Making News

(Sept. 11, 2007)

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT KEYWORDS
By Shannon K. Benton and Mairead Stack

In today’s global universe, search engine optimization (SEO) is now a fundamental component in marketing a company, business, product or service. No longer simply viewed as an innovative tool under the umbrella of “new wave media,” Web optimization is one of the fastest growing promotional strategies embraced by today’s modern-day companies. If your company is not making an effort toward implementing this latest trend, you’re missing out on valuable prospects and substantial Internet real estate.

Internet search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo! own 70 percent of the market share. To capture a piece of this growing market, today’s businesses are tasking their marketing firms to ensure their brands’ Web sites are optimized.

How do you ensure that your company’s Web site is optimized for search engines? Below are some basic fundamentals to employ that will pave the way to becoming a search engine-friendly URL.

  • Invest in valuable Web content by focusing strongly on your home page or any other page to which you wish to draw the most attention. For example, if you are an interior design firm, provide content including terms such as expert design advice, experience and home décor.
  • While creating links to Web pages that relate to your industry and business may seem beneficial, it’s not.  However, you can boost your site’s rankings through business-to-business (B to B) marketing. Ask other companies you may partner with to link to your Web site and vice versa. This is a mutually beneficial practice - the more companies that link to your site, the greater the search engines will rank it, thereby, creating a greater chance of it being visited.
  • Launch a company blog(s). The more content you optimize will then be found in search engines. A blog also allows for additional places to link to the main Web site home page.
  • Avoid focusing on Meta tags as they are now considered a concept of the past. In fact, many search engines no longer utilize them.
  • Work useful terms relating to your business into headlines, subheads and body copy that can be searched easily by a user.
  • Consistently compare your rankings with those of your competitors and other industry sites.
  • Track visitors to your site to find which pages of your site are most frequently visited. This will give you an idea of search terms that are most favored by those you wish to attract.

With your new-found knowledge in-hand, it’s time to invest the necessary time and energy by embracing the benefits you will reap from being optimized. Companies now, more than ever, need to break through the clutter and be at the forefront of a search engine database.

Want to find out how K&A can help you become optimized? Contact Mairead Stack at mstack@kleberandassociates.com or call 770.518.1000.


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