Why should SEO be one of the first focuses of your Internet marketing planning? Are you maximizing your SEO potential?
Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the science of making adjustments and modifications to a website in order to make the site rank higher for particular search terms on specific search engines with the ultimate purpose of increasing traffic to the website. SEO combines programming with logic and business strategy. It is more than just placing tags and links on a website, it is actually a blend of many variables. Each search engine uses complex algorithms to analyze these variables.
SEO is a dominant generator of website traffic and subsequent leads. The leads from organic SEO are among the best quality leads because they have more relevancy than other methods of Internet marketing. After a study of 350 medical practices it was concluded that bounce rates from SEO traffic is significantly lower than traffic from paid search or social media creating a better, qualified prospect. Our survey revealed the following bounce rate averages:
- SEO – 27%
- Paid Search – 55%
- Social Media – 81%
Currently Google is the dominant search engine and has enjoyed a significant amount of time as the market share leader. Next to Google in terms of market share is BING (formerly MSN). Between these two search giants most searches are done in one of these spots or a spot that uses the Google and BING algorithms. For example AOL uses the Google algorithm to serve results and Yahoo uses the BING algorithm. These are branded as different search engines but same exact results will appear. If you are aiming for obtaining more website traffic with your SEO program it would be pertinent you optimize the website for these 2 main search engines.
How SEO works – The 3c’s of SEO
If you factor in the 3C’s of SEO – CODE – CONTENT – CONNECTIVITY and do them all well you will have success.
Code & Site Structure
When discussing this first C it is imperative that the website is coded properly. The website needs to have the appropriate tags put in place so that the search understands how to crawl or read the page. If the website is not readable by search engines it must be coded correctly. The main tags that need to be done are; title tags, meta tags, ALT tags, H1 tags, meta descriptions, and meta keywords. Preparing the code and tagging the website can take a great deal of time but, it will be worth the time if done properly and combined with effective efforts of the other 2 C’s.
