Search Engine Optimization and Marketing
A big part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) starts with developing a web site that is accessible, has properly-structured and semantically-correct XHTML (or HTML) code, and makes use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to separate content from presentation.
Some examples include:
- properly using
<h1>,<h2>,<h3>, etc. tags for headings; - providing descriptive text in the title attribute of links;
- using the alt attribute of the image tag to provide a textual description of the image;
- using <strong> and <em> tags to give emphasis and more weight to specific words/phrases; and,
- not using forms for navigation – a search bot cannot submit a form.
When creating web sites I ensure that the code behind each page is optimized for search bots. Each page has a unique title that also shows how the page fits within the structure of the site (e.g., <title>Internet Marketing / Professional Services / WizarDev</title>).
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is optimizing a site for keywords and phrases that a user might use to find a particular site.
This involves comprehensive keyword research and analysis to determine which phrases produce the best results for a particular site. It requires constant tweaking of the content and code to improve page ranking and evaluation of what's working and what isn't. It is not an exact science and the "rules" change frequently. One month a site might have a high ranking in Google, but then the next month drop down significantly, for no apparent reason.
When planning a Search Engine Marketing campaign it is important to think long-term and to consistently track positioning of not only your own site, but also your competitor's.
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