SEO - Search Engine Optimization - Akron, Canton and Cleveland
SEO is the process of improving a website’s natural search results in the many search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN etc. SEO is about keyword competition. Keywords are phrases that people would search for. If you sell landscape services in Akron, those 3 words "landscape services Akron" would make up one keyword that you would focus on. If there are few websites like your website in terms of content and keywords, then it will generally be easier to get to the top of the search results for those search terms. Remember, there are only 10 natural spots on a Google Search Results Page. If there are many competitive websites on-line against you, it will usually be harder to get to, and stay, at the top of the search results. Your competitors may be trying to do the same thing you want to do: Be in the top 4 spots on the first page of Google. Remember, aesthetics really don’t matter to search engines. Search engines are mostly focused on text content and links coming in. That’s a very short view of SEO. Link 2 provides SEO services to customers in northeast Ohio including, Akron, Canton and Cleveland.
There Are Key Areas to Understand when Talking About Search Engine Optimization.
There are 3 search engines that people use the most (Google, Yahoo and MSN), and they have different ways of looking at websites to index and rank them. Each SE has their own formula for ranking sites. One may value and look at the number of links differently than the other two SE's. You won’t be able to optimize 100% for all of the search engines, but you really don’t have to. In terms of general search volume, Google has the largest share of searches on the internet at around 65%+ of the search market. Most people can optimize for Google and increase website traffic significantly. Yahoo comes in second with less than 20% of the searches happening on the Internet. Third in search volume is MSN with less than 8%. That means if you optimize your website for those three search engines, you could pick up more than 90% of the searches on-line. A good strategy for most websites is to optimize for Google first and then see what happens with the others. Once you see where your site is, you can move on to the Search Engines that are not performing well and focus on SEO for them. Some optimization techniques will help your search results with many Search Engines. Using good CSS and HTML skills to build your website is helpful in the big 3 search engines. If you're building a dynamic database driven site, search friendly URL's become important. Link building strategies are also helpful for traffic.
How Do I Use Search Engine Optimization?
SEO is an on-going process. If you’re website has many competitors and they are optimized for the same search terms as your website, you will likely have to work harder to keep your site at the top of the search rankings for your key word list. If you have few website competitors, you will have to work less.
Keywords (Key Words) and SEO
SEO or Search engine optimization is centered around keywords. Optimizing a website means improving search results for certain keywords that pertain to your business. If your business is roofing sales and service, you would have a list of keywords focused on your business. For the below example, you may consider adding geographic terms if your business works locally. Perhaps you work in Summit and Stark County or in the cities of Akron, Canton and Cleveland for example.
- Your keyword list may look something like this:
- Roof
- Roofing
- Roofer
- Shingles
- Asphalt shingles
- Asphalt shingle roof
- Certainteed shingles
- Owens Corning shingles
- Slate roof
- Wood shake roof
- Enameled steel roof
- Steel Roof
- Commercial roof
- Cleveland Ohio roofer
- Akron Ohio roofer
- Summit County roofer
This list could be much, much longer... It’s a short example.
Based on the above list, you would build website pages and write copy about those topics. Keep in mind that less specific search terms are usually harder to move up to the first page of the search results. Type in the search term “roof” and many websites will be optimized for that term. Chances are that fewer websites are optimized for a more specific search term such as “Summit County roofer”.
How Do I Optimize My Website?
There are fundamental search engine optimization techniques that will work on most websites. From there, it is a case-by-case study to determine the best course of action for SEO on your site. A lot depends on where you are with developing your website. You may go after a link building strategy by trading links with an appropriate/relevant website. Avoid buying links on “Link Farms.” Link Farms refer to website pages with lists of hundreds or thousands of links to irrelevant websites. Search engines are getting better at putting value on a link coming into your website. For example: Normally, a link coming into your site from a related professional organization would be valued more than a link coming from a website in an unrelated field or industry. SE's can evaluate one site and the keywords on it and compare it to another. The SE can then grade the link. A similar site to yours in terms of text content will typically be a better link than a link from a non-related site.
Techniques, search engines and your competition will change the way they do things requiring you to change your website. That is why SEO is an on-going process and very dynamic!
