April 28, 2010

Implementing a successful SEO strategy

In today’s communications world, your organization’s Web site is likely your largest marketing investment in both time and money. According to this month’s report from Netcraft, there are more than 205,000,000 Web sites. So where does your site rank among this staggering number? After all, your site is only worthwhile if it can be found.

Enter search engine optimization, also known as SEO, which has become vitally important to any organization’s Web strategy. While traditional forms of advertising can still be effective at directing your prospective customers to your site, correctly optimizing your site for search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Bing can help your customers find your site more easily.

Think how often you type specific searches on topics for which you would like more information. When you type in that search, a Web site’s rankings are based on two distinct components: context and authority. Context is determined by how much the page’s content matches what the user is searching for. This relates directly to the site’s text and keywords that are a part of your search engine optimization.

Authority, on the other hand, refers to how much credibility the search engine finds in your Web site in terms of quality. Highly visited Web sites with numerous other sites linking to them will have higher authority over less-trafficked sites, for example. So how can you improve these two components to get your site to begin ranking higher?

First and foremost, one of the easiest ways to see search engine marketing results quickly is by enhancing your Web page’s titles, especially on your home page. Page titles include descriptive text that appears in the very top bar of the browser window when you’ve reached a Web site’s home page. For example, rather than simply stating “Home” for the home page, you should use this real estate to integrate descriptive keywords that a prospect may use when conducting a search.

Enhancing your Web site’s content with the addition of relevant, search-worthy keywords is one of the best ways to achieve a higher search engine results ranking. In essence, think of the most popular search terms that your target audiences would use to find your organization and integrate those words and phrases into your site’s content. However, you need to throw caution to the wind when selecting keywords. Chances are that overly searched terms or terms that are too specific may not necessarily yield results.

When it comes to building a higher authority ranking among search engines, one of the most effective strategies is to increase the number of credible sites that link to yours. Referred to as “inbound links,” these links point users to your site from an outside online source.

Sire Advertising has extensive experience with developing effective search engine optimization strategies to help your site rank higher with major search engines. From keyword research to integration, Sire can help your prospective customers find your Web site. Contact us today at info@sireadvertising.com or call (570) 743-3900 to get started.

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