Search Engine Optimization

What is Search Engine Optimization?
What is SEO or “Search Engine Optimization”? SEO is a process where you purposely spend time making changes to your website’s code and perform other tasks that tell the search engines that they should show your website before others. When someone searches for a keyword using a search engine, the search engine use signals given to them by websites (called search engine ranking factors) that tell them your web page is more relevant than another web page about the same topic. We’re optimizing our websites, thus the “O” in “SEO” so that they rank well in the search engines.

When it comes to search engine optimization and optimizing your website for the search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, it is important to have an overall goal and, more importantly, a plan to meet that goal. Whether your goal is a short term goal (a few months) or even a long-term goal (a few years), the right search engine optimization takes time. Search engine optimization is a whole lot more than simply optimizing the title and meta tags on your website. There is a lot more to search engine optimization and doing it the right way. Proper search engine optimization includes everything from your domain name to the on-page factors (your website) and the off-page factors (how other websites interact and link to your website). And now, with the search engines customizing the search results for us, there is now a whole new set of “rules” and factors that go into your website’s search engine ranking.

Search engine optimization requires a strong commitment, not only from you, the website owner, but from the person actually performing the search engine optimization. The right changes need to be made to your website, and content needs to be added on a regular basis. Any link building strategy (a strategy to get more links to your website from other websites) needs to include a long-term goal based on thorough linking analysis of the currently-ranking websites. Link building is not something you can do overnight and have overnight success; too many links too quickly could send a “red flag” to the search engines, meaning that you’re “trying to rank well”, which the search engines don’t necessarily like. For a full search engine optimization of your website and to reach your online ROI goals, your website and your search engine optimization strategy needs to be adapt to the ever-changing search engine and internet marketing environment. I highly recommend a full search engine optimization audit the first month, and then getting on a monthly search engine optimization “maintenance plan” which includes creating website content on a regular basis for your website, as well as other search engine optimization off-site and link building activities.

As someone who has been practicing organic search engine optimization since 1996, I have the experience needed to perform a full search engine optimization audit of your website. After my first set of search engine optimization recommendations are implemented, I can work with you on a monthly maintenance plan in order to keep your website at the top of the search engine results for those keywords that are helping to reach your overall website marketing and ROI goals.

More of my search optimization articles:
44 Questions to Ask Your Search Engine Optimization Company
Search Engine Ranking Problems

25 Important SEO Mistakes to Fix

Search Engine Optimization Overkill
Search Engine Optimization for Ecommerce Sites
Search Engine Optimization for Blogs