Don't gamble on being found - use SEO! SEO is an optimisation and marketing mix. SEO marketeers focus on the 80% of the worldwide web that doesn’t pay the search engines to rank their websites. The function of SEO is to increase 'Search Engine visibility' but to do so, adhering to the rules and stipulations set out by the search engines is a necessary requirement.
SEO marketing aims to influence website rankings by utilising the non-paid for, 80% of the web. This is often referred to as the organic listings thus the terms, 'organic search' and 'organic ranking' have been coined.
Most searchers tend to favour websites that appear high in organic rankings, often in preference to the websites that pay for their listing.
Google, along with other search engines are in the question and answer business. We ask them the questions and they provide the answers. To do this, search engines have to index over a billion websites and in order to help rank them in order of priority they use systems and set rules.
We mustn't forget that 'Search' is a commodity and one that Search engines have invested in heavily.
‘Relevance’ and ‘Popularity’ are two of the criteria that search engines use in their systems. They lay down requirements for what a website should comply with in order to help achieve a ranking. A website owner or SEO marketeer then complies with this criteria and uses many other different marketing techniques to help achieve ranking.
SEO is a complex mix of techniques. It works, but because it's a mix of optimisation, compliance, marketing techniques and strategies, it can be a slow process. Search engines don't help the process either because they are forever changing their rules, requirements and algorithms.
Just a few SEO requirements |
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Web build |
Meta & Alt tags, keyword rich copy |
Search engine registration |
XML site map, robot text file |
Links |
Inbound links, link bait, link juice |
Marketing |
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest |
SEO pays dividends though, by tending to keep site listings stable once a site attains the required ranking. This is the opposite to paid listings whereby your site can disappear down the rankings as soon as your 'Paid Inclusion' subscription stops.