Before you hit the ignition switch on your SEO, remember to aim for a finely tuned SEO engine, one which leaves your competition wondering how your website rankings rose so quickly to page one of the search results. You do not need to create the best new sensation since sliced bread to hit that enviable first page of search results, although it certainly helps to have a winning product or service.
Since that very first website made its debut in the summer of 1991, over 600 million active websites now operate on the planet. How can the average small-business owner get a crack at landing on page one of the search results?
White-hat SEO optimization strategies involve adding keywords not just to your meta tags, but also placing those keywords in image file names. Google follows web visitor trends like a hound on a blood trail, and people want pictures! It’s no surprise, as nature has apportioned a major part of the human brain to processing imagery.
Another white-hat strategy is to create an SEO-friendly website that has integrity woven throughout its structure. Google’s flakey website detection technology will most certainly sort the white hats from the black ones. Avoid excessive repetition of phrases or key words, which may trigger spam detectors.
Aside from creating a website with integrity, the third most critical component to website optimization is regularly adding quality content that supports your overall marketing strategy. Website optimization is the most common area in which a business fails to master basic SEO strategy. An SEO firm can advise you on how to create content that will attract visitors most likely to engage in business with your company.
An SEO expert will also analyze your website to look for ways to boost your rankings. The days of pinning hopes on black-hat SEO are over. Using unethical means to boost rankings will produce the opposite effect because Google doesn’t sit on its virtual hands, and the company may very well send you to a time out in the SEO basement.
Here are a few other things to consider. First, your competitor may outrank your business because they have a local following and have invested in a significant hometown-marketing program for five years. Sometimes a physical handshake will outpace a virtual one. Still, if you have an astute SEO strategy, you have an excellent chance of having your website pop up on page one. That’s particularly true in a smaller community.
Remember, there is a lot you can do to turn the click tide in your favor as an SEO consultant has more than one rabbit hiding underneath that white hat.
