Image by Sean MacEntee
Most web traffic is routed through the major search engines. Google, obviously, and also Bing and Yahoo. If your site blends in too well with the thousands of other websites, it won’t be picked up as easily by search engines, and you’ll miss out on a major source of traffic. Like Radiator Springs, your site will be cut off from the information super-highway, and unable to get enough hits to create conversion.
Does your site blend in with the crowd? Image by Benny Mazur
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is just what it sounds like; the process of making your website visible to, and popular with, search engines. Now, like getting in with the “cool kids” back in highschool, this is not a process that can be forced. While there are many tips and tricks for improving SEO, the most important aspect of building a high-traffic website is providing quality content. Like finding your way through the social jungle of adolescence, trying too hard can only backfire.
Since Google is the most-often used search engine, it only makes sense to optimize your site for Google’s searches. While the company won’t reveal the secret sauce of its mysterious algorithms, there are resources to help you understand how Google works and how to best maximize your online presence on the search engine’s radar.
Google's search bots crawl the web, searching for relevant information. This process is known as "spidering". Photo by Kristine Paulus
The right platform matters. A dynamic IP address, like those offered by many “free” site platforms means your site is a bouncing ball, a more difficult target for Google’s search-bots to discover. A static IP address makes your site easier for search engines to find and index.
Since search engines have difficulty reading and recognizing video, Flash, and other non-text content, text is often the focus of a basic SEO plan. While SEO-rich text can draw visitors to your site, be careful not to sacrifice quality content for SEO, or customers will click away from your page as quickly as they clicked to it. Remember, the longer visitors stay on your pages, the higher your conversion rates will be, so give them a reason to stay.
Service and customer experience are the most important aspects of website design. Photo by Crystalline Radical
SEO is an organic process, just one aspect of your overall web-building plan. Paying attention to SEO can mean more traffic, higher sales, and in the end, a higher profit margin.
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Tom work for PsPrint and PsPrint Blog. When he’s not sitting behind a computer, Tom likes watching sci-fi movies and Japanese cartoons, hitting the golf course and playing with his four dogs. You can connect with Tom via Google+ or Twitter. |
