Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

What Is SEO?

OK, let’s see a show of hands: How many of you are reading this book because you

want a #1 rank in Google? Yeah, we thought so. As SEO consultants, we know how

good it feels when your website makes it to the top of the heap. Listen, we sincerely

hope you get your #1 Google rank, but it won’t help you if it’s bringing in the wrong

audience or pointing them to a dead-end website. So don’t think of SEO as just a way

to improve your site’s ranking.

The term Search Engine Optimization describes a diverse set of activities that you

can perform to increase the amount of targeted traffic that comes to your website from

search engines (you may also have heard these activities called

Search Engine Marketing

Search Marketing

). This includes things you do to your site itself, such as making

changes to your text and HTML code. It also includes communicating directly with the

search engines, or pursuing other sources of traffic by making requests for listings or

links. Tracking, research, and competitive review are also part of the SEO package.

SEO is not advertising, although it may include an advertising component. It is

not public relations, although it includes communication tasks similar to PR. As a con-

tinually evolving area of online marketing, SEO may sound complicated, but it is very

simple in its fundamental goal: gaining targeted visitors.

Do I Need to Perform SEO for My Website?

It may seem like a no-brainer, but actually, the answer is not necessarily Yes. If any of

the following examples apply to you, you may not be in need of an SEO campaign

right now:

• You have a website that you really don’t want strangers to find, such as a train-

ing tool for your employees or a classroom tool for your students.

• Your site is already ranking well, you’re satisfied with your sales, and you don’t

want to rock the boat.

• You’re in a big hurry—say, you’ll go out of business without a major upswing

in revenue in the next couple of months. This is not to say that SEO can’t help

you, but good SEO takes time. You may need to focus your energies elsewhere

right now.

• Your site is going to be completely rebuilt or redesigned in the next couple of

months. If that’s the case, read Shari Thurow’s book

Search Engine Visibility

(New Riders, 2002) about how to build a search-friendly site from the ground

up. If this is you, you’ll want to keep our book on hand, though, for use as soon

as your new site is launched. If this list doesn’t apply to you, we think you’re

ready to begin your SEO adventure!

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