SEO Isn’t What You Think
If you’re like most business owners, you have only a sketchy idea of what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) really means. You’ve probably been approached by “experts” who guarantee top placement in the search engines. You’ve wondered how they can promise that to you, when there are other firms promising the same thing to your competitors. It doesn’t make sense, right?
Once you get past the hype, SEO is more mundane and subtle than these firms make it out to be, but it also makes a lot more practical sense. Once you understand the basic principles, you can actually handle the majority of this mysterious SEO stuff on your own.
So, What the Heck Is SEO?
Search engines use a wide variety of formulas to calculate whether a web page is a relevant result for certain search terms. Here are some of the factors that might go into determining search results:
- Keywords in page titles, body text, and headings
- Overall relevance of keywords to body text
- Age of the site and the individual page
- Inbound links from other relevant sites
There are dozens (or hundreds) of other factors involved, but they’re all trying to accomplish the same thing: separating the good stuff from the lousy stuff. “Search engine optimization” is the act of modifying a web page in order to help it look more like that good stuff.
Sounds Easy Enough. What’s the Catch?
In the old days, search engines were simple, which made SEO simple. You could just load your site with keywords, and it would naturally show up on results pages. It was relatively easy to trick the system, so a lot of people used deceptive techniques to get their sites to rank higher.
Since then, search engines have diligently refined their techniques to make it more difficult for website owners to exploit the system. Some SEO firms have responded with ever more elaborate methods for deceiving the search engines. It’s a battle still waged today.
The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Ethical SEO
The safest, most cost-effective, and most sustainable way to climb up in the search engine result pages is simply to provide high-quality, relevant content that people want to link to.
There are some basic coding techniques you can use when building the site that will help the search engines process this content effectively, but generally speaking, nothing beats great content when it comes to search engines.
There are no quick fixes when it comes to SEO. If you dig in, provide great written content, and share it with others, you’ll be in good shape for years to come. That’s what search engines are looking for anyway, so you’ll never go wrong by providing it.
Learn More about Ethical SEO
What’s a Search Engine Optimizer?
Your SEO Service, Ethical SEO, and Competitor Monitoring
SEO Articles, Tips, and Reference
Search Engine Optimization (Wikipedia)
Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization'
Google Search Engine Ranking Factors
Have questions about SEO? Let us know!
Don't spend hours trying to figure something out on your own when a quick e-mail or phone call could get you real-world advice. Get in touch with Aaron Post at Forty, and he'll get you the answers you're looking for.
- E-mail: aaron@fortyagency.com
- Phone: (602) 325-3229