Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is big business, and should not be taken for granted. The days of making a laundry list of keyword search terms and dumping them into meta tags (term spamming) are over. Today’s search engines are as savvy as their users. The key to great Search Engine Optimization is valuable content coupled with a winning optimization plan. Be careful. There are practices that can be (and are often) used that will hinder your search results success.

The largest search engine in the world is Google. Consequently, the approach to effective SEO is often driven by the recommendations and standards that Google publishes. The engine’s goal is to provide users the right information at the right location at the right time. Google’s crawl engine uses hundreds of factors to make a determination of providing the user with the best search engine results.

Organic vs. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Results

Organic

Organic search results are produced when a user types in a keyword term into a search engine and results are delivered. These results are given a ranking and displayed accordingly. In online marketing, take caution with web design firms that guarantee specific organic search engine rankings. The best approach is to have a long term SEO strategy that is effectively tailored to your business, brand, and industry. Keep in mind, search results are not generated overnight. Providing your designer or online marketer has worked with you to develop a healthy approach to search engine optimization, then you should be on your way to the top.

Pay-Per-Click

Pay-Per-Click is a method of producing search results for a given keyword term where the provider has paid for a sponsored area within the search engine. Typically, this area is within the top or side-panel of the search results. Whether a business participates in pay-per-click campaigns should be determined by how aggressive that business is about their online marketing. Since there a cost is involved, the results will need to be closely monitored to ensure that your business has placed the marketing dollars in the appropriate place. Often businesses with top ranking organic search results will deviate from investing in pay-per-click campaigns; however, research has shown that by combining top ranking organic search results with pay-per-click campaigns, businesses experience greater traffic results.

McGuire Web Media is equipped to assist your small business in developing an effective strategy to tackle Search Engine Optimization (SEO).