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Basic SEO - What is it?
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There are dozens of companies out there that specialize in "SEO".
That's great: What is it?
SEO is an acronym that stands for Search Engine Optimization.
Question 2: What is Search Engine Optimization?
It's a combination of techniques used to maximise a webpage's ranking in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.
A caveat is in order. SEO is not about 'tricking' search engines to get higher rankings. Rather, it is a pragmatic research process that aims to focus the delivery of relevant information to those who are looking for that specific information.
Next Question: How does it work?
Search engines use small programs called 'bots' that scurry around the web from link to link, logging where they go and what they find there. The search engine software then looks at these logs and makes a determination as to what information is there and how it links up with any 'keywords' that a searching user might type in.
If someone searches for "spinning black widgets", the search engine will search its gigantic database for the webpages that it thinks are the most relevant. Those pages that specifically discuss "spinning black widgets" will rank ahead of those with "spinning widgets", "black widgets", or "widgets", followed by "spinning something else" and "black things", etc..
However, each major search engine determines the relevance in different ways:
- the number of occurances of the keywords on the page
- where the keywords appear
- the importance given to those keywords in the page designed (headings, etc.)
- the hidden keywords and description meta tags
- links to other relevant pages
- links from other relevant pages
- etc..
As you may have noticed, the most frequently occuring term is "keywords". They are the backbone of all SEO efforts. As in most basic marketing endeavours, in order to draw attention to your product or service (or information), you must use frequency as well as relevance with your keywords to maximize the effectiveness of your efforts.
That is basic SEO in a nutshell. However, the companies who specialize in SEO and ScottBinnie.com obviously go much further into the spcifics involved with 'optimizing' pages for search engines. The search engine software that determines the relevance of pages goes into far more depth than outlined above. The number of occurrances of the keywords, the number and structure of the links on a page, the quality of external websites linking to the page, etc., etc. all make a difference.
Where ScottBinnie.com differs from the dedicated SEO companies it that we provide the framework for your website as part of the initial design. We can also work with you to cover about 80% of full optimization. Dedicated companies can provide you with the rest.
However, you may be interested to know that so few websites take advantage of SEO to begin with, paying the extra amount for that 20% (much of which will be changed by the search engines themselves within 3 months) may be worth it in the short run if you have a very generic site, but may not be cost-effective in the long run. - It's your choice.
In the mean time, if you need a new website, an old one refreshed, or would like us to work with you on that first 80% of SEO, let us know from our Contact page (above menu) and we'll be glad to provide you with the efficient and professional service you'll be happy with.
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