Search Engine Optimization | Vancouver Washington | Portland Oregon
As a business owner, you may have heard this phrase thrown around quite a bit, but do you know what it means? To explain it, you must first be familiar with search engines. Certainly you have used a search engine before and know what they do but don’t exactly know HOW they do it. There are hundreds of search engines but only a few are really important - such as - Google, Yahoo and MSN. You probably didn’t know all of the smaller search engines feed off the big ones; therefore, you only need to worry about getting ranked with the “big kids”.
The information below should give you a basic understanding of how search engine optimization works, but you will certainly have questions. We'd welcome the opportunity to sit down with you and explain in detail how search engine optimization works and how you can benefit from this service.
search engine optimization?
How Do The Search Engines Work?
All search engines have a massive database where they keep all the information they have collected from the Internet. These databases are kept on hundreds of thousands of computers and every day they crawl the Internet for new information to keep their databases up-to-date. When you type a keyword or phrase in the search engine, the search engine crawlers (or spiders) go out into their gigantic databases and look for the words or phrases you just typed into the search engine. They pick out all the pages with the words or phrases you’re looking for and then rank them according to importance (or what they think is important).
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
The simplest explanation of search engine optimization (or S.E.O.) is altering your website text, titles and keywords so that the search engines can find it more easily.
Search engine optimization means using certain practices when writing the code of a website and adding the proper keywords to your web pages. When the spiders can read your code and find the keywords/ phrases easier, it improves your chances of getting ranked. The spiders don’t read a web page like you or I. They read the code and when a good website developer writes the code for a website, there are several methods they use to make it easier for the search engines to find you. It’s not rocket science but it does take time, commitment and the right resources to put these methods to work on your website.
What Do The Spiders Like?
Spiders like a lot of text. When they see a site loaded with well-written text, they think it must be an important website because it’s giving so much information to its viewers. How much is enough? You should have a minimum of 300 words on any one page and up to 500 words.
How Do The Search Engines Rank Your Site?
That is a trade secret! The search engines do not publish the rules they use for their algorithms but they do give tips and clues as to what is important. To make things even more confusing, they are constantly changing and improving the way they work so they can be more effective and deliver the best information to you, the searcher.
Local Searches
Many searchers look locally for services rather than just general terms. For example: Pest Control Portland Oregon is a geo-targeted search rather than just looking for Pest Control. This is very beneficial to your business to optimize for local searches. Local optimization is included with all optimization services provided by Always Better Productions.
It's No Secret
Search Engine Optimization isn't a secret. Its not even incredibly difficult, but it is very time consuming. It can take dozens of hours of research to optimize a site and then dozens of hours every quarter to monitor the results. Of course this is on top of the hundreds of hours necessary to learn the ethical techniques in the first place. This time consumption is why you hire a professional to optimize your site.
a brave new world of searches
Code of Ethics
As was mentioned in an earlier paragraph, there are certain protocols and practices used to help improve your ranking but not all methods are ethical. Some businesses use “black hat” methods to trick the search engines and these are deemed unethical by the industry and can actually get you banned from the search engines. One example of “black hat” methods is hiding text. This is where you incorporate the keyword phrases into the background of a web page by matching the text font color to the site’s background thereby hiding the words. This is easy to detect and puts you at risk of getting banned or penalized.
Scare Tactics
Since SEO is a relatively new area, most business owners only have a basic understanding of what it is and how it works and there are some companies offering SEO that clearly take advantage of this situation. They count on the fact that business owners do not know enough about the world of search engines and optimization to challenge what they are telling you. They throw a lot of big words at you and try to pressure you into committing to their program over the phone. Stop and think. Why are they in such a hurry for you to give them money right there and then?
One thing to remember is that no company can guarantee you a number one ranking. No one has control over the search engines and if any company promises this to you, hang up the phone immediately because they are scamming you.
Also, be wary of the cost. SEO is an unregulated area and businesses can charge whatever they want for their services, however, it doesn’t need to cost several thousands of dollars. Before giving any money to a business, make sure you have a written agreement listing the services they are providing and the amount of money you are spending. Some businesses tell you one price and then surprise you with hidden costs down the road.
Research, Research & Research
When you hire an ethical firm such as Always Better Productions to handle your SEO needs, it all begins with research. We find the best keywords for your needs by researching historical data from the search engines which helps put us into the mind of the searcher. We also research your competition and what they are using for keywords. Your rankings are constantly monitored and adjustments are made accordingly.
Time and Patience
SEO is a very time consuming practice and while it’s not rocket science, it does take commitment and the right resources to improve your rankings. The search engines are constantly changing and that means a business must be always researching the latest techniques to stay on top of the newest advances.
Patience is also a key factor as it takes time for the search engines to review all the millions of web pages and changes do not happen overnight. We wished they did, but even in this society of instant changes, the search engines need time to sort through their massive databases.
Search engine optimization is a long haul process, but Always Better Productions can help you through it. Contact us anytime for a meeting to explain more.
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