Paula G. Web Design

The term SEO gets bantered about these days. It is everywhere. It is treated like the holy grail and consultants charge anywhere from a little to a whopping sum promising you outstanding search engine results. So what is the real scoop?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is the process of optimizing your web site for the search engines in an attempt to be one of the top results when someone enters one of your keywords into a search engine. Note that when you search in Google for instance, you will see many results at the top and side of the results that are sponsored ads. I’m not talking about those (but will define them in a future post). I’m talking about what they refer to as organic search results. That is, those results that the search engine determines naturally (aka organically) based on its algorithms for determining relevancy.

Wouldn’t you love to be the first result when someone searches for your business in Google? So would everyone else. That is why SEO needs to be taken with a grain of salt even though it is a wonderful marketing strategy.

The most important points I can stress about SEO are:

• It is a process (think distance run, not sprint)
• Make it part of an integrated marketing strategy (it is not the be-all/end-all)
• Be realistic about your goals
• Plan on investing time and money in the process
• Don’t believe people who promise you the world (remember if it seems too good to be true, it probably is)
• It isn’t magic

Optimizing your website for search engines involves a number of tactics used in conjunction with each other to yield your desired results. These tactics include:

• The content on your website (your actual content and text is king)
• Consciously choosing your keywords (not everyone can be #1 for “web designer” for instance, so you may want to target other words)
• The code behind the scenes (how your site is coded matters)
• The design of your site (again, your choice of visual elements and layout matter)
• Thoughtful internal and external link strategies (random linking and link exchanges do more harm than good)

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