Understanding Optimization

If you're reading this blog, chances are good you already know that SEO is the abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization. What you probably don't know is what exactly that means. Granted, much of the information I hold is considered proprietary, but I can endeavor to help you understand that not all SEO is created equal. Let’s start with a little bit of history from here at Page 1 Solutions:

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In the beginning was the Website. Though the Website was good - well-designed, easy to navigate, and abounding with content - the Website did not appear on the first page of most search engines. So the Optimizer introduced Coding to the Website to help the search engines easily "read" and understand what the Website was about. And for a little while, back in 2004, the Website performed extremely well on the search engines—even the coveted Google.

After a time, many other optimizers from many companies began to duplicate and improve on the coding, and the search engine market became greatly competitive.
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That's just the basic back story to help understand why we do what we do every day. Now let's talk about what we earnestly desire to do every day for each of our clients, and why it is important:

Each of our clients' sites is treated to monthly directory submissions, link building, ongoing maintenance, and long-term analysis. (Long-term trends, usually 3-6 months, are much more indicative of how well a website is performing than a short-term stretch of only a few days or weeks.) More recently, we have also begun insuring each client's site is submitted to Google Maps (Google Local).

There are two primary additional strategies we have seen making a sweeping difference to optimization recently:

Perhaps the most important way to optimize your website is through continually adding new content. There is more than one way to do so, and each offers different benefits, but the benefits are enormous, not only to achieve your goals on the search engines, but also for visitors to your website, who are gratified and engaged when they are able to find information specific to what they are searching for.

Secondarily, though not without great impact, is the regular submission of articles or press releases to other websites. This provides both inbound linking and what those in the marketing industry like to call "buzz," when readers searching for information come across a new article which links to your site.

If you're missing either of these two strategies, your web marketing efforts may be said to be lacking, particularly in view of the changing competitive strategies of today’s search engine markets. Let me add here, that if your SEO contract doesn’t include these steps, chances are good that your marketing strategy is not lackadaisical, but merely needs updating.

SEO is a changing entity, exactly as your practice and website should be. Just as you are constantly searching out updated information, usually through continuing education or by keeping yourself abreast of the news in your practice areas, your website should continually be updated and recreated to suit the changing needs of your website visitors.

If your site is already hitting stellar page-1 listings, don't rest content to ride the current wave of success. New strategies for optimization are creeping up constantly, and while we don't recommend chasing every trend to the detriment of your site's stability, undertaking proven steps to keep your site at the front of the search engines' notice isn’t just an option, but a necessity.