Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is a long-term process that defines a site to make it ideal for natural search placement. Hundreds of variables can influence the results of this process, but a first-page ranking in Google for most relevant and targeted keywords is sure to produce profitable results. Of course, everyone – including your competitors – wants to be in this position. Regardless of how black and white the process might sound, it’s not easy and nothing is guaranteed. So how do we do it?
Identify your competition
Where are they in the search engines? What are they offering? What sites are linking to them? What keywords have they used and what search rankings have they achieved?
Identify keywords
The words that describe your market, product or service – and, more important, the words your customers are using to find your market, product or service – are considered your “best of the best” keywords. This data is available through careful research and a general understanding of search and how search applies to you, your customer, your competition and the search engines.
Embed keywords
We embed those important keywords in your site’s page titles, alt and header tags, and meta descriptions. That’s how a site describes itself to search engines. But engines are smart, and they don’t just take your word for it. Search engines are also reading the actual content of the site, so the content of each page must be clearly focused around the keywords as well. Keyword prominence is key.
Internal linking
This is the process of linking web pages together using the keywords of the landing page in the anchor text of the sending page. It might seem confusing, but there is a science to internal linking that must be applied to achieve truly great search engine rankings.
Submit to search engines and directories
Some search engines require a fee to be listed, and some require that you manually submit your page. Some search engines grant or refuse acceptance based on how you try to submit them. We negotiate that maze for you and submit a crawler-friendly sitemap to major engines for priority indexing.
Check, test, tune, repeat
Web page ranking results change week to week due to changing guidelines, new competition and emerging technologies that aim to make everything easier on the searcher – and, as a result, a lot tougher on you. So if a top ranking position is achieved, maintaining it requires constant keyword monitoring and updates. Like your competition, the need for search engine optimization never stops.
