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By Rick Vidallon, President, Visionefx
Rourk Public Relations’ Strategic Partner
As
people continue to do more business and research over
the Internet, search engine optimization (SEO) firms
are scratching their heads wondering how to achieve
great rankings for their Web clients.
And
business owners are getting more desperate because
they want a piece of the $143 billion online sales
that took place in the United States during 2005.
That's a 22% jump from 2004 with no slow down in sight.
One
method of supposedly generating great rankings is
called linking. This technique has gained in popularity
with SEO firms, but produces questionable results.
Terms like, mutual linking, one-way linking, reciprocal
linking, cross linking, and partner linking have worked
their way into SEO strategy plans of Web masters around
the world. The justification for linking is "more
links means more importance which equals more traffic".
Beware
of this method. To presume that Google will assign
or rank your site higher based on a large number of
links is simply not true.
Linking
Does Not Equal Ranking
If
you've followed the linking method and have linked
or traded links with 100,000 other Web sites, congratulations
on the hard work. You have asked the Googlebot 100,000
times to index your Web site, assuming that the sites
you have linked to are indexed by Google.
The
Googlebot, one of many search bots or spiders that
Google uses to crawl the Internet, will see your Web
site link listing in the Web sites or directories
where you have linked. But this will not increase
your ranking. You have simply asked the Googlebot
to return to your Web site multiple times and cache
your Web site's information or content.
Three Primary Factors Determine Rankings
Content
Three
primary factors determine your Web site's ranking
or position in Google or other major search engines
for a particular term or search phrase. The first
and most important factor is content.
Content
is king. If you have a Web site that sells left-handed
products, then add talking points about any and everything
"left-handed". Talk about the history of
left-handed beliefs, list famous left-handed people,
and write about left-handed beliefs in other cultures
and countries. Make your Web site the "go-to"
source for everything left-handed.
Many
people and businesses do not have time to actually
write their own Web copy. A professional copywriter
can furnish you with keyword-rich, highly original
Web content to enhance and improve the quality of
your Web site with the aim of transforming more of
your visitors into customers. If this is a budget
buster, consider publishing E-Zines or using article
Web sites, which allow you to republish articles related
to your Web site or business. However, original content
is best.
Relevancy
The
second factor that determines your Web site's ranking
or position in Google for a particular term or search
phrase is relevancy.
Beware,
relevancy is in the mind of the beholder. Make sure
you are interpreting yourself through the public's
eye. What is relevant to you is not necessarily relevant
to a new visitor to your Web site or the search engines.
If you are a wedding planner, your Web site may contain
information, links and articles about wedding-related
subjects such as, bakeries, florists and bridal wear.
Should you include jewelry or marriage advice? That’s
up to you. Remember to ask yourself, "Is this
relevant to my visitors?"
Visitors
Search engines are machines. They compile information
about the Web site content it indexes and records.
Therefore, if a poorly ranked Web site receives an
astronomical amount of UNIQUE visits, the Web site
position and ranking in most major search engines
will improve exponentially. This might happen if a
little known Web site was mentioned in the main stream
news media.
If
you, like many other Web site owners, are not that
fortunate, you will have to rely on email campaigns,
newsletters and networking to get the word out.
Visitor
traffic is not the be-all, end-all to ranking strategy,
but it certainly helps Google determine where to rank
your Web site in the search engine universe.
In
a nutshell, there is no magic bullet to great search
engine results. But using "Content that is Relevant
to your Visitors" will take you a long way. Build
your Web site for visitors and search engines like
Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, Tehoma, AlltheWeb, Excite,
and Lycos, will follow.
Rick
Vidallon is President of Visionefx, a Web design company
based in Virginia Beach, Va. They provide services
to national companies as well as small to medium businesses
throughout the United States. Rick can be reached
at (757) 619-6456 or www.visionefx.net.
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