Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Service

Search engines can be described as a collection of software applications and computer hardware, designed to harvest information all across the World Wide Web and present it in a form of search results to the user.

Search Engines allow you to search most of the internet frontiers and mine data from: static websites, newsgroups, databases, blogs, forums, directories, images, videos and more.

There is a number of specialized, vertical search engines designed for industry specific niche markets. From a SEO standpoint it is not practical to optimize for specialized or vertical search engines due to the small market share.

In order to display relevant and quality results in relation to the search query, search engines dissect the fitness of WebPages using a number of different factors, the most notable are:

Location and Frequency

Internet is a medium based on words. The first criteria search engines take into account is the amount of words that appear on the page, in relation to the search query. There has to be a healthy number of targeted keywords populated throughout written content, in order for the search engines to associate it with your desired topic. You also have to keep in mind the placement of those words. For example, if you came to a book store with intent to purchase a book on electronics, you would look for the books that have electronics in their title. Search engines work in a very similar fashion, keyword location and frequency is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

Two related, but very essential disciplines have emerged around this. Search Engine Copywriting and Keyword Research.

Inbound links

Inbound links can be described as links pointing to your website. Whenever a website places a link pointing to your site, search engines consider it a vote in favor of your website and raise the importance bar in their database, giving you a better chance of appearing among top results. The more links you have pointing towards your online frontier, the better.

For example. Shops A and B, both sell jewelry in Toronto, and are jointly targeting the same keywords which are toronto jewelry. As an example, let’s assume that both websites contain the exact amount of keywords, and are similar in their structuring. The shop A has 3 different websites linking to it, while shop B has 20 links. Search engines will consider shop B more important, simply because it has more links than A pointing to it, and will give it a higher priority. That priority will count whenever anyone searches for toronto jewelry and shop B will be presented before shop A in search results due to the number of links

to be continued on monday…

Link building is another essential piece of SEO puzzle and there are a number of techniques you can use in order to increase a number of inbound links.

There two primary search technologies in use today, and many classifications to the search engines.

The first and the most important type of search engines is web crawler based.

Second type are called metasearch engines, which would cease to exist without webcrawler based search engines.

Crawler based Search Engines

Crawler based search engines are the most popular and the most effective search engines to date. You are probably familiar with most of them - Google, Yahoo!, Windows Live, Ask.com and more. Crawler based search engines consist of several essential pieces.

The Spider

Crawler, or more correctly a spider, is software program released onto the World Wide Web to collect and record information from numerous websites. Spiders follow every link they detect, unless a robot.txt specifies otherwise. As it crawls the webspace, spider extracts words and analyzes them.

Each search engine has its own criteria as to what pages to download and which words to extract and no spiders are exact. For Example Googlebot ignores words such as and, at, while AltaVista used to put weight on every word it found. The job of the spiders never comes to an end, due to a dynamic nature of the internet.

The more popular your website, the more regularly a spider will crawl back to check for updates. The time can span between months and days, depending on your pagerank.

The Index

When a spider crawls the internet, it copies webpage content to the search engine index, where it is analyzed and put through specific algorithms that assign it to different topic/s and determine relevancy in relation to the topic/themes. Whenever user enters the keywords into the search box, search software examines the index and displays the most relevant results to that query according to the algorithms.

In order to be efficient in search business, search engine providers spend millions of dollar building storage farms. By far the biggest purchase belongs to Microsoft, which paid $500 million US to build its storage facility eight football field wide.

Metasearch Engines.

Metasearch Engines do not maintain databases and rely on results from other search engines. Whenever a metaengine gets a query, it sends multiple requests to different databanks and presents results in accordance with its algorithms. For example, if we were to use Metacrawler, it would compile results from Google, Yahoo, Live, Ask and present it all on one page. Though not as popular, metaengines do get their share of users across the world. From a SEO perspective, it is nearly impossible to optimize a website for metaengines, since the results are gathered from multiple sources and it would involve optimization for all such sources, as well the actual algorithms of the Metasearch engines. It is also impractical to do so because the exposure is very limited due to their market share.

Term Federated search is sometimes applied to Metasearch.

List of the most popular Metasearch engines.

Mamma

Dogpile

Metacrawler

Webcrawler

Specialty search engines/Vertical Search Engines.

Apart from general online search engines, there are numerous search engines that specialize in niche search, in another words - search only within a specific industry or perform a certain function. There are multiple search providers, performing variety of functions, but we can brake them down into two groups.

The first group I personally like to call “knowledge search engines” since they are designed to find answers to the questions you have. Like with other vertical search engines it would impractical to optimize, due to the limited exposure and market share. The most notable are:

Yahoo! Answers

AskMeNow

Answers.com

eHow

The Second group are specialized search engines, limited to a specific industry such as: people, job, forums, blogs, news, multimedia, code, bittorent, social, medical, property, business, comparison, legal.

SEO community in general, is not concerned with the algorithms used in vertical search engines, due to the very limited market share, however names such a Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Live Maps(local SEO), Google Video, Google/Yahoo/Live Image search, play a major role in traffic outreach and it is always a good to consider optimization, or a degree of tweaking for such names.

Other smaller, notable vertical search engines

Zillow.com(real estate)

Picsearch (image search

BlogScope (blog search)

TorrentSpy(torrent search)

What Do I Need to Know to Optimize my Website?

In order to optimize your website for the search engines you need to learn the following practices.

Keyword Research

Internet is based on words. It is the essential to success of a SEO strategy to know exact keywords prospects use to search in your industry. There are a number of specifically designed tools for that purpose both free and subsiciption based.

Clean Coding

Search Engine spiders scan pages in a millisecond and they need to know exactly what the message of the website is. There are a lot of designs that utilize tables as their primary layout, however to make it easier for the bots, HTML/CSS designs are the best.

Structuring

When spiders crawl a webpage, they analyze every aspect of the website and put weight on navigation and properly formatted H1 and H2 headers.

Link Building

Major Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Live have implemented a formula in their algorithms which calculate relevance of the website by analyzing foreign links that point to a website. Link building is one of the key elements of search engine optimization and a website will not get anywhere unless other sites link to it.

Search engine copywriting

The purpose of a website is to give users information, either about a service, a product or simply to inform them. A website is created with one goal – to put words in it. With search engines and a battle for the first most relevant results, a new type of copywriting has emerged – Search Engine Copywriting. It involves combinations of keywords and similar phrases incorporated through out the copy in order to show spiders relevancy of the content and get higher rankings.

Pretty Girls Help Conversion Rates

An interesting find by Future Now:

“One South African bank trying to boost their loan business did just that. They mailed 50,000 customers a loan offer, and used several variations in the direct mail package. First, the offers included a range of randomly selected interest rates - presumably, the interest rate (along with repayment terms) is by far the most important criteria for whether a loan offer is appealing. More significantly for our interests, the bank also included several “psychological features” - details of the mailed offer that had nothing to do with the loan itself but were intended to “frame” the offer in some way or otherwise alter customer behavior. The researchers seem to have been surprised not only that these irrelevant offer changes boosted the response of their offers, but actually offset the impact of higher interest rates on loan signups.”

The finding is interesting in that the loan offers with a pretty girl got more response than those with pictures ofmen. The study is not clear whether men were result of lower conversion, or if the girl caused higher return rate.

I think the theory that a pretty girl helps selling is true, in fact it’s been true for a long time. Sex promotion in connection with cars and other products is a long tradition in advertising. “Buy this product and we will help you get this (picture of horny woman)” type of message.

What’s interesting is that the subtle hint of sexual interest can help sell loans, even with higher interest rates!

A part of this maybe due to shift in attention. Pretty girl quickly captures attention, distracting from the deal that may be better. It also causes people to actually read and engage with material, where copywriting does it’s persuasion job.

Are you using girls to get attention? Try it.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization or SEO is a set of practices and techniques designed to increase traffic received from search engines. The principle lies in the keywords. Whenever anyone uses search engines, a set of words or phrases are put into the search bar called keywords. Search engines produce results that are identified to be suitable to the keywords entered. Factors that determine suitability of a page or a website are known as search engine algorithms. While searching, users usually never get past a second page - this is where SEO comes into play.

SEO is a practice devised to increase visibility of a website in search engine results for selected keywords. Whenever you enter keywords into the search bar - it is the task of a SEO professional to make sure your website appears featured in top results for those particular keywords.

Why is SEO Important?

Users are not likely to look past a second page when searching, therefore whoever shows up on the first page will get the most visitors.

Another very important aspect to consider is the fact that users are taking the initiative to look for the website, rather then being bluntly sold to, as in traditional marketing - most people who land on your website through search engines have intended to do so and are interested in your offer.

Search engines drive highly targeted visitors to your website who are interested in your offer. Search Engine Optimization places your site among top results, allowing search engines to drive highly targeted traffic to your website.

History of SEO – Introduction.

SEO History.

Search engine optimization dates as far back as first search engines, however real practices started to surface in late 1996 and 1997 when coders started to back engineer the algorithms search engines employed… By the end of ’97 professionals cracked the algorithm of Excite and were able to produce number one pages at will.

Today search engine optimization holds it’s early principles, though SEO professionals fundamentally understand the algorithms utilized by Google, it is nearly impossible to get number one page listing for popular phrases in a short period of time, without falling under suspicion and getting banned. Yahoo, Live and Google claim to use more then 200 unique identifiers when assigning page rank and this information is a closely guarded secret.

For many years term “search engine optimization” was hunted by search engines due to the fact that on page criteria was to easy to manipulate. More recently however the field has split into White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO.

White Hat SEO

Techniques which are approved by the search and do not involve manipulation of the algorithms. White Hat SEO takes longer time to produce good visibility for the website, however it is the only strategy that works in the long run.

Black Hat SEO

Techniques that are banned by search engines or involve manipulation of the algorithms, such as link farms, cloaking, keyword stuffing, doorway pages. Major Search Engines closely watch and adjust their algorithms in order to discharge unethical techniques. If a website is found to be using blackhat, it will be banned from search engine indexes.

For those of you who like long boring documents, Yahoo and Google released a castrated version of their agreement.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the companies take the unusual step of disclosing the contract governing the partnership, but leave out any financial terms, such as the revenue split on their deal. - Reuters

Another quote from Reuters:

Rivals such as Microsoft Corp have protested that Google already controls 70 percent of the Web search ad market and that a Yahoo deal would give Google control over 90 percent of the market. Google and Yahoo executives have defended the pact, saying they will compete aggressively in other areas.

Is Microsoft being sarcastic? They own the desktop and protest against monopoly! Its like shooting a guy in the head, then paining a banner and walking on the streets in protest of violence.

the contract is heavily redacted in an area that covers “other business opportunities” and is silent about how the sharing of user data between the partners could affect the privacy of Yahoo users.

Read another review on CNET and on search engine land.

Your final goal depends on the little things. The milestones that must be achieved in order to get to the big thing. Your goal, the definite purpose, depends on completion of smaller objectives.

Now, you have a new objective in mind… the new light bulb went off. Breathe life into it, it’s attainable.

We may not be with your all the way to your DEFINITE goal, but we’re with you on the objective. Business to consumer, business to business, sale increase, lead generation, branding through search. You name the objective and leave the rest to us.

Expert level search engine optimization helps you bring in quality traffic which use convert into revenue, through sales or leads. Pay per click management helps you lower the costs, test keywords and geographic markets. Search engine optimization strategies get your market share up in cities, states and countries. To let the world know about your company get your press realeases optimized and honed…

There’s more services, solutions and strategies in the store, but that doesn’t matter… what matters is your objectives and your GOAL. We get the objective done, with quantum precision, so you move closer to the goal…

SEO Expert Team.

Whether you’re selling goods, managing complex business to business marketing campaigns or trying to get more customers to your local branches – search will achieve your goals, hit objectives, on time and on budget.

When pay per click eats your budget, we can help you reduce your marketing costs, by launching search engine optimization campaigns and by managing your pay per click campaigns. Your business to consumer marketing and businesses to business marketing - all covered.

To cater to consumers, we help to generate more sales and brand your websites through search and PPC. We also get your market share up on local, provincial and national levels. Your accountant will feel the difference.

To get more business leads on your side we’ll develop lead generation B2B search campaigns that slice though hearts of decision makers like a sphere.

For shop owners and enterprise level websites, there are the dynamic database optimization solutions that set up Content management systems and shopping carts for automatic SEO.

For Quebequers and marketers who want a share of the pie chart in Quebec market – we offer French search engine optimization campaigns.

When you have a new project on your hands and want it search friendly from the ground up, try website SEO development service.

And last, but not least, once you’re up on Google, collecting traffic, referrals, leads, sales, forms, downloads and profits, SEO Expert silently guards your positions against, competition, algorithms changes and bad weather!

Explore our services. Check more solutions. Learn the strategies.

Search Engine Optimization ROI

• part 1

20% - clicks go to pay per click results

80% - clicks go to natural search results

Since Google Traffic Estimator Tool only shows “Estimated Clicks” going to PPC, we will have to increase the number of clicks by 80% to find out approximate number of clicks that natural results receive.

Using numbers that represent clicks received on natural results we calculate market value of your investment in search engine optimization.

Value of your investment in SEO/SEM.

Annual Value:

• airline tickets - $4.057.200
• hotel toronto - $130.788
• buy used car - $130.788

Estimated value reaches seven figures. It is important to remember that price per each keyword is determined by real advertisers. Minimum bids start at $0.01, hence pricing is 100% market driven.

Please also note that our search engine optimization campaigns target an average of 5 – 50 keywords per industry.

SEO Expert is a Canadian SEO company, specializing in search engine optimization and PPC management. We had an opportunity working for wide array of companies from different industries, giving us deep knowledge in execution of multifaceted and complex search engine marketing campaigns. Check our performance driven resume.

During SEO campaigns we take a multilevel approach, targeting potential customers in:

• Canadian Cities & Towns(local)
• Canadian Provinces
• International Customers

Giving your brand exposure throughout Canada and US. Find out more about our SEO Strategies.

Learn about our SEO Services.

The Value of Your Investment in Search Engine Optimization

In order to estimate the value of our search engine marketing campaigns we took Google pay per click data and compared “natural clicks” versus “paid clicks”. Our findings will surprise you. Annual value of investment in search engine optimization is equal to more than $500,000 in clicks.

Google offers pay per click measurement tool called Google Traffic Estimator. Traffic estimator gives updated information on keyword pricing. Prices reflect real bids advertisers put on keywords. Our campaigns focus on organic search engine optimization, however, pay per click pricing information from Google Traffic Estimator puts dollar value on keywords, giving solid comparison visuals.

Pay Per Click Description:

“Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites/blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser’s website. Advertisers bid on keywords they predict their target market will use as search terms when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser’s keyword list, or views a page with relevant content, the advertiser’s ad is shown”.– Wikipedia

You can play with Google Tool here.

Measuring Your Investment in Search Engine Optimization

We took 3 keywords as an example and used Traffic Estimator to come up with pricing:

• airline tickets
• hotel toronto
• buy used car

[you will get slightly different results since data is updated on daily basis and may fluctuate]

Results for Canada & US

It is important to note that Traffic Estimator  data only details PPC clicks. If you were to bid on those keywords, this is where customers would see the ads.

It is estimated that around 20% of all clicks on search engines go to pay per click advertisements, with rest going to “natural search results”.

read second part