What is “Search Engine Optimization?”

Robert Wright 10-09-2009

Often I am asked the question, “ What exactly is Search Engine Optimization?” I’ll usually answer, “It is the practice of refining and focusing your Web site for the purpose of improved search engine performance.” Or, I’ve also answered, “SEO is the optimization of a Website for better search findability.”

It is a proven and established fact that good SEO will help a Web site perform better in major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. All fortune 500 companies are now using SEO practices. Search engine optimization addresses visibility, brand and traffic needs from the organic side of search. The organic side is the unpaid search results. The free listings which are not labeled “sponsored,” or paid for, like Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing or MSN’s Overture driven PPC programs.

Search Engine Optimization usually belongs to the Marketing/Internet/Search division of a company but also is used for public relations. Search engine optimization should influence and integrate with your code rehabilitation, site design, programming, keyword forensics, competitive Intelligence, site usability, as well, conversion and analytics. SEO should be considered with all Web development decisions.

“SEO” also refers to the person who executes the practice. It is the title of their position.

The most noticeable effect of good search engine optimization is increased traffic to a Web site. And, as traffic is a huge contributing metric to the rankings and positioning of a site on search results pages, Web sites that deploy good SEO practices, will always enjoy an advantage in organic search results.

Keep in mind that there are even bigger contributing factors to top search engine rankings than optimization, such as links, reputation and importance, which each search engines algorithm calculates. But you can safely assume that good optimization carries about 30% of the weight given to rankings in a search engine like Google.

So identify your keywords with professional tools like Wordtracker or Keyword Discovery and use them in key places on your Web pages. Use known searched for phrases in your page titles, headers, URL’s, body text, and even in your anchor text (text of your links) and any inbound links (IBL’s) you have influence over and you will exploit the constant power of search engine optimization for huge gains in traffic for your Web site, which is your branch office to the world. Remember, “optimization” is about “focus,” therefore it is usually best to treat optimization as a page specific strategy as well as a domain/homepage one.

I strongly caution you to use due diligence when selecting an SEO firm or SEO expert to work with. The industry is wrought with amateurs and charlatans. But there is real help available.

Whatever you do for your business from here forward, it is strongly recommended that you learn more about search engine optimization and how it can be utilized to help your online business reach it true potential.

Optimized regards,

Robert

Theming a document helps Google see that a document is about a phrase even if that phrase isn’t on the document. Theming does not replace search engine optimization, but it certainly does enhance optimization. I can extract the entire list of theme words for any phrase and then remove the words that your document already uses from the list, providing you with a prioritized list of words to add to your document so it will rank better for the target phrase. Like I said, “theming” with processes like LSI, does not replace optimization, however, my recent tests are showing that it certainly is an excellent and innovative way to better optimization. Mild rewrites are yielding real results for visitors and in Google search. This is new! If you are interested in this new optimization strategy feel free to contact me at 970-945-5191. You need training from me on how to use the data, and I will provide you with the data you need to succeed.

This is new, bleeding edge, enterprise level search marketing intelligence at mom and pops prices.

Trust me, you want it!

Thematic regards,

Da Goor00.10.110.0010.0100

Read this article from Google about the subject of hiring an SEO firm

Also, this fellow, Clay Butler has put together a great top ten list of SEO scams so he has earned a link from me as I agreee with what he points out.

Ongoing monthly fees should not be for SEO monitoring. SEO should be paid for and when it is completed the client should reap the benefits. If you are paying monthly fees it should only be for Pay Per Clicks like Google Adwords or Yahoo clicks, ongoing organic marketing and promotion efforts , or damn good cutting edge advice and coaching from a proven industry leader with quantified results and a track record that proves their worth! Just because someone states on their Website that they are an expert does not mean they really even know what they are doing. I especially laugh at companies that go one time to a certification program, get some good info, then have the audacity to put on their Website that they are “Certified SEO Experts” Ha! Certification programs in SEO do not certify expertise, they only certify completion of a curriculum. Expertise goes WAY beyond that and the true SEO experts are a rare find indeed. I’d venture to say that maybe 1/1000 of those claimants to the title “SEO expert,” actually can deliver expertise in our industry. So yes, beware of firms who use hyped up jargon too.

Mostly, just do your homework. Make sure you get to talk to the person who will be actually doing your SEO work! and stay away from companies who want you to empty your bank account just for an assesment!!!

Optimized regards,

Robert

These droves of independent, so-called “SEO’s,” are trampling the industry’s credibility with frivolous, kindergarten claims of collegiate SEO knowledge, which are not in accord with their real abilities, and who are thereby devaluing and commodifying the real, dignified and important craft/service of SEO in the public eye. Every week new prospects tell me nightmare stories involving their previous “SEO firm/company/consultant etc.!” How many of these stories would it take to make a decent sellable e-book?

So what can we take home from this matter? Easy, If you are actually a good SEO and you see things like search dynasties and wannabe optimizers eroding at your SEO livelihood, then find another Web industry niche to perfect and sell, then package it up and bundle your SEO acumen as a value add to hiring you. If you haven’t made it rich with SEO by now, then by SEO alone, you probably never will. SEO related searches will continue to increase while SEO profits will continue to disperse. The real future of Internet marketing riches lies in other search marketing niches, not in search engine optimization practices.

Today, SEO isn’t what it was yesterday. In fact the reality of SEO is so fast changing, that it’s history has become a moving target.

Robert Wright

I also posted this Nov 27 07 here: http://scobleizer.com/2007/02/08/the-search-engine-guru-schools-calacanis/ but since I wrote it, i decided to put it on my blog also.

I don’t make it a habit to criticize search engines but sometimes I just got to rant or I’ll bust. You know what I mean.

Unfortunately, Google has recently decided to kick the entire SEO community square in the groin, by disabling the ability for us to see which of our Web pages need more work, and/or updating, in order to be worthy contenders and be listed in Googles “main” database/index. In other words, we can no longer see which pages are in the inferior Google database, the one known as “supplemental” index, or the “this page sucks so it ain’t going public in Google” database. Suddenly, supplemental pages are no longer labeled as such in Google. Some of us clever SEO’s do know of a way (or perhaps ways) to determine this valuable information, but it involves a process which takes 50 times longer to get our findings, which means that the consumer has to pay for (many) more SEO hours to get this information, which was like free candy for an SEO in the past. This is a real low blow from Google (and it really blows), one which by design hinders SEO analysis of sites who are struggling or falling in Google. This action makes it much harder to troubleshoot basic Google search marketing issues which commonly plague sites across the Web. The deliberate omission of this very important data marks a sad day in the history of search marketing. The trend I am seeing with my old friend Google, regarding the subject of “SEO” and organic positioning is not one I want to dwell upon. Thank God for search diversity and new search technologies and environments, which give us hope that we can succeed online without being strong armed into revenue shares with the moguls who already own the Web and who strive to own the world. And you all know those (plural) of whom I speak! The search scenario and even the search arena is fast changing friends. You must stay on your toes, be ever vigilant and saavy or fall into the poorhouse with the masses.

Bad news comes and goes but Google will be here at least till Armageddon. So we’ll make the best with what she’ll give us while we search for, and innovate, even better, more personal, accurate and affordable, if not free solutions. I don’t want to hurt Google or any business nor anyone or anything, I just want to help my clients evolve and prosper and to feed and educate my children. Is it too much to ask that I also be able to be employed by my spherical self, rather than be ultimately forced to work for some huge mega-merged cubical corporation?

And so, Mr. Web Guru wept (but in the now, I smile and I am happy).

Robert

The way to find out if any of your pages are in the Google supplemental (low value) index is like this:

Go to Google.com

Search Google for site:www.yourdomain.com

Start looking to see where they begin. You will know because the bottom row of data also says: “supplemental.” If you have more than 20% of your pages listed in the supplemental index then you should take action. These pages are usually stale and often share or duplicate content. If you do not know what action to take you can call me, or find an SEO expert near you to consult with.

But you should certainly at least see if you have a problem yet.

“When writing a page title, should you use all caps, all lowercase, or is there another way that is best?”

What I have found is that it is best to treat your titles as if they were the subject line of a news paper article. This method is called “Title Case” and it looks like this:

SEO Expert Advises Patrons Regarding Use of Capitalization in Page Titles

All of the proper nouns and verbs, and especially anything you may consider to be a good keyword should begin with a capital letter. However, prepositions and stop words like, of, for, the, and, is, for example, are all just lower case.

If you want to see this in action, search your favorite engine for your most important keyword phrase and look at how the top ranked sites, including my own, are handling this matter. It is a very rare exception that you will find it done otherwise! I’ve been writing titles for ten years now and I’ve even tested it and come to the conclusion that this is the best way to write your titles.

Happy titling!