SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION - SEO
Internet Marketing for Realtors®
What is it? Do you need it? How much does it cost? ...and some other important questions, and answers about Search Engine Optimization. Do you know what search engine optimization is? Have you ever wondered what the search engines see when they visit your site? Did you know that the search engines look at the code - and not the beautiful graphics or the fancy web page design?
You all have a web site. (right?) You all have a few leads or customers from your web site, correct? By now, we have all heard that it's not enough to have a web site; you need to have it "optimized." Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of taking a Web site and changing content, meta-tags, and other elements of the site to push that site to a higher ranking on the search engines on specific search phrases. For example: if you are looking for a search engine optimization company in Rochester, NY, you might go to Google, Yahoo, AOL, or another search engine and type in "rochester search engine optimization". The site that comes up first on the list has been most optimized for the phrase: "rochester search engine optimization". Ranking higher for commonly searched on key phrases will bring more qualified traffic to your site, and good traffic will ultimately bring more business to your company. The difference in traffic can be measured by orders of magnitude, and can have an exponential difference in the dollar value of your web site.
There are a great variety of things that the search engines look for to determine ranking, and to make things more complicated, each search engine weighs different parts of your site differently to determine that ranking. No matter what though, search engines need to be able to simply understand what your site is about and how to get through it.
Knowing how the search engines see a Web site is one of the most valuable tools in optimizing your site. So - you want to see what the search engine sees? Check out the code! Most sites will allow you to look at the source code. While you are viewing the page, click on "View" from the top menu bar, then "Source" or "Source Code". That should display the text version of your site, exactly as the search engines see it. Type control-F to bring up the find window, and enter the search terms with which you want the site to be found. If you get a message "Cannot find 'abc'", then right away you know the search engines don't think your site is about "abc".
Going into more depth, your web site is divided into two important parts, the header and the body. You can see them separated by the <HEAD> and <BODY> tags. Most elements of the header are invisible to normal web surfers, but the search engines rely on the information there determine how to rank and display your site in the search results. Elements in the header are also referred to as META tags.
How are META tags important? The title tag is important because it almost always appears as the title of your site in the search engine results. Your META description may appear in the search engine results as well, and is considered important by the some of the search engines when determining position. So, when you create your title and description tags, remember: write the tags with a live person - your potential customer - in mind. Not only do you have to optimize for a computer, but for the actual human beings that you are marketing to. The title and description must capture the attention of the visitor, or they will never click on your site. Even if you are fifth in a search engine's ranking, if the web sites listed above you have a poor description that doesn't make sense or isn't particularly interesting to a human, i.e. just a list of keywords in no particular order, that person is more likely to go to your site anyway. So, META tags are very important for getting people's attention and making first impressions, but are not the most important factor in determining your sites position in the search results. What then determines who has the best position?
In real estate, the three most important factors are "Location, Location, Location." In SEO, it's "Content, Content, Content." Search engines rely on the frequency and position of the key phrases discovered in the text of your web site to determine how to rank your site in the search results. Doing whatever you can to repeat your important keyword phrases, and preferably near the top of the page is the first step toward having a successful Web site that's ranked in the top of the search engine rankings. There are other factors considered by each engine, and each search engine weights each factor a little differently. However, without exception, the most important thing to consider while optimizing your web site is the frequency and position of the key phrases you have chosen.
How do you choose keywords? Well, some of it is more science - some more common sense. To begin, pretend to be your customer. Pretend for a moment you don't know your product or service is the best available on the market. What would you search for? For example, if you are looking for a Web designer in Rochester, are you might search for "rochester web design", or "web design rochester". Besides the common-sense phrases, you should research to find what key phrases are most commonly searched-for on each search engine in your industry. This part of the search engine optimization process can easily take the most time - but it can be the most rewarding in terms of results. The first position site on a key phrase that only receives 100 searches cannot return more than 100 visitors. But a fourth place position on a key phrase that receives millions of requests will generate thousands!
One thing to keep in mind while on the subject of keywords - quality of traffic is more important than quantity. Don't fall to the temptation to use keywords that are popular, but not directly related to your product or service offering. If your site is about Web site design, but to bring more people to your site you use a phrase such as: "britney pics", you are likely to get traffic that is not interested in your Web design services. Those people will click away as soon as they find out you don't really have pictures of a famous pop star. It's important to note that there are as many things NOT TO DO as there are TO DO.
DO NOT SPAM the search engines! Spam, as far as search engines are concerned, is any attempt to mislead or trick the search engine into producing any document that is not really as relevant to the given search phrase as it is in reality. If you rely on tricks like invisible text, doorway pages, or misleading keywords to generate web traffic, then the search engines may remove your site from the index completely, as they consider some of those techniques as SPAM. Some other common unintentional causes for search engines to not list your site are silly technicalities like broken links or misuse of frames.
Now the important questions… Should I try to optimize my web site myself? And, How much does it cost to have a professional optimize your Web site?
Anyone can learn to achieve high rankings on the search engines. Anyone can also learn to change the oil in their car, grow their own tomatoes, or file their own business taxes. For most people, it simply doesn't make sense to learn how to do it, and do the homework to stay up-to-date on best practices. Yes, you can do it, but if you can buy everything inexpensively and focus your life and your business resources on other things isn't that a better use of your time and money? "There's the catch," you say? Inexpensive? How much does it cost?
Since search optimization is a fairly new business, there are a large variety of companies with optimization packages - and the price varies wildly from company to company. There are some that offer optimization for a predetermined number of keyword phrases, but they may not guarantee a particular placement. Some companies may charge you for how well they optimize for certain phrases - for example, you get charged more for being #1, that you do for #2. Some companies charge a fixed fee, some monthly, some yearly. Each company has different levels of service. So, there is no EASY answer. In general, if you consider the labor effort involved, expect to pay between $2000 and $3000 for a competent and reputable company to do the work for you.
That's a lot of money. I got an email yesterday that offered to submit my site to thousands of search engines and get my site #1 for only $20. Why not just use them?
While an uncommonly large site with many different topics may cost more to optimize, basic time requirements to perform the minimum research and tuning prevent the costs from being a lot less. Many firms out there offer service for "Only $29!" or a software package to do-it-yourself. These services are most commonly spammers looking to soon part a fool from his money. Or worse, use search engine spam tricks that used to work years ago, but today will cause a major search engine to ban your site from listing altogether. Also keep in mind pay-per-click offerings, which do not optimize your site at all, but work instead on the highest bidder approach. Pay-per-click (PPC) methods offer a reliable way to generate traffic on your site, but is often more costly in the long term, and may not produce as qualified and sincere traffic as would a good SEO campaign.
How do you choose an SEO firm? Do your homework. Ask questions about their methods. Get details. If they talk about industry secrets and search engine tricks like the ones mentioned above, run away. Choose one that can show you sites that they have successfully optimized, for more than just the company name.
In summary, search engine optimization is a not too difficult, yet moderately complex and time-consuming process. It takes knowledge about your company, your competitors, the design and code of your Web site, as well as in depth knowledge about the different search engines. However, optimizing your Web site for the search engines is the difference between putting a billboard in your basement and on the highway. The rewards and revenues can be incredible. For more information on how to get your site to the top of the search engines, email us.
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