What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) otherwise known as Search Marketing (SEM), is a complicated process that is continually evolving.

Did you know that search engines constantly change their algorithms, shuffle their indexes, merge results and share content? Because of that the only thing you can count on when it comes to marketing your website to them is that what is currently working now...probably won’t work so well tomorrow.

Can you see why you need an experienced search marketing professional who keeps two fingers on the pulse of the major search engines? If Google decides to upset the apple carts a little, we know about it. If Yahoo! gets a little fiesty, we’ll coax those rankings back to the first page.

It comes down to this...Working with the search engines is a long-term, high maintenance project. And we'd like to manage that relationship so you don’t have to, and at an investment you can feel good about.

So How Exactly Does SEO Work?

Do you want to hear something funny? We can almost guarantee you that for every "expert" you ask, you’ll get a different answer. That’s because marketing to the search engines is like any creative endeavor: cooking, painting, carpentry, etc.

If you ask five people to paint you a picture, you’ll get five distict works of art each with different colors and textures. If you ask ten people to build you a book case and you’ll get ten unique pieces of furniture, each with its own style.

Because the search engines like Google change their ranking algorithms (these are the equations they use to analyze a website’s content, reputation and rankability) quite often, and they each use such widely varying criteria, there are literally dozens of ways to promote your website to be on page one of the search results.

However, there are certain universal principles regarding what central practices and elements are absolutely necessary to your search marketing strategy. There are also very clear rules against specific practices that attempt to cheat or trick the search engines. Cross this line and you will pay the ultimate price.

Fundamental Principles for Successful SEO

1. Content
There is a saying on the web that "Content" is king. So content will always be your key ticket to top placement in the rankings. Without it, any rankings that you may achieve will be short-lived. For content to help your ranking, however, you need a lot of it and it has to be updated regularly. Most importantly, each page of content must target a specific keyword term.

Here is the trap that many fall into looking for the "quick" fix. If your site contains content that is auto-generated or is badly written, in other words-- a human visitor would not find it useful and helpful, the search engines will figure it out and penalize your site, perhaps even blacklisting you and preventing you from showing up in their results at all.

How do we help? We develop well-written, keyword targeted content for your website that is updated consistently and monitored for rankability. This benefits you in two ways. Number one you will climb in the rankings.  Number two your website will become to be viewed as an authority site with an always growing library of articles that your visitors will enjoy and which will also help with your sales conversions.

2. Links
Not just any old links. Instead we are talking about one-way links from authoritative sites in your specific niche market. You can find out how authoritative a site is by looking at its Page Rank.

Page Rank, or PR, is a ranking system Google has come up with to show how much weight or authority a particular site has. No one can say the exact methodology Google uses to assign Page Rank, however all SEO experts agree that it largely has to do with the amount of incoming one way links a site has, how many years it’s been around, and visitor activity on the site (Believe it or not, Google tracks how long someone remains on your site after they click through from the search results!).

What does this mean for you? Well simply put  you want as many high PR sites linking into your site as possible. We are not talking about recprocal linking here. Instead these need to be one way links without you linking back to them.  Why is this? This is because Google gives these sites a lot of respect and values their “recommendations” by who they choose to link to.

What is the simplest way to illustrates this? Imagine it this way:

Google and the major search engines analyze your website the very same way scholars judge academic papers. The more journals and other reputable papers cite your research and quote you, the more authoritative and "expert" you become.

Does that seem to make sense?

We work hard to negotiate one way inbound links to your wesite, concentrating on links from authoritive sites related to your industry. We also make sure these links deep-link into your website, meaning that they link to pages through out your website, not simply just to your homepage. This is also a sign that you're highly authoritative resource.

3. Visitor Behavior
It's kind of scary to think that Google knows everything. The other Search Engines like MSN & Yahoo! aren't far behind. If a visitor clicks from their search engine into your site, and then leaves immediately, Google knows that they didn't find what they were looking for. Now here is the thing because if too many people do this, Google will drop you from their rankings. Why? It is because they assume you're not relevant for that particular term that has been searched. Can you see now how important site design, compelling content, and conversion analysis really are?

That is why we offer Website Conversion Optimization in addition to SEO to help you address this particular problem.

4. Human Idiosyncracies.
Google insists on knowing that a real live human being is running your website. So what does it look for? Automated SEO software, or any techniques that add hundreds of pages to your site within a few days, or which create content automatically, are a dead giveaway that you're doing something Google does not approve of.

How could this impact your business?

This won't just simply get you knocked off the front page of the search rankings. Google and other search engines will ban your site from ever showing up in their results - even when someone searches your exact domain name. Can you see why any illegal or unethical techniques will kill your business?

So what do we do? We hand design every single page of information on your website and upload those pages slowly & consistently over the next few months.

Universally Illegal SEO Practices: Avoid at ALL Costs

Search engines may not tell exactly what you need to do to get top rankings. However, they are not vague about those practices that will get you banned automatically their index. For example, Google gives us specific Webmaster Guidelines that detail what you are NOT to do when promoting your website. 

When you are looking for an SEO professional, it is ultimately your responsibility to be aware of these illegal techniques and the different “innocent nick names” given them by black hat fly-by-night companies. In order to help educate you we’ve provided several of them here for your easy reference. You can also download these tips in an easy-to-read PDF format for your convenience.

Would you like to know 10 things you should ask an Atlanta SEO Company before working with them? Read more...

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