Website Optimisation & SEO |

What is Website Optimisation, SEO and Internet Marketing?

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Typically, the higher a site's "page rank" (i.e, the earlier it comes in the search results list), the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

The acronym "SEO" can also refer to "search engine optimizers," a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

As a marketing strategy

Eye tracking studies have shown that searchers scan a search results page from top to bottom and left to right (for left to right languages), looking for a relevant result. Placement at or near the top of the rankings therefore increases the number of searchers who will visit a site. However, more search engine referrals does not guarantee more sales. SEO is not necessarily an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be much more effective, depending on the site operator's goals.

However, search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of continued referrals. Due to this lack of guarantees and certainty, a business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors. It is considered wise business practice for website operators to liberate themselves from dependence on search engine traffic alone.

International Markets

The search engines' market shares vary from market to market, as does competition. In 2003, Danny Sullivan stated that Google represented about 75% of all searches. In markets outside the United States, Google's share is often larger, and Google remains the dominant search engine worldwide as of 2007. As of 2006, Google held about 40% of the market in the United States, but Google had an 85-90% market share in Germany. While there were hundreds of SEO firms in the US at that time, there were only about five in Germany.

In Russia the situation is reversed. A local search engine controls 50% of the paid advertising revenue, while Google has less than 9%. In China, the local search engine continues to lead in market share, although Google has been gaining share as of 2007.

Internet Marketing

Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites, such as blogs, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.

Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to or above organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.

Although many PPC providers exist, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft adCenterare the three largest network operators. Cost per click(CPC), vary depending on search engine and the level of competition for a particular key word or key phrase.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing your website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

Getting indexed

Paragon Hi-Tech Solutions SEO team know that the leading search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Pages that are linked from other search engine indexed pages do not need to be submitted because they are found automatically. Some search engines, notably Yahoo!, operate a paid submission service that guarantee crawling for either a set fee or cost per click. Such programs usually guarantee inclusion in the database, but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. We use specialist WebOpt Tools, from which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted to search engines to ensure that all pages are found, especially pages that aren't discoverable by automatically following links.
Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site. Not every page is indexed by the search engines. Distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled.

Preventing crawling

To avoid undesirable content in the search indexes, webmasters can instruct spiders not to crawl certain files or directories.

A successful Internet marketing campaign may drive organic traffic to web pages, but it also may involve the use of paid advertising on search engines and other pages, building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successes, and improving a site's conversion rate.
SEO may generate a return on investment.

Successful search optimization for international markets may require professional translation of web pages, registration of a domain name with a top level domain in the target market, and web hosting that provides a local IP address. Otherwise, the fundamental elements of search optimization are essentially the same, regardless of language. Paragon Hi-Tech Soluitions' SEO team can deliver all these expertise to you.

Pay per click campaigns can be categorized into two major categories: sponsored match (or keyword) and content match. Sponsored match campaigns involve the display of advertisements on search engine results pages, whereas content match campaigns involve the display of advertisements on publisher websites, newsletters, and e-mails.

There are other types of pay per click programs that target product or service searches and product comparison sites. Search engine companies may participate in more than one category. Our PPC programs do not generate any revenue solely from Web traffic for websites that display the advertisements: Revenue is generated only when a user clicks on your advertisement itself.

Keyword-based PPC

Our keyword-based pay per click advertises a bid on search terms—keywords consisting of words or phrases, and possibly product model numbers. Sponsored search engine placement is an online marketing system whereby you may bid for advertisements that appear alongside, above or below search engine results for certain keywords. Typically the highest bidder for each of your keyword will be listed at the top of the search engine listings page. However in recent years the quality and relevance of the landing page (the page to which the sponsored result links to) have been added to the algorithm to determine placement. Keywords are the very heart of PPC advertising, and are guarded as highly-valued trade secrets by the advertisers. We offer software or services to help you develop keyword strategies.