Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the least understood and misrepresented skills online. SEO involves dozens of processes, hundreds of steps, many ongoing and never ending. With so many processes and steps involved, it should come as no surprise that SEO needs well planned and managed. At Optimum7 we have documented with exhaustive detail those processes and steps we follow to generate the results we achieve on behalf for our clients. It starts by having an Execution Plan and a Schedule of Implementation for that plan.
In this spirit, the following are the major areas of Search Engine Optimization that require great management and execution:
Keyword Research
Keywords are the words and phrases used by searchers to find what they are looking for. Google has achieved market dominance through its ability to provide the most relevant search results. So, keyword research to identify your "universe" of relevant, targeted words and phrases is a critical element; in fact, keyword research is the cornerstone of all Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. In addition, because trends change all of the time, keyword research is a necessary continual process, particularly to identify and target niche terms and markets.
Onsite Search Engine Optimization
As the name implies this involves all of the on-page elements that a search engine crawler is interested in. It is important that the information be presented to the crawler the way the search engines want it. This involves:
a) Unique, highly relevant, keyword rich Page Titles and Descriptions
b) Properly implemented Page Titles and Meta Information.
c) W3 Validation
e) Dynamic sitemaps
f) Constant addition of new content (articles, press releases, videos, podcasts, etc)
g) Inter-linking of content within the site
h) Dozens of more elements.
Content
Content is probably the least emphasized, yet the single most important component necessary to successfully compete for high search engine rankings. I suspect this is the case because it requires the most commitment, the hardest to do consistently and over a long period of time and it requires the SEM (Search Engine Marketing) to "level" with the potential client about the plain truth about SEM; no matter how much or little you are paying your Internet Marketing Company, it will be completely wasted if you don't have a strong commitment to regular additions of unique (non-duplicate), highly relevant content. If the company you are interviewing do not stress this, or even mention it, head for the hills!
The web is essentially a text-based environment. People primarily go online to find information. For a website to attract more visitors and potential clients, it must therefore provide timely, up to date, and relevant information that people can use. Once your website has established a certain level of trust in the eyes of a lot of users, your business will benefit not only from the increased traffic and sales generated, you will also have established a solid and loyal customer base as well. Content does not always have to be too formal or technical either. Constant updates can serve you well in terms of informing visitors of new trends or products you plan to offer. This way, people will have something to look forward to that gets them to keep on coming back to your website.
Offsite Optimization
This is ultimately the most important element of SEO because this always involves the promotion of your content towards the generation of highly relevant, naturally occurring Backlinks. Backlinks are one-way links originating from someone's website pointing directly to specific content on your website. Backlinks are the most important factor Google uses to differentiate and ultimately rank based upon relevance. The basic reasoning is this … backlinks represent a vote by someone else in favor of your website. If the backlinks originate from sites with strong Google PageRank or strength, the greater the quality of the Backlink. So, quality AND quantity are important towards generating backlinks.
So how do you get high quality and quantities of Backlinks? CONTENT.
Articles
Write them! Write great articles with great quality. Write meaningful, informative, non-duplicate articles. Matt Cutts of Google calls articles and other effective content as "link bait." I prefer to explain articles as demonstrations of your expertise and rising authority in the subject matter. It is the quality of the content that ultimately will determine the maximum number of websites that link to your pages.
Press Releases
Your website and your business must not and cannot be a static system. There are developments, announcements … NEWS! Write Press Releases in journalistic style with quotes from key personnel with your business. Get them published through syndication services such as PRWeb and Marketwire for wide distribution. The indexing and the traffic generated all work together for Backlink generation.
Blogging
Create a blog and post daily. It doesn't have to be great literature. Share a thought, a reaction, and an experience that is somehow relevant. I can, even should be a bit edgy. As with all content, it needs to contain interesting, current or trending topics. Invite and promote comments. All of this activity generates and promotes Backlinks as other sites will want to link to you and feed from you to enhance the content for their visitors.
Audio
Your articles, press release and blogs can be discussed or even read aloud as recorded podcasts. This is valid and valuable. Not everyone likes to read. Some people are better listeners than readers.
Video
Same idea here; many folks are visual so use this medium to provide the visual news and concepts that are relevant.
Indexing
Articles, Podcasts, Blog posts, Audio, Video, Multimedia; ALL content must be properly indexed on your site with an updated sitemap that is sent, preferably automated to all of the search engines so that the web pages get the appropriate credit. Also, you need to index so that the websites that eventually will link to you will have highly relevant material on your site to actually link to … remember, Google rankings are only about one thing … RELEVANCE.
Syndication
All the indexing of new content on your site really only builds the foundation for great Backlinking. All of your content needs to be syndicated by offering them to relevant websites to really get your Backlinking strategy into high gear. Just as Google indexes your site, so too other websites are indexed including those that will publish your content through your syndication efforts.
All content needs to be "optimized" by including anchor text that targets the one or two keywords that are featured in your content. You need to target just one or two keywords to give the article or other content type the focus needed for targeting important keywords. In other words, the more keywords in your anchor text the less effective it will be for all of those keywords because the content is, in effect, diluted.
Targets for syndication really are based on the type of content. Online publishers like ezinearticles.com are obviously good for articles. As mentioned earlier, PRWeb is excellent for Press Releases (Syndication Fees apply). Audio and Video can be syndicated through familiar sites like ITunes, YouTube, MySpace and many others.
The Social Media including Facebook and Twitter (many dozens more) are great places to syndicate your content through Tweets, posts, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. There are countless tools and instruction on how to do these things … just Google it!
Social Bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious serve as great human voting platforms for those online communities. Give your readers of your articles, blog posts etc the further option of adding your great content by adding them to their favorite social bookmarking site.
Social Media and Social Bookmarking sites are great human voting machines and Google is watching this activity very closely. All of these interactions involving your content generate backlinks and remember backlinks are votes for your website.
So, the major Internet Marketing Optimization Factors include keyword research, onsite optimization, content and offsite optimization primarily for Backlink growth. There are literally dozens of processes contained within these major factors, all of which are well mastered at Optimum7.
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