SEO - Search Engine Optimization

What is search engine optimization ?

Search Engine Optimization, or the abbreviated form, SEO, is the terminology used to describe the process of making a web site search-engine friendly.

More specifically, quality SEO involves making a web site favorable to search engine spiders in the hope that it may rank as high in the search results as possible for a target market so that a target audience may find the site in search results more easily.

How can I get my site to rank higher in search engines ?

We are frequently asked this question, and the answer is to learn about the field of search engine optimization, so you may understand how to get your company's web site ranked higher in Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines and search directories.

Search Engine Optimization - The High Road and the Low Road

The practice of search engine optimization is, in our opinion, divided and moving down two distinct and separate paths.

The "High Road" of Search Engine Optimization

The "high road" is traveled by web developers concerned primarily with content-rich web sites that enhance the visitor's experience, provide meaningful information to the end-user, and/or answer the end-user's questions.

By content-rich we don't mean a site that has lots of text, a high percentage of links to unrelated web sites, and titles stuffed with multiple keywords.

Content-rich means that the web site is full of useful information that the customer is looking for, and that will answer the basic question a customer asks when performing a search and finding a site in the search engine results.

A Simple Example: If an individual performs a search for "Myrtle Beach photos" at Google or any other search engine, he wants to find a site or sites that actually contain Myrtle Beach photos.

This sounds basic, of course, but we're continually surprised and dismayed by the number of so-called search engine experts who miss this key point and code web sites and links to place high in the search results for an inappropriate keyword phrase without regard to answering the surfer's basic questions.

A quality web site must satisfy the end-user instead of confusing or misleading him.

The "Low Road" of Search Engine Optimization

The "low road" taken by webmasters who claim to be experts in the field of search engine optimization is the quick-fix-learn-tricks that bolster ranking in Google, Yahoo! and MSN, who use these tricks over and over again for their clients' web sites. These tricks are very easy to spot. A first sign is a webmaster who is interlinking his or her clients, and using the same and similar links (to their "link partners") over and over again on various web sites where he or she controls the content.

Another very easy way to spot these tricks is when you see a TITLE tag with a hodgepodge of keywords that don't make sense as a simple description of the web site.

Link Text and What it Tells You

The link text (what you click on to get to a page or web site) is also a good way to tell one type of SEO from another.

If you see a link for "internet marketing", click on it, and view a site that has nothing to do with internet marketing, you're seeing a webmaster who's trying to place in the search results for the keyword phrase "internet marketing", instead of a reputable site providing information about or offering internet marketing services.

The LOWEST road of SEO

We've also witnessed - and been the victims of - unscrupulous webmasters who don't hire writers, photographers, or other specialists to provide unique content for their clients' web sites... and actually steal photos, text, and other content from competitors' high-ranking sites.

Some even copy entire pages of text from sites that place well in search engine results, changing only a few tidbits of information, showing total disregard to legitimate businesses who've spent time and money developing unique content for sites.

This type of unscrupulous webmaster may believe, falsely, that he or she is immune from identifiable tracking, which may lead to criminal and civil prosecution in the near future.

We advise clients and businesses to carefully go over the web sites of any SEO firm they are considering contracting with, and see if any of the above conditions exist, as we believe it's a matter of time before those practicing the "low road" of SEO will be penalized or banned by search engines, as well as taken to criminal court and civil claims court... And if your business is part of their link scheme, your site may be penalized or banned from the search engines as well.

Long-Term vs. Short-Term Solutions

The "High Road" to search engine optimization is the only long-term solution for your business online, whereas the "Low Road" - although extremely alluring to some people without solid business ethics - is quite short-term, and likely to be legally punishable in the near future.

Search engine optimization - Additional Information

Additional key points about search engine optimization are explained in a bit more detail at Myrtle Beach Web designers.

One should also become very familiar with what:

Google has to say about Search Engine Optimization; and
Yahoo!'s advice on choosing a search engine optimization company.

Regarding Search & Yahoo:

Not so good -- We'd like other businesses to know Yahoo's unethical, unfair, and illegal policy on its search listings: If a jealous competitor complains about your site, it will manually remove it and other content-rich websites if the company that manages the website owns multiple websites.

We have confirmation of this, directly from Yahoo representatives.

Not so bad -- Having lost pretty much all traffic from Yahoo, it hasn't affected our business, or our traffic, much at all. They must be grossly over-exaggerating their popularity as a search engine and/or directory.

The bottom line

We advise any company unfamiliar with search engines to proceed very cautiously when contracting a firm to handle the optimization of their web site.

Feel free to give us a call at 843-997-3837 to learn more. We'll be happy to evaluate any SEO company you're thinking of hiring, free of charge, and provide a comprehensive report and rating on any SEO company that will ultimately be responsible for the future of your online business.