Why do I need SEO?
Friday, March 21st, 2008This post is a continuation from our SEO series “What is SEO?”
Why do I need SEO?
SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, plays a vital role in getting your website listed on search engines. It can make the difference between people seeing your website just by searching for phrases on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… or whether you are so far hidden in these search engines that the only way to be seen is to pay for it.
SEO is a small phrase for a much larger purpose, but today I will try to write some helpful information in order for you to gain more insight on why this is a phrase to remember.
SEO Resources
If you browse the web and do a search for SEO you will come up with all kinds of articles, forums, seo training and tutorials, along with a wealth of promises by seo companies that guarantee you number 1 spots on all the top search engines. That being said, let’s examine some of the top ways in which you can insure your website is search engine ‘friendly’… and I truly mean friendly in the most ethical ways.
Common SEO Tips and Advice
- Guaranteed Number 1 Spot - I have had many clients over the years tell me they received a telephone call from a company claiming they can get them to be the number 1 search phrase on Google. They tell me that the company has reviewed their website and for a small fee (normally a few thousand dollars), they can get my client’s website listed number 1 on Google for any search phrase relating to their website. Can this really be true? YES…you can be number 1 on Google or any search engine…IF YOU PAY FOR IT.
It’s important to understand that natural/organic seo is a process that does not happen overnight. And it is equally important to understand that it is not the ‘norm’ to be listed number 1 for EVERY search phrase that relates to your business. Even the best SEO’s will have trouble with this. When someone guarantees you the number 1 spot for every search phrase, this is absolutely too good to be true. And the only way they would be able to follow through with this, is if you paid for it through a search engine marketing advertising campaign.
- Simple Website with Clean Coding - Search engines crawl the web looking for websites. When they crawl your site, they look for copy to read on your website. This copy will include Meta Data and Title Tags, content/copy on your site and navigational links. When you build a website, there are key things a web company who understands SEO will suggest to keeping your site simple and search friendly. For example, Flash should never be used entirely to create a website because flash code does not contain any real content value. Since flash operates more as a program and not as plain HTML, the search engines do not really read these files. (At least not yet anyway.) However, that being said, Flash does have wonderful multimedia value and can add that little bit of creativity or artistic vision that just separates you from the rest. When a customer is dead set on using Flash, I will make suggestions on what we can do to try to make the website as search engine friendly as possible, which may be creating a separate HTML website, along with specific programming things we can do to replace flash with HTML using javascript/css.
- Text Links versus Graphic Links - Text links are much more search engine friendly since they are exactly that…text. The search engine can read them. Graphic links, buttons or artsy-fartsy graphic navigational menus are not search engine friendly. There are things a good seo can do to make them more seo friendly, but a good text link can make a HUGE difference on how well your site is ranked when indexed.
- Dynamic URL’s and Dynamic Content - It is a mistake to think that these two items are one in the same. Dynamic URLs are web addresses with a question mark (?) in them, while dynamic content is normally content that is being pulled from another source, like a database or file. Our ecommerce shopping cart uses the Apache server to rewrite dynamic URL’s to turn them into static URL’s. These static URL’s normally get indexed better because a search engine is able to read these URL’s that are static and not constantly changing, as dynamic URL’s. Dynamic content, if displayed as plain HTML or CSS, is also search engine friendly.
- Rich, Descriptive Copy - When you write the copy for your website, make it keyword rich and as descriptive as possible. I always ask my clients this one thing that normally helps them to understand what I mean here. The question is: If I were on Google or Yahoo searching for your business…what search keywords or phrases would I type in to find you? By them answering this simple question, it allows me to optimize their site with relevant keywords and descriptive copy that should help them in getting their site indexed and ranked higher in the search listings.
Are we SEO Gods?
There are many SEO companies that promise you the world. At netMouser.com, you are given the facts about your site and how well it ranks as well as what we can do to get it to perform even better. We don’t promise you the world, but we sure will work as hard as we can on making your site as visible as possible so that it is much more search engine friendly. If you would like to set up an initial SEO evaluation, contact us.