What is SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is one of the most misunderstood terms in the marketing world.

“We don’t need SEO because we have all the important keywords already on the site” one ad agency told me when we were discussing her client’s internet marketing efforts.

Wow, I was taken back. I thought anyone in any marketing endeavor in 2008 would know this was a seriously asinine statement.

Not so, it seems.

The idea of “having the important keywords on the page” as the basis of SEO is a very 1990’s idea.

But, it is a factor, although heavily discounted by Google, and virtually every other search engine known to man.

Why? Becuase, any Tom Dick and Harry can put keywords on their site. Their is even a special place on web pages called a ‘meta tag’ where you can input your keywords in stuff-all-you-can-fit-in fashion. Google pays this zero attention, but I do when I am doing competitive research because it tells me exactly what keywords someone is trying to optimize for. (I then use this info to help my client.)

Now, having great content and enough of it - 250-500 words minimum) around your subject matter with natural usage of keywords is important. However, when was the last time you saw a site with lots of GREAT content. Few and far between, which is why Google et al. pay so much attention to the ones that do. Also, how the site is structured, how the images are labeled and used, and the internal linking process are all a part of what is known as “On-Page Optimization”. It’s important, but not nearly as much as people are lead to believe.

Why?

Because the industry is so misunderstood, there are many firms who sell “SEO” for anywhere from $99 to $599 and what they do is “optimize” your site and then submit your site to all 600 search engines.

Great for them, it’s an easy $99 to $599 for an hours’ work (if that).

At first, the client feels great because they are getting such a bargain.

But, then they realize that their site does not rank any higher than it did when they began, and it sets in that they have been duped.

Do one likes being duped, so they idea presents itself that “search engine optimization is B.S”.

They are half right.

They are half right at best I would say, because they paid a quarter of the retail price, and only got 1/10 of the service. That’s always B.S. , I don’t care what industry it is.

“Submitting your site to hundreds of search engines” is always a crock, because their business is finding and ranking your site, and often they IGNORE the sites submitted to them. Sounds strange, but it’s a fact. They much rather find you than you find them. It’s a known fact that if you want to get your site in Google’s index fast, you build links to it from other blogs and websites, and NEVER ’submit your site’ to them, or else it will be weeks if not months before they even send out their “bots” to analyze your site.

So in summary:

Keywords in Title of page…important.

Keywords on page…ok, no one cares.

Submitting your site….waste of time and money. People charge for this and call it SEO.

Great, useful content on your page, and lots of relevant pages based on your topic and full of expertise and naturally used keywords for your industry….GREAT.

But, non of these done to the 10th factor will get you anywhere in the search engines without…

Off-Page Optimization

Ok, here is where we really get into the nitty gritty, so get a firm grip and take a seat while I explain Google’s (and all others btw) method for ranking sites.

They ranking sites not based upon the keywords on the page but by the level of quality content, and most importantly by the number and quality of links ON OTHER WEBSITES that link to the site/page being analyzed.

Why?

Like I said before, any Aidan, Dillon, or Eli can put keywords on a page. Getting other websites and webmasters to link to your site takes work and finesse and a reason they should steer their visitor away from their site and onto yours.

Google sees each link as a “vote” for the page being linked to.

Not all votes are equal. Not by a long shot.

First of all, they separate all the votes into billions of categories based upon the “anchor text” of the links themselves. The “anchor text” of a link is the word or words used in the link that are clickable. (Imagine: Click Here)

If other sites link to your site with the anchor text “used cars raleigh” and other variations on combinations there of, then you will probably rank well for “used cars raleigh” and other related search queries.

How many incoming links do you need?

Like I said, not all links are equal. Not by a long shot. While the number of links is important, and the achor text of the incoming links are even more important, the “quality”and “theme” of the sites that are providing the links are the most important.

The rule of thumb is that one good, one way, relevant link from a true authority site in your field is worth 150-200 links form non related sites or sites that Google sees as having little value.

Also, links from the home page are more important than links on the “links” page. Sites that trade links reciprocally , get almost no value for their links.

“Off-Page Optimization” is where the money is made in Search Marketing, and is often the sole difference between being first in Google and not being found at all.

Authority Sites

I mentioned ‘authority sites’ earlier so, I need to address them and their special place in not only Search Engine Optimization, but also something that is known as “Social Media Optimization”

Google has some sites they just absolutely LOVE, and will rank higher than almost any other site as long as the search term is ’somewhere’ on the page or in the title of the page. These sites are almost sites that let users post their own content, and becuase they are user driven, they are known collectively as “social media” sites. Think MySpace.com, EzineArticles.com, YouTube.com, Facebook.com, etc. Chances are they are outranking your site right now and you don’t even know it. Simply, Google assigns them a lot of value, and thinks that almost any page on any of these sites are probably more relevant than 99% of all other sites out there.

Social Media Optimization

Well, since Google is going to give these sites so much weight to throw around, we might as well use it to our advantage.

If Google has a natural proclivity to rank Youtube highly, lets make a few videos, brand them with our business, tag them with our keywords, and let’s have Youtube get the top rankings in Google, as long as it’s OUR video they visitor watches. While we’re at it, let also put a link from the video to our site if possible.

That, coupled along with the fact that any two social media sites paired together get more than DOUBLE the traffic of Google in any given month, means if you are serious about internet marketing than you need to not only think of the traffic that search engines can send, but also how much traffic the social media sites can send as well.

In fact I have seen sites that I have worked on personally get 3-4 times the traffic from Youtube, etc than Google sent (now here’s the big part) ….wait…are you ready?….even when we already had several number one listings for highly trafficked terms.

Let me repeat this:

I have had sites be number one in Google for highly searched-for terms.

We got more traffic form YouTube because of the viral videos we hosted there.

The early bird gets the worm…

Here’s the thing with social media marketing: If you are to walk into almost ANY office of a CEO or business owner and talk about marketing their business on YouTube, Metacafe, Revver, or any of the other various video sharing sites, they are going to laugh at you.

The first one that listens with an open mind, after they have dried their laughter induced tears, is the one who is going to completely corner the market, and the beauty is that their competition won’t even be aware that they are being completely dominated.

The only thing the competition will be aware of is a sudden drop in business.

Social Media Optimization is the developing of useful content in the form of blogs, articles, podcasts, videos, etc that are then used to grab traffic from the search engines as well as from the social media sites themselves.

So you take all this and this is what we mean when we talk about search engine optimization.