Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of a multifaceted marketing strategy.
Even the most stunning website design is irrelevant if unseen. It isn’t a field of dreams! If you build it they won’t come without optimization, marketing and promotion. As an Internet marketing strategy, search engine optimization (SEO) considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Ideally, websites should be developed, from the ground up, with marketing in mind by a company knowledgeable in website design, search engine optimization, marketing, and advertising. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case and a site must be optimized after the design is complete. In that case Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and optimization may involve editing web page content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.
It can be all too easy to get caught up in the mechanics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Each page needs a unique title and description tag, for proper indexing and to distinguish your web page from the thousands of other web pages displayed for every Google search.
It isn’t a field of dreams! If you build it they won’t come without optimization, marketing and promotion.
Remember, though, that the content of a web page is much more than just optimized title and description tags. Meta tags on their own are not enough to increase your site’s visibility or convert users once they’ve arrived on your page.
It’s important to take the time to craft unique and useful content in the body of the page as well. Body content matters just as much (if not more) as those header items and it’s the ‘meat’ of where you will engage users once they have arrived on your site. Neglecting well thought out, distinctive website content is like a head without a body.
Results from search engine optimization (SEO) don’t come overnight. It takes time (sometimes lots of it!) and patience. Other marketing strategies can drive visitors in the meantime and help you reach your target audience through multiple channels. Pay-per-click (or PPC) advertising campaigns, for example, typically produces results much more quickly and is highly controllable. When your organic traffic starts to take off, you can scale down PPC spending if you like, and the option to increase spending again is always available.