Search Engine Optimization

June 2, 2009

One of the questions we hear most from our clients is “What about Search Engine Optimization?” It is a good question, mostly because it is a term that is heard frequently but often misunderstood. Search Engine Optimization is the process of positioning your website to make it more appealing to search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, etc.) who will list your website amongst others in their search results. But what does that mean and how do you do it?

First it helps to understand how SEO has changed from its early days. For example, one of the common misconceptions about SEO is that it is greatly dependent upon the meta-keywords that a website includes. While this was true at one time, search engines have improved their methods of ranking websites by actually analyzing the content or text of your website. A second misconception is that significantly improving your websites search engine ranking can easily be accomplished. Like meta-keywords this was true at one time, but improving a websites ranking now requires time and effort, primarily because the competition over search engine real-estate has increased.

Over time, search engines have greatly adapted their methods for determining the ranking of each website. This is an important perspective to maintain, search engines are in the business of quickly connecting searchers to the information they are seeking most. As a result it has become increasingly important to understand the way in which search engines are ranking your website.

There are numerous technical details in developing a website that can greatly improve your optimization. These are details that we, thriveOn Creative, tend-to for all of the websites we develop in order to make certain our client websites are technically positioned as well as possible. However, the factors that matter most, the two most important things that contribute to a websites search engine ranking are content (what you say) and referrals (who links to you). The following is a brief description of these two criteria including a few related suggestions on ways to improve your websites ranking.

Content is based upon two factors, “what it says” and “how much you have”. A website’s rank improves the more it uses terms, phrases and words that others are searching for. Additionally the amount of content (i.e. the amount of pages) that your website contains is used by search engines to determine rank. Websites with more content are more worthwhile than websites with less content since they have a greater potential to contain the information the searcher is seeking. Recommendations for improving content include:

• Revising current content to include more specific terms, phrases and words
• Adding news items or press releases
• Maintaining a regular blog, journal or online column
• Adding resources such as manuals, how to’s, FAQs, reports, etc

Referrals are links from other websites to your own. The more referrals a website has the more valuable it is considered to be. Furthermore, referrals from other highly valued websites are of greater importance than referrals from lesser known or lesser valued websites. Recommendations for improving referrals include:

• Link exchanges with other websites, especially those of high value
• Using a newswire service to send press releases or announcements
• Contributing to user forums directing them to information available on your website