Step Wise SEO

Natural Search Optimization, or Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important areas of any search engine marketing campaign but can often be mistaken for the overall solution to a search marketing strategy.

The lute of a zero cost per click (CPC) makes companies, in many instances, prefer this tactic over all others, such as PFP or PFI, as it also not recurring cost.

The reality is, however, more complicated than it may seem. For every benefit of having a zero cost per click the process that needs to be adopted to achieve results is comprehensive and in many cases expensive.

HTML is still the chosen language of search engines spiders, but is, however, the least likely language for designers to use in the development of websites, and thus generates a natural conflict, one that is an expensive one to overcome.

Site Side Optimization (SSO) is a process that is a skill that many don’t have. Trusting the technology department of web designers to do the job can’t achieve the desired objectives and the skills required are held in the hands of individuals and therefore consultancy costs are warranted.

Search engines have always been susceptible to manipulation and fraud by those with less than moral objectives.

Known as search engine spamming, the procedures of maximizing a website’s potential can be done using techniques that search engines aren’t in favor of.

For this reason the engines took two particular routes for ensuring that content was of a high quality and relevant for their users.

The first is making sites pay for clicks. As ROI becomes more prominent it is a good assumption to make that a site won’t pay for traffic that won’t convert on the destination site.

The second method used by engines is to change the variables they use to rank a website, moving the goalposts every now and again to ensure those utilizing unsuitable procedures are constantly having to change.

Unfortunately this also means that those optimizing a site legitimately also have to continue to maintain and update the code.

With this being taken into consideration the technique for the correct use of SEO is selecting not only the best time to perform this function on the site but how many pages to optimize.

The following questions might be appropriate (but not definitive) as to the process to undertake:

• Determine the design of the website - if the website being optimized is written in HTML, it lends itself well to optimization as code changes, URL structure and ’spiderability’ (i.e. how search engine friendly it is) are all positive.

 If the site is dynamically generated with code such as Cold Fusion or Java Script, then the site isn’t necessarily as easy to optimize.

 As cited above, this is the common format for many of the newly designed sites and as such may require additional effort in order to achieve success.

• Understand ‘priority’ of website within technical departments - if the site requires additional commitment from a technical department it is important to understand the priority within the overall workload.

 The resource required for implementation is important for success especially if financial resources are to be outlaid on optimization recommendations (i.e. from an SEO specialist).

 This is also important for long-term success; optimization may be necessary on a regular (i.e. monthly) basis.

• Perform a cost vs benefit comparison between paid and organic - one of the main reasons why companies turn to organic is because of the price of the PFP market.

Conversely one of the main reasons that companies turn to paid is that a website is designed for natural optimization or the schedule of a technical department isn’t favorable toward SSO.

For this reason the cost of optimization must be weighed against the click volume or effort required in working with a paid campaign in PFP or PFI.

Often this manifests itself into prioritizing the pages on a website that will be optimized.

Putting this into context, if a site has 1000000 pages is it cost effective to optimize all pages or to do the top 10 per cent with SSO and submit the final 90000 via PFP?

This is a decision that will be determined by strategy and resource limitations.

Summing up
Knowing the right tools to use is only half the battle. It is extremely important to understand what is necessary when using these tools and how to get the most from them in order to drive a successful search engine marketing strategy.

• Keywords are the most important variables in any campaign. Whether being used for paid search or organic search the wrong keyword selection could cause serious problems regardless of any other component.

For this reason it is important to group keywords and measure, control and optimize them by the characteristics possessed in groups or portfolios.

• Creative can hinder or help a search strategy. A creative or set of creatives must be written that qualifies the visitor on arrival.

 The creatives must contain a series of properties (such as a unique selling point or the use of active voice) and clearly articulate to the searcher why the listing is the strongest of all.

• Different search engine mechanisms require different techniques. PFP requires constant attention and optimization based upon market conditions, whereas PFI has predetermined rate card prices so correct configuration is essential.

 Lastly, organic optimization requires longer-term planning and involves more up-front resource so accurate projection and resource allocation is needed.
Keywords: generic, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Site Side Optimization, SSO, Creatives, PFI, PFP,