Matt Cutts offers up a great overview of some of the fundamental principles around what’s going on in the background when you do a search, specifically in Google. Of course you need your website optimized for search engines, employing SEO best practices so you can be found, but what’s happening when your target market is actually searching for you?
Everyone uses search but do you understand what makes SEO work?
Search engine optimization or SEO coupled with leveraging smart analytics needs to be fundamental considerations for any smart web development project. If your target audience can’t find you through the search engines then you’re not getting your message out. And if you, or your web developer isn’t employing best practices SEO and web analytics… well you’ll likely not get very far. Your website might look pretty but it won’t deliver results.
A great introduction.
Keep in mind this is only an overview introducing a few of the major dynamics in play. Search Engine Optimization is a key specialized field within broader internet marketing. Optimized page content is vital and the most obvious aspect of optimizing your website. It is though only the visible tip of the SEO iceberg. Effective optimization of your website extends far beyond this.
Website optimization is a function of many aspects of your website most of which are not readily recognizable. Take for instance the platform upon which your website is constructed. This is particularly true of many of the older legacy platforms, some of which are very expensive. You’d be surprised how many website development platforms are fundamentally unfriendly to SEO. Trying to compensate from some of these legacy platforms can be an expensive proposition. This is one of the primary reason we’re big fans of WordPress and use it in our all web dev work.
WordPress is a fundamentally optimal platform upon which to build your website and ongoing website optimization is considerably easier to do. In fact with some tutoring you could likely do much of it yourself and save some mony… if you choose to. Out of the box however and without knowledgeable development you can still miss many basic opportunities for optimization for your targeted terms, phrases and target audience. This goes to file structure, navigation, tags, plug-ins and on and on. Some aspects are more obvious then others. And then there is the vital link acquisition.
All this assumes you know where you’re going in the first place. The best SEO takes place before you even start. It all starts with knowledgeable keyword research. You can’t optimize your website if you don’t know what you’re optimizing for and it’s too easy to make wrong assumptions. Smart keyword research will ensure you’re being found for the right word and the most valuable words and phrases. Optimizing for low value jargon is easy to do, misses the mark and happens… all the time. We’ll table keyword research for another time though but this is actually the beginning point.
In the mean time, enjoy the video above. It’s very good and helps illustrate why getting found doesn’t just happen. Matt Cutts is “the guy” and one of the leading authorities on search engine optimization, among other things.
If you’d like to know more about Search Engine Optimization, SEO and how to reach your audience through the search engines please contact us. If you have an existing site and need some website optimization we’d be happy to help.
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