Search Engine Optimization. A Long Term Approach Is Best.
By Don Gerrity, Canada Web Pro Small Business Website Solutions
Everyday many businesses are approached by SEO Firms that are 'promising' top ranking if you will just pay them thousands of dollars. Some offer a guarantee that they can help you achieve top ranking in the search engines. You really need to be careful when you hear such extravagant statements like this when it is tied directly to your hard earned money.
Do not misunderstand me in making this statement. I am NOT saying that Search Engine Optimization on your website design is not important, because it is actually very important. What I am saying is that you must realize that Google, for example, tries to give searchers the most relevant search results to the keyword phrases that they enter when searching. That is the whole purpose and is the reason why they are the number one search engine right?
Yet, the fact remains that most keyword phrases are now saturated because basically almost every business has a website now. And so, gone are the days of just using keyword phrases to get highly ranked.
Link popularity is another method the search engines use in determining if website receives top ranking. If your website is linked from popular websites, that likely means that your website service is more valid and so it helps boost your ranking. Then came those trying to get around the Google guidelines, who started making link farms just to get ranked highly.
It worked for while and these SEO marketers were guaranteeing ranking because of what they were doing in 'tricking' the engines into believing the websites were being linked from popular websites. And well, it was working. It worked so well at first, that SEO marketers charged big money to businesses to get that high ranking position. Businesses spent more money than it cost to even build their website! They were so successful they even started guaranteeing ranking results! With such a guarantee, businesses paid the high cost and low and behold; they were ranked highly and then signed off! Businesses seen how highly ranked they were and paid the money happily in fact. And the SEO firm went off to approach the next business to sell their services too.
AND THEN...UH OH!
Google seen how this scamming was going on and this trickery by SEO marketers attempting to get around the engine rules. Google started putting an end to that rather quickly by updating their search algorithm. These Black Hat SEO methods were strongly discouraged and frowned on by Google. And so, they started penalizing all sites that were using these shady methods of getting around Googles goals! All of a sudden, websites that were highly ranked who were found using these Black Hat SEO, unethical methods, found that they were not just bumped down in ranking; they were penalized huge! Their ranking dropped right off the map! All that paid money to SEO firms guaranteeing results - gone. Wasted. In fact, it really hurt their businesses and it took quite a while to recover from being penalized.
This is just ONE example of what is called a Black Hat SEO method. An unethical method of providing SEO services for businesses. There are many unethical methods still being used this very day. You must be careful when choosing an SEO provider as some SEO firms state that they “guarantee” you a specific page rank. The truth is that only the search engine provider decides who will be placed in a specific ranking and they accomplish this by adjusting their engine algorithm rules on an ongoing basis.
In fact, google changes it’s algorithm over 600 times per year! Just try to keep up with that! If a Search Engine Optimization firm finds a “loop hole” in the algorithm to help their customers get ranked highly and they get the customer ranked as they said, the customer is happy and pays the provider what is owed.
However, when the search engine finds out about the “loop hole” and corrects it in their algorithm (and they WILL!), that business has a big problem. Why? Because all websites that used that Black Hat SEO (unethical) tactic will suddenly find that their website is not only not visible for what they paid, but the search engine may even penalize the domain and it can be hard to come back from such an occurrence and regain visibility again.
My point is this: Don’t be ripped off!
There are lots of SEO firms out there. Are they all bad providers? Well, no. Yet, how can you tell? Realize that with some of these firms, all they want to do is take as much money from customers as possible, knowing full well this is the truth. And chances are they do not manage your web services or website design and hosting – so they just move on to the next customer desperate to become visible online and leave the last paying customer in the dust to deal with the next search algorithm rule change.
Using White Hat SEO & A Long Term Strategy Is Best
It is best to see what Google says you should do to reach your intended marketplace. Using their own methods will give the best results in the long term. The struggle is their algorithm changes very very often and they do not publish what their algorithm changes are. So what can we do to help increase visibility online?
On Page SEO Methods - On Page SEO is altering your web page(s) text content to include keywords and keyword phrases that searchers may use in trying to find your kind of business offerings. This does not mean overusing keywords or keyword phrases either, because that will have a negative effect as Google may see doing this as a way to surpass their rules. Also, the content should read smoothly to readers and make sense. It is not about jamming as many keywords onto a web page. It is altering sentence structures to include he keywords and phrases, while keeping the content completely readable to website viewers. It is known that the search algorithms can actually detect when a reading seems to be "off" by use of a keyword.
The More Web Pages Your Website Has, The More Focused Your SEO Can Be - Using too many keywords per page will work against the search algorithm. Knowing this, it is best to have lots of useful content on your website for the search engines to scan. Each page using Whitehat SEO methods based on specific keyword and content your potential customers may search with to find your type of business.
How Often Does Your Website Content Change? - You see, if Google sees that things are changing when they scan your website periodically, they think this is a very positive thing. To them, it means that someone is actually minding the online website business and so that gives your business website more weight as being legit over a static, hardly ever changing website. Website updating and content updating play a big part in being ranked better.
The Power Of LOCAL - Target marketing is what this is all about. And if you focus on more LOCAL target markets with your On Page SEO, you will find that you get the best results. The pool of other competing websites locally is less than on a national or international scale as well.
Canada Web Pro uses only White Hat SEO methods with a long term approach. Our affordable website design packages included a set number of hours of website updating after launch date. Things do not end with the website designed and launched. You need to be sure your website keeps up with the current trends and each new web page has an ON PAGE SEO service applied.
Instead of paying a SEO firm thousands and thousands of dollars, not knowing 'how' they are going about 'optimizing' your website, you may be better off spending money on adding web pages to your website. Add a blog and start writing content about your business services and sharing your expertise. Keep updating the website weekly. Add a new article. New products. Discuss services. This not only has a positive effect with the search algorithms but it also has a great effect on your customers! They too will see that you are minding the website. And those businesses that do not treat their website as just a static advertisement, but instead treat their website as a new business location are the most successful in reaching and gaining new customers. Then add the element of utilizing social media and you can have a winning combination to help your business thrive online. Keep looking at the long term - not the short term. That is the best approach.
