Recent studies show that 85% of Internet users rely on search engines to find information when they don’t have a particular web site or company in mind. But how to capture these users to your site? The answer is optimization, a valuable tool that can bring you targeted visitors who might otherwise never have found you.
Now, optimizing is an inexact science. Several engines have gone out of business in the past year, others have consolidated, and most share their lists to a certain extent. Some engines utilize automated spiders to search the Internet for content while others organize their data through human-created directories. And all engines are constantly changing their algorithms (the proprietary methods used to rank web sites), to maintain a competitive edge and to counter spam and other unscrupulous techniques by individuals trying to increase their rankings.
The goal of any optimization campaign is to see the site in the top 30 results of any particular search engine’s search phrase. So, with more than 20 engines available on the web and your competition to watch out for, you can’t afford NOT to optimize. The first step is to develop an overall theme for the pages you want your customers to find and the search terms you wish to target. Next, incorporate these words into your HTML source code, and hand submit your site to all of the major engines, especially the directory-based engines. Finally, create a link popularity strategy to increase your relevance with the major engines. After optimization is complete, continue to monitor your search engine ranking results through log analysis and tweak your pages accordingly.
Search engine optimization is a critical aspect of overall web strategy, but one that is often overlooked and underutilized. So, if you want to get 100% out of your web site, then optimize and set your sights on 85%.
