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Hear That Knocking That s SEO With Business At Your Door
What have you Googled address, phone number and maybe
lately?" Ask anyone that some flashy ad graphics;
question 10 years ago, and depending on how much money they
you would have gotten a strange spent on the ad. On a Google
look. But now, Googling is a part search, they get a link to the
of life. When we need something, company's website, where you can
increasingly, we search for it on find as much information on a
the Internet. company and its offerings as you
need.
From a branding perspective,
Google has much in common with For things like books, tickets
the Kleenex's, Xerox's and and music, Googling will often
Rollerblades of the world. It's a lead to an instant purchase if
brand name that has become the the price is right. But even for
name for a category—a far cry more "considered purchases,"
from the time, not that long ago, where one competes on more than
when only the urban hipsters with just price; Googling is often the
Tony the Tiger shirts knew what first research step buyers take
Google was. to arrive at a decision. They
search keywords and combinations
The Yellow Pages may not be gone, of keywords, comparing each set
but their star is fading quickly of results to the next, looking
as more and more people turn to for the most relevant
Google (or other search engines) information.
when they need to find a product
or service. Why? Better, more In a perfect world, people would
complete and up-to-date systematically study three to
information. No contest. When five competitors in a selection
someone looks up a company in the set, write down the pros and cons
phonebook, they get their of each and come to a calculated
decision. But a perfect world all do it. It is, after all,
isn't the real world. Here's what interesting to see what others
happens: if a search result looks are saying about you.
promising, the buyer will click
through to the company's website In a business context, it's not
and investigate the possibilities narcissistic at all. It's smart,
of a match further. If it looks especially when you're trying to
like a fit, case closed. Customer build your brand online. But
won. No further research besides looking for your specific
required—even if someone's out name, try looking for your
there with a better deal waiting. category. For instance, if you're
a Denver widget maker, look up
This is why being on this "short "Denver widget" or any other
list" of high-ranking search combination of keywords or
results is imperative in this day phrases relevant to your
and age—the higher the better. business. Where do you rank? Top
Top rankings give you the chance two? Top 10? Top 1000? It doesn't
of having prospective customers take a genius to figure out the
knock on your virtual door, top five results will get a lot
knowledgeable about your more clicks than Numbers 75-80.
offerings and eager to buy before Are you where you want to be?
you ever say a single word to
them. How top-ranked websites get their
positions
Don't be ashamed of self-Googling
Especially for the most
Come on, you know you've done it: competitive keyword searches,
typed your name into an Internet companies must engage in a Search
search engine such as Yahoo or Engine Optimization (SEO)
MSN. Don't feel embarrassed. We strategy, which encompasses
strategic smarts, hard work and more advanced, and employing
clean code. tactics like this will more
likely hurt your rankings than
How search engines rank your help them.
websites
Legend #2: It starts and ends
Computer programs called with traffic. Many people will
"spiders" are responsible for click themselves repeatedly in
visiting, indexing and ranking the hopes of boosting their
web sites. Each search engine has search rankings. However, this is
its own spiders with somewhat a futile effort because spiders
differing methods for ranking the don't care one bit about traffic.
websites it finds, and there are
strategies you can use to make Legend #3: I can get rankings
yours more appealing—and also cheap from those nice folks
mistakes that can negatively sending me all those emails. If
affect your rankings. you fall for one of those spammer
schemes, you deserve to be ripped
4 SEO Urban Legends off! Seriously though, you'd be
paying good money for a clerical
Legend #1: You can muscle your job you could easily do yourself.
way into top rankings. Maybe in But even if you did do it
1999, but not anymore. Simply yourself, you would run the risk
repeating a bunch of hidden of getting even worse rankings.
keywords on your page or in your It's like membership at Augusta
META tags no longer fools the National—if you say you want
search engine spiders into giving it, you won't get it. Search
you high rankings. Algorithms engines regard repetitive
that power the software behind submissions as desperation, which
these spiders have become much they reject wholeheartedly.
JavaScript and Cascading Style
Legend #4: A Search Engine Sheets and where your formatting
Optimization service guaranteed a instructions appear in relation
Top 10 position on Google. In to your website copy. If you used
short, nobody can legitimately do a WYSIWYG code-writing
that. Such guarantees are a program—such as Front Page,
telltale sign of snake-oil GoLive or Dreamweaver—you
salesmanship. Here's how the scam almost certainly will get a much
works: technically, they live up lower score from the spiders.
to their end by getting you top
billing on a search term of their It really does take a team of
choosing, which is so specific to people, like the kind we have at
you that only your mom would Brand Identity Guru, dedicated to
likely search on it. monitoring the everyday changes
on the battlefield to maintain a
Smarty-pants spiders high-ranking web presence. And it
does change frequently—search
Search engine optimization is far engines are notorious for
more complex than it's ever been. changing their search algorithms
The obvious shortcuts to great often.
search engine rankings have long
since been identified and shut What about pay-per-click?
down by the search engine
companies. These days, high Organic ("free" or "natural")
rankings have much more to do rankings are completely different
with the structure of your HTML from sponsored ("pay-per-click"
code, your acumen at avoiding or PPC) links. PPC can be an
"trip wires" that send spiders effective part of a brand's
away, where certain keywords overall online marketing
appear on a page, how you use strategy, and a lot professional
SEO companies work with clients by professionals with both the
to design PPC campaigns that are branding and technical know-how
both cost-effective and to determine the right mix of the
eye-catching. But PPC won't two.
substitute for SEO. High
positioning on a relevant keyword Yes, it's complicated.
search on Google, with its
reputation for returning highly But you get back a lot in return
relevant results, bodes well for for your investment of time and
your brand in a way that money. A more "Googleable" online
sponsored links just can't. branding strategy will quickly
However, neither is it wise to yield improved sales and a more
engage in an all-SEO, no-PPC visible brand on the web, which,
strategy. Serious online brand in turn, will also positively
marketers get the best results affect your bottom line.
with a comprehensive strategy run
About the Author:
Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru http://www.brandidentityguru.com a leading brand consulting and branding research firm located in Boston, Massachusetts. Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.
Read more articles by: Scott White
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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