Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing a website for the purpose of increasing its traffic by getting ranked better in search engines such as Google and Yahoo.  The majority of traffic to a website is driven by search engines. Typically the higher a website is ranked the more traffic it receives. Page rank is the way that search engines tell consumers which sites are best or most relevant according to their query.

Search engines use covert complex algorithms, which convert all the information collected from web pages into useful search results.  The key to ranking higher is making sure that your website has all the necessary components that search engines are looking for to determine its level of relevancy – this is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.

There are many elements to consider when optimizing your website for search engines.  A key component to optimizing your website is finding the right words to use in your content.  Search engines account for every word on every page on the internet, this way when someone searches for a specific word or phrase, for instance Ottawa SEO, search engines can narrow results to only the pages that are about those words or phrases – so before you even begin to write copy for your website you should consider the SEO element.  Your copy should include keywords and key phrases designed to help your website rank better in search engines. SEO strategists know what specific content to place on a website for search terms they want to target. This is why it is important to consider having an SEO Copywriter help you with your keywords and strategically place them in each web page for the required result.

Page titles are also very important, as search engines determine the topic of the page by its title.  Every page on the web has a title, which is not always visible because it’s usually written in the code.  Search engines dedicate a lot of attention to page titles because it is, or should be, a summary of the content on the page.  When creating page titles it is important to maintain an accurate correlation between the page title and the information contained on that page, as search engines penalize websites for deceptive page titles.

Backlinking is another very important component to search engine optimization.  They’re inbound links or incoming links to your website.  The number of links coming in to your website tell Google and other search engines how popular and relevant your site is – if you have two websites on a similar topic, search engines will rank the one with more quality links higher than the other.  The more popular search engines believe your site to be, the higher page rank you’ll receive.  But backlinking is not just about having many pages randomly linking back to your website, it’s about having credible links.  So how do you get backlinks?  One way is by commenting on blogs and articles of other related websites, but this can be a very time-consuming process as you have to read these blogs and articles thoroughly in order to be able to leave an informed comment so that your comment can be approved.  The practice of commenting and participating on blogs solely for the purpose of gaining links back to your website is frowned upon by search engines, especially if your website is in no way related to the site you’re hoping to solicit a link from.  For example, let’s say your website is about needle point, it would be quite suspicious to try and link to a website about racing cars – so don’t be tempted to engage in this type of practice as Google and other search engines pay very close attention to this and will penalize you for it.  You’re much better off slowly and methodically linking to quality and relevant websites and building up your reputation over time than to create false or questionable backlinks.  Some people will also try to fool search engines by creating or buying spurious links that point to their website – search engines can also detect this.  SEO Professionals know what search engines are looking for and the dos and don’ts of Search Engine Optimization – they have the art of page rank down to a science.  Strategic SEO techniques should be utilized when considering backlinking as part of your SEO strategy.  It’s no secret that websites that are search engine optimized have a much greater advantage over those that are not. Investing in SEO can have an enormous impact and an outstanding rate of return.

Always keep in mind that no reputable SEO Service Provider can absolutely guarantee that they can immediately get your website ranked on the first page of Google or any major search engine, however, if they implement most of the necessary strategic SEO components, your chances of being ranked higher is much greater than that of the websites that are not optimized.

SEO is an ongoing process and a very integral part of an Internet Marketing Strategy when optimizing your website for organic, relevant search engine results.  If you are asking yourself why your website is not showing up on Google, you need to consider the SEO factor and its importance.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the many services that the Ottawa marketing agency – Imagine Sales and Marketing provides, and is a great resource for all of your Internet Marketing needs.

To get started with a full site evaluation you can check out our Essential SEO Package.

Tags: Ottawa SEM, Ottawa SEO, ottawa website maintence

Category: Online marketing, SEO