Search Engine Optimization – The New Kids on the Virtual Block

These days, consumers are becoming far wiser and more discerning, which renders most traditional marketing and advertising methods obsolete. Coming to our rescue is the new kid on the block (not really all that new at this juncture in time), search engine optimization (SEO). To be honest, us folks over here at First Wish Solutions have long jumped onto the SEO bandwagon, and discovered the greater heights it has since brought our company’s rankings to.

Now, what exactly is search engine optimization (SEO)? Let’s start the ball rolling with a concise definition by SEOMoz: “SEO is the active practice of optimizing a website by improving both internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines”. Sounds like a mouthful, doesn’t it? To make things easier for our non-techie mates, SEO is the art of optimizing a website to make it more search engine friendly. By optimizing your website for search engines, it will rank higher, resulting in increased visibility and higher clickthrough rates, which will hopefully lead to higher sales volume ultimately. Now, doesn’t that make you feel like jumping onto the bandwagon and applying SEO to your website too?

Before we go into the specifics of how SEO works, let’s run through how it has evolved and changed over time, to provide a clearer idea of the big picture. In the past, it was possible to raise the ranking of a website simply by stuffing the page with keywords. Many websites took advantage of this, and placed keywords in spaces on their website in white, making them invisible to the human eye, but was picked up by search engines all the same. This is usually referred to as Black Hat SEO, which tends to produce effective results in a short time, but may result in your website being banned by Google if you engage in this. More often than not, Black Hat SEO provides unethical short term solutions to a long term problem.

Currently, it takes a lot more than merely keyword stuffing to increase the ranking of a certain web page on Google. Modern SEO is all about crafting compelling content that other people would want to promote naturally by linking back to you or sharing it, thereby increasing your website’s credibility and attracting links. Google places high importance on credibility and content relevance. Inbound links, which are links from other websites to your website, are one such form of measurement. Your website design and navigability play a big role here as well.

You would have realized by now that keywords are at the heart of SEO. Keywords can be split into two categories:  short tail keywords and long tail keywords. A short tail keyword contains only a few words and is quite general, hence attracting a broader range of visitors. Long tail keywords, on the other hand, are used to describe the strategy of targeting less competitive niche markets. It is a much better defined phrase containing over four words, and tends to attract a more specific but smaller audience. An example of a short tail keyword would be “website traffic” while a long tail keyword is something along the lines of “how to create more website traffic”.

Increasingly, the trend is moving away from the use of short tail keywords, to long tail ones. You may be wondering why any business would rather target keywords that bring lesser traffic. This is due to the highly specific nature of long tail keywords, which results in lesser competition, making it easier to rank higher on search engines as compared to using short tail keywords. Another benefit is that visitors searching for long tail keywords know exactly what they want and convert amazingly well to sales and ad clicks, which results in a much higher sales volume. In comparison, users who type in short tail keywords may simply be surfing the internet without a clear objective or goal in mind.

Search engine optimization is also sometimes referred to as SEO copywriting, as most of the techniques employed deal mainly with text and is closely related to content. SEO involves the task of building keywords and phrases which are relevant to your business onto the website. It covers all contingencies, including commonly misspelled words, so that the desired search result occurs even if the query is literally incorrect.

The Mechanics of SEO

Before we launch into a discussion on how SEO is done, the very first thing you’ll need to know is how websites and information are categorized and cached by the various search engines. The way humans and search engines view websites are drastically different. Unlike humans, search engines are text-driven, and employ the use of search engine spiders to crawl the content of websites, looking at mainly text to get an idea of what the site is about. A spider, also known as a robot or crawler, is a program that follows, or "crawls" links throughout the internet and adds content to search engine indexes. These spiders are only able to crawl where the website allows them to, which makes site navigation extremely important. This means that if your website design is flash-driven, the spiders will not be able to detect key information. The same goes for images, drop-down menus and logins. This can be easily solved by employing the use of Image tags, which aid the spiders by providing a description of the image. Spiders can only follow links from one page to another and from one site to another. That is the primary reason why inbound links are so important. Bearing in mind the vast number of websites available on the internet, it is impossible for the spiders to visit a site daily, hence it takes time for them to crawl your website and for it to rise in the charts. As such, the more inbound links you have, the more often the spiders will visit your site.

SEO is no rocket science; it is comprised of a number of factors, all of which work together to boost the website’s overall ranking. In fact, SEO is based on 4 key principles:

1)    Identifying the right keywords

2)    Optimizing the website

3)    Optimizing inbound links to your site

4)    Measuring results and fine-tuning your SEO campaign

Fresh and relevant website content: The first and foremost step to doing SEO is to ensure that your website is up-to-date with engaging and valuable content for your readers. Poorly structured and outdated websites are sure to discourage visitors from returning. In addition, the quality and originality of your content will also determine how successful your website will be in the virtual world. Fresh and updated content can be easily added onto your website with the implementation of a content management system (CMS).

Relevant keywords and phrases: This process is probably the most important step in SEO. There is no point in engaging in an SEO campaign if you do not have a clear idea of the keywords users type into search engines when searching for your business. It is also essential to know how competitive certain keywords are, as well as which keywords drive conversion and traffic. Keyword tools like Google Adwords are especially useful when it comes to researching for relevant keywords. One other way of doing this is to research on search engines to see what keywords or phrases are typed in by users when they are searching for your particular type of product or service.

On-Site Optimization: This factor has to do with the way search engine spiders function. As they are unable to view images, the text on your website and how it is formatted become exceptionally important. Text on your website includes the technical HTML aspects such as Title tags, Meta tags, etc. Formatting factors refer to the usage of bold or italicized typefaces, as well as headers of varying sizes (H1, H2, etc). Keyword density should also be taken into account as well. If a particular keyword or phrase is not used often enough in the text, the spiders would likely be unable to determine what the web page is about. On the other spectrum, if the keyword is used too frequently, the web page may be classified as spam. It is therefore important to strike a good balance.

Off-Site Optimization: While some search engines may place more importance on content, our search giant Google places a higher emphasis on inbound links. Think of the internet as a huge social network where links function as relationships. In this way, linking can be said to be the fundamental basis of the internet. Search engines want to be sure that you are sufficiently “connected” with other web pages and hence, linking would be seen as a form of endorsement, as well as proof of the relevancy of your website’s content. The more credible inbound links you have on your website, the more relevant Google would deem your site to be. Bear in mind that “link farming”, or aggressive linking to many and any website would have the opposite effect on your credibility instead. One other decisive factor affecting the ranking of websites is the anchor text of inbound links. An anchor is a term used to define a hyperlink destination inside a document, while the anchor text is the display text that users will be clicking on. Google, among other search engines, places a significant amount of weight on the anchor text of inbound links. Anchor tags should include keywords related to your field of business, instead of simply stating “click here”, which does not in any way, contribute to SEO. There are also a great number of sites available for you to build quality links, such as social networking sites, blogs, press releases, etc.

Site Structure/Navigation: Factors affecting the way a site is structured can well affect its overall ranking too. Site navigation is important for a few reasons, namely usability, indexing and link power. A website equipped with usability will make it simple and easy for users to find what they are searching for. Indexing on the other hand, would help search engine crawlers find your website. Only after a web page has been indexed will it be added to the search engine’s database. Link power is derived when other websites link to you (inbound links), and it is something that you can never have too much of.

Measurement: Regular monitoring and measurement of your SEO campaign’s effectiveness must be carried out. One of my colleagues often likens SEO to a F1 race, as you’ll never know when a competitor might catch up and overtake you. The unpredictable natures of SEO (and search engines) make constant monitoring and tweaking of your SEO campaign necessary in order to produce results and ensure success.

SEO Myths - Debunked

Myth #1: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the same as search engine marketing (SEM).

This is a widely held misconception. Unlike search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO) focuses on organic listings, which are links to sites that the search engine has dynamically ranked as being most relevant to a particular keyword or phrase. Organic listings are not chargeable when a visitor clicks on them, as opposed to sponsored listings. The best part yet? Research has shown that customers are more likely to trust and click on an organic listing, as opposed to a paid one. All these factors contribute to the overall effectiveness of SEO. However, both SEO and SEM may be used in tandem to better target specific keywords and maximize marketing efforts.

Myth #2: Doing SEO is as easy as ABC, and I do not need to engage the services of a professional web design company.

More often than not, many people have the perception that SEO copywriting is something that can be easily done on their own, and that it merely involves adding important keywords to the content of their website. This is where people make a grave error, as SEO can be a time-consuming and challenging task. Therefore, it makes sense to engage the services of a professional SEO copywriter to spearhead your SEO campaign. As business owners, you should be focusing your attentions on other aspects of your business.

At the end of the day, after all is said and done, SEO ultimately boils down to increasing the usability of your website - by making the content relevant to your readers, as well as ensuring that your website design or interface is easily navigable. This makes it easier for visitors to get around your site and find what they are looking for. I’ve said it many times and won’t hesitate to say it again. SEO is definitely not for the faint hearted.