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What is SEO
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site or a web page (such as a blog) from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed to other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) which may deal with paid inclusion. The theory is that the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.
Why SEO?
There are many good reasons to pursue SEO for your website. If you’re a numbers person, you may find these stats compelling:
• A 2004 survey found that in business-to-business (B2B) purchasing decisions,63.9 percent of respondents stated that a search engine would be the first place they would go to research a product or service.
• Research conducted in 2005 by search engine consulting firm OneUpWeb.com showed that top 10 placement in Google increased site traffic to five times its previous levels in the first month.
• A 2005 survey by search marketing firm crossing found that search engines are the most popular tool for researching products and services before making an online purchase and of these searchers 74 percent use search engines to research products and 54 percent use search engines to find the website from which to buy.
But if you do SEO for no other reason, do it so you won’t be handing website visitors over to your competitors on a silver platter! Here are a few embarrassing situations that SEO can help you avoid:
• A potential customer is trying to find your phone number so they can call in an order. Searching for your product name, they come across your competitor and call them instead.
• The good news is that your website is #1 on Google! The bad news is that your #1 rank is wasted on a tedious technical PDF that you didn’t even know was on your site!
• Congratulations: You’ve accrued 157 high-quality links to your home page over the years! But since your last website redesign, you’ve spent the last six months with 157 links to your “File not found” error page!
The best thing about SEO is that when it’s done correctly, it benefits both you and your site visitors! |
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