Biznology

Photo credit: Wikipedia

A few numbers for your consideration:

• 80% of visitors to a website begin by typing keywords in the query box of a search engine
• 42% click on the website in the #1 position on the search page
• 90% click a website on the first page

These facts prove, if your brand is on the internet, a high rank on the search engines is a requirement to generate business. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a website by remaining high on the list of results returned by a search engine. It is the single, most measurable, profitable and predictable activity a business can pursue in digital marketing. Many are fooled because they believe, to get to a top rank, you need to know the right tools, tricks and people. You don’t have to be one of those getting fooled. Read the remainder of this entry »

Image via CrunchBase

It used to be that Google was a secretive entity and it was all up to trial, error, and guesswork to determine what it was thinking about your website. To some extent this is still true, however Google has become somewhat more transparent about its practices in recent years. Google wants to provide its users with the best possible search results and Google understands that in order to do so, it should share what it is looking for with website owners. Links are an important part of the Google algorithm and Google pays attention not only to the quantity of links but also to the quality of links. To weed out the sites that attempt to “game the system,” Google penalizes sites that participate in shady link building practices. In some cases, website owners don’t even realize that what they are doing is wrong, so Google has begun sending out notifications to webmasters alerting them when unnatural links are detected. The notice serves as an FYI and doesn’t always mean that a penalty has occurred (yet). However, if the notification also coincides with a significant dip in traffic it’s likely that you’ve already been handed an unnatural link penalty.
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Photo credit: Wikipedia

If you are like most marketers, it’s a constant battle to get permission, resources, funding, priority–fill in the blank of what you need to do your job and don’t have–for your marketing programs. In some ways, it is especially galling with search marketing, because you would think by now that the evidence for its importance is so overwhelming that you could run on faith. But marketing is a business, not a religion, so it isn’t enough for us to believe in search–we need to prove it. And that usually means numbers. Read the remainder of this entry »

Word cloud for content marketing.

As I have been writing in this space for the last three posts, SEO is not just the domain of consultants. It is a vital skill for every role in marketing and communications. Of course, SEO is essential for teams building digital experiences, and the communications professionals supporting those experiences. But none of that matters if their executives don’t support and fund what I call outside-in marketing, but what most people call content marketing. Because the pull marketing model is so new to these folks, it is often difficult to get their buy in. Without their buy in, digital marketing experiences don’t have a chance. Read the remainder of this entry »

Photo credits: www.roadtrafficsigns.com

When it comes to executing SEO on behalf of a business website, a company essentially has two options. The SEO work can be done in house or outsourced to an SEO firm. No matter who is doing the SEO work, one important thing to keep in mind is that it can’t operate in a silo. Input is needed from everyone within the organization in order to ensure that the SEO campaign addresses every aspect of the business. While small businesses typically do this well, it’s the large organizations that sometimes struggle and find that SEO work is getting lost somewhere in the shuffle.
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