A Common Question

I am frequently asked about search engines and how organizations can improve their performance when it comes to placement and results. Keep in mind that this blog post is not meant to be intensive, but I thought I would do a quick review of some search engine placement/optimization basics.

To begin, there are two general terms that I find best reflect any organization's initial strategy; they are "organic placement" and "pay-for-performance." Organic placement refers to the natural way search engines index your site. And as pay-for-performance suggests, rankings with this method are based upon the level of sponsorship for each keyword listing.

With organic placement there are three things to keep in mind (again, not all-inclusive).

1. Meta and title information. (This is the code at the beginning of any webpage that gives keywords, descriptions and the title that shows at the top of the browser).

2. Site content. This may seem somewhat obvious, but as search engines get more sophisticated (and they are continuously getting smarter) there is a big need for relevant site content. Is the name of your organization prominent on your pages? Are you titling your images (i.e. using ALT tags). Every little bit helps as those search spiders come crawling across your site. The more things "match up" the more relevant your site will become to search engines.

3. Search engine submissions. Once considered the mecca of results, this is not the primary way search engines index a site. However, it is still a valid piece of the optimization pie.

Moving to pay-for-performance (or cost-per-click) we find an acheivable top ranking just by allotting resources for certain search terms that you know most people will use to find you. If, for example, you are a bakery in Colleyville, you may want to buy keywords "Colleyville Bakery," "Texas Bakery." "DFW Wedding Cakes," etc.

It is important to note that rule number one in pay-for-performance is to know what your competition is doing. You must have market awareness for the keywords you are bidding on or you will quickly find yourself with poor ROI and lackluster results. Using the Colleyville bakery example, there may be other Colleyville bakeries with similar search engine desires. If you are not aware of the competition they could be taking the cake (pun intended) everytime someone searches.

One last point on pay-for-performance. Copy is king. If you think people will simply click on your listing because you are near the top you are dead wrong. Your descriptions and titles for your listing need to be thought out, tested and continually refined.

Okay, so that at least scratches the surface when it comes to optimizing your site for search engine perfomance. Best results come from a sound strategy that is executed and managed efficiently.

Feel free to post comments or email me if you have any specific questions on search engine optimization.

Posted by Brent at February 1, 2005 02:40 PM