Everyone knows a Search Engine is the vehicle people use to find things on the Internet. But many have no idea as to the competitiveness or the behind the scene strategies used to secure the highly coveted top-ranking positions. This is where an SEO comes into play.
Search Engines used to responded to search queries with results based solely on matching keywords on Web pages to keywords (search words) being used in the search queries. For instance if you were looking for blue widgets you would type in blue widgets in the search bar and the site that returned the most and relevant info for that term would rank the highest. Very simple for an SEO to optimize a page for a higher rank. However, today’s search engines know all of the tricks. So, it’s not only a waste of time to use them, it is counter-productive because your site will be penalized in the rankings if you get caught — and you will get caught!
Today’s search engines primarily Google uses harder to manipulate factors like Anchor Text, Trust and Authority and a keyword in your Domain Name or destination URL. For desk tops globally, Google has over 68% of the worldwide market. The Chinese search engine, Baidu, is 2nd with a worldwide market share of 18%. Yahoo has 6.4% (boosted by Yahoo Japan) and Bing is 4th with 5.59% of the worldwide market.
Search Engine Optimization today consist of a more elaborate strategy. An SEO must be capable of not only optimizing web pages, the SEO must optimize images, scripts and other files keeping in mind of mobile use-ability and page speed.
Hiring an SEO can be a very daunting task first you need to check out the company and get everything in writing before hiring someone to optimize your website. Here is a good link to Google about Hiring an SEO.
5 simple strategies will help to optimize your websites content.
When consulting with businesses I am most often asked these 3 questions:
Q) Do I Really Need To Hire An SEO?
A) This is the most asked of all. Depending on your website and your industry the answer is usually yes, at least periodically every 3 months.
As an SEO I realize that not all businesses are the same, and some can’t afford to hire an SEO on a full time basis. However it is a good idea to ask if they can do a quarterly SEO audit and keep your pages optimized and code up to date.
True SEO is not just changing a few snip-its of code and making sure the meta tags are right, there is a certain method and order to optimizing a website. Done correctly the results can be wonderful, however done incorrectly the results can be devastating to site’s rankings. Most designers, developers and marketers have a basic knowledge of SEO but it is best to hire a professional SEO if possible.
Q) Is there anything we can do on our own?
A) The answer to this question is YES. There are basic SEO steps that anyone with a little knowledge of a website can do to improve their rankings and optimize pages on their website. As I stated before this can be devastating to your site if you are not careful, especially with the meta tags. Never put this in the hands of a developer or designer only. Developers and Designers often don’t understand the complexities of SEO and can create entirely new problems while trying to fix a few.
Q) Isn’t there just some kind of code you can put in that will automate the process?
A) If you are using WordPress or other CMS systems the answer is YES in a way. For WordPress for instance there are several different plug-ins you can install that will automate SEO in your meta data. Although helpful these plug-ins use your title and content to come up with a description and keywords, I have not seen one yet that doesn’t need a little editing to insure the proper information is in the meta data. ** Important: Do Not Rely Solely On The Plug-ins Interpretation.
Following these 5 simple strategies will help to optimize your websites content. (Read More..)
SSL Certificates – Who Needs One
If you are wondering if you need an SSL Certificate for your website, blog or store the answer is Yes.
As of late 2015 Google’s ranking started rewarding sites using HTTPS with a higher organic ranking. With keeping this in mind from an SEO’s point of view using a SSL certificate is very important. Let’s say for instance you are currently on page one in the 3rd position and you competitor is in the 5th position, your competitor moves their site to a https server and the are now in the 3rd position and you are in the 5th. This difference in organic ranking position is huge, two positions my not sound like much but did you know the #1 position gets around 60% of the clicks, position #2 gets 25% of the clicks that only leaves 15% to be split-up on the remaining front page.
Google’s Take on HTTPS: A year after Google’s Chromium Security team proposed marking all HTTP sites which are non-secure, the company is preparing to implement the policy in Chrome. They will start showing a red X in the browser bar showing this is not a secure site.. (Read More)