Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a practice which is becoming more and more popular as people increasingly use search engines to navigate the Web.

I have been helping companies improve their presence on Google and other search engines since 2007.

Many people will promise you top-10 rankings for specific keywords. I think that’s a bad and misleading practice. Here’s why:

First, are the keywords you want to rank highly for truly the ones which your prospective customers use to find companies like yours? Oftentimes, people inside an organization think one way about the group’s products or services, while customers think differently.

Second, the quickest ways to get high rankings generally mean using tactics which are detrimental to an organization in the long run. There’s no magic bullet to get high rankings. It’s a long-term process that takes hard work. Beware of people who “know” shortcuts and tricks.

Here are the main tactics I employ:

Technical Optimization: Domain and Web hosting changes to improve search engines’ understanding of your site
Search Engine Communication: Use search engines’ Webmaster tools to see how site is being crawled, indexed and included in search results
Analytics Analysis: Review traffic patterns to determine where and why prospects leave and which sites and search engines generate the most and best prospects
Keyword Research: Determine specific phrases target customers use to search for your products or services
Page Tagging: Optimize relevant HTML code for search engines
Content Review: Conduct page-level copy analysis to improve visibility for strategically important keywords
Content Development: Use analytics information and keyword research to develop recommendations for future content development to appeal to prospective clients and search engines alike
Competitive Analysis: Examine Websites ranking well for key terms
Link Building: Increase number of sites with high search-engine presence for terms specifically related to your area of focus, adding prominent, keyword-sensitive links to your Website