If your business relies on being found through search engine results, SEO or Search Engine Optimization is critical to site ranking by Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Site ranking by search engines is determined by complicated and ever changing algorithms. All major search engines have primary search results where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant and important to users. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. The video clip below gives a good explanation of SEO basics in three minutes.

SEO can vary in importance depending on how important search ranking is to your business strategy.  A lot of time and effort can go into establishing and maintaining good SEO. Consulting services can easily charge hundreds of dollars per month to optimize your site. Some degree of improvement in your ranking results can come from focusing on the more easily understood and implemented basics of SEO. The first of which is providing great content, organized in a way that your target audience and the search engines can easily find it. Write content that uses keywords and phrases that would be used by your target audience searching for your products and/or services. Make your content easy for people to share and link to it. Quality external links to your site will have a significant impact on ranking. Constantly update your content.

Watch this great 3 minute video on SEO!

Here are some basic factors regarding content that will put your site ahead of competition that has a poorly designed site.

• Valuable content
• Keywords your target audience would use in a search
• Content organized so users and search engines can easily find it
• Quality external links to your site’s content
• Frequent updates to your site’s content