" I've heard
about?
Alexa rank is supposed to be an indication of
how much traffic a website gets. The lower the number... the more
visitors a website is getting. If your Alexa rank is 50,000 it's
supposed to mean (out of the millions of websites on the internet)
your site is the 50,000th most popular site there is.
If your site has an Alexa rank of 2,000,000 then
your site is only the 2,000,000th most popular site on the internet.
But here's the truth... Alexa ranking is a
farce! It only registers websites that are visited by people who
have the Alexa toolbar
installed in their browsers (mostly SEO companies and web
developers) So it doesn't count actual visitors to a website.
Here's a statistic that proved this fact to
me...
I currently have a dozen websites I maintain,
and I regularly check the traffic stats on all of them (like every
good webmaster should)
One of my sites has an Alexa ranking of 171,246
(pretty good... right?) Another has an Alexa rank of 4,276,996
(which is lousy) But according to my analyzing stats (I cross
reference Google Analytics with AWstats and a couple other programs,
to get a more accurate statistic) The one with the better Alexa rank
is only getting around 40 to 50 visitors a day, but the one with the
worse Alexa rank is seeing over 400 visitors a day.
What does this tell us?
It tells us the one with the higher rank is
being visited by a few people who have the Alexa toolbar installed
(and the toolbar is sending stats back to Alexa) But the site that's
actually doing better is being visited by real people who don't find
it necessary to have Alexa monitor their browsing habits.
A lot of SEO companies will use the Alexa rank
to show their customers "proof" that they're earning their money.
("see, your Alexa rank has gone up... so keep paying me") But
remember this... Alexa rank is NO indication of how well a website
is actually doing!
So, what gets your website listed on the first
couple pages of the search engines? In a word... "Relevant
Content" (O.K. in 2 words)
Search engines are only concerned with showing
relevant search results for a persons "keyword search query". Search
engines make their money by showing their advertisements to as many
people as possible, and having as many people as possible clicking
on those sponsored listings.
If their search results are useless to their
visitors, people will stop using their search engines, and start using
a different search engine. No visitors... no revenue for the search
engine.
So while there are a number of important
techniques you need to use for a higher search listing (back links,
internal linking, proper meta tags and keyword percentage, to name a
few) Remember... relevant content is king! And as the search engines
become more sophisticated, relevant content on your website will
only continue to become more important.
There are also many other factors that play a
role in getting your website listed at the top of the search
engines. It takes consistent effort and continual learning to keep
up with the ever changing algorithms of the search engines, and a
quality SEO person (or company) will continue to learn and keep up
with the changes.
But remember... there are no "secret" methods
for getting a high search engine listing. If you're talking with an
SEO company, and they won't tell you their methods for increasing
your website's listing (because they say it's "proprietary
information") then I recommend immediately finding someone else to
talk with about your website's SEO.
A quality (and honest) SEO company should have
no problem telling you what methods they will use to increase your
website's exposure on the search engines. So before you give anyone
(or any company) your money, there are a few questions you should ask
them first...
9
Important questions to ask your
SEO company BEFORE you hire them!
And yes, SEO is something you can effectively do yourself,
but it does take a lot of time and effort, and most business owners
have better things to spend their time on. That's why you hire an
SEO company... to do the work for you. They provide a service, and
you pay them for that service.
If you'd like us to take a look at your website,
and offer some suggestions on how we can improve your search
listings, just fill out our contact form. We'll visit your website,
and get back to you with some suggestions for improvements. Then we
can talk about designing an SEO campaign that will fit your budget.
