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By Vishal P.
Rao If
you're going to sell any type of product or service online,
you're eventually going to have to optimize your Web site
for the Search Engines, in order to boost traffic and sales.
Many years ago, it was quite easy to draw effective traffic,
as a good content-driven site, with good products, was
enough to get a Web site ranked highly in the Search
Engines. The competition has increased one thousand times
over since then, with billions of Web sites existing online
now, making for some very stiff competition in the area of
Search Engine placement and rankings.
This increase in competition has given rise to many
different styles, and many different methods of Web site
optimization. Optimization is simply the method of making a
Web site "Search Engine friendly", by using methods of
enhancement that will increase rankings and placement by
placing the Web site higher in the SERPS (Search Engine
Results Pages).
Everything from software to increase rankings and placement,
to Search Engine Management and Marketing Firms exist, with
many online merchants becoming confused about what or "whom"
to use and how to effectively use the various services to
increase rankings and placement.
The real battle seems to exist between those that favor
"Organic SEO" as opposed to those that prefer "Non-Organic
SEO". The term "organic" itself is defined by Webster's
Dictionary as: instrumental; acting as instruments of nature
or of art to a certain destined function or end (Webster's:
1913: 3).
"Organic SEO", also called "Natural SEO", is the most time
consuming, and the most tedious method of optimization for
placement and rankings. However, it is prone to longevity of
results, as it has a focus on content, meta-tag enhancement
using proper descriptions, keyword enhanced copy within the
appropriate specified densities of the Search Engines, and
link exchanges. In addition, keyword dense reports,
articles, and other content materials are usually added in a
routine fashion to a site to maintain the densities
necessary and increase rankings and placement.
"Organic SEO", if done properly in a step-by-step approach,
can literally promote increased traffic and rankings for
years. It can also contain overall marketing costs, as the
use of PPC (Pay Per Click), is not needed as much with this
method. The main drawbacks with this type of SEO, however,
are the length of time it takes to properly implement all
the steps necessary, and the length of time it takes the
Search Engines to thoroughly spider and index a site that
has implemented "Organic SEO".
"Non-Organic SEO", also called "Artificial SEO", can take
many forms, and can use some "Organic SEO" coupled with
other techniques. These techniques can include software
generated keyword enhanced pages, some methods of
re-directs, whereby traffic is shunted off from other sites,
with their permissions, and software generated doorway pages
and meta-tag descriptions. There are many different
techniques that can be employed including rather
controversial ones such as hidden text loaded with keywords,
and tiny text.
Overall, "Non-Organic" SEO methods are quite popular, as it
is a much quicker means to rankings and placement. Links
might be purchased from "link farms" which are simply
services that specialize in the promotion of links to
others.
Although "Non-Organic SEO" can speed up rankings and
placement initially, care needs to be given when using any
of these methods. If keyword dense pages are automatically
generated en masse, the Search Engines might view large
sites, with large numbers of such pages as "Search Engine
Spammers" and a risk of being banned does exist. In
addition, pages may initially place very high, only to drop
lower rather quickly, as the Search Engines still place a
great emphasis on good content, which is not usually the
focus of the "Non-Organic" type of SEO.
All in all, it really depends upon the overall purpose of a
site, and the longevity of results desired by a Web
master/site owner. It also depends upon how quickly results
and sales are needed. For some seasonal sites, such as
holiday-theme sites that only remain up for a few weeks or
months, then the quicker method of "Non-Organic SEO" can be
quite effective. On the other hand, if a Web master/site
owner promotes a product or service to which they are
committed for years, or perhaps a lifetime, then "Organic
SEO" would definitely be the better choice of optimization
method.
No matter which type of SEO methods are chosen or
implemented, an ongoing campaign of optimization does need
to exist, as the parameters that are used for the rankings
and placement by the Search Engines, change frequently, and
research into current methods needs to be done routinely.
As the old saying goes, "Different strokes for different
folks", really applies to Search Engine Optimization and
rankings and placement. The whole Search Engine Optimization
process is really more "art than science", and continues to
change daily.
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Vishal P. Rao is the owner of
Home Based Business Opportunities
- One of Internet's leading website dedicated to starting,
managing and marketing a home based business.
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