Onenuttyweb: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the active practice of optimizing a website by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines. Firms may vary as to their implementation of SEO; some have a highly specialized focus, while others take a broader and more general approach. Optimizing a website for search engines often requires looking at so many unique elements that many practitioners of SEO (SEOs) consider themselves to be in the broader field of website optimization, because so many of the elements of websites and search engines intertwine.

What follows is designed to describe all areas of SEO—from discovery of the terms and phrases that will generate traffic, to making a site search engine friendly, to building the necessary links, to marketing the unique value of the site and/or the organization's offerings.

Why Can't the Search Engines Figure Out My Site Without SEO Help?
Search engines are always working toward improving their technology to"crawl" the web more deeply, and return increasingly relevant results to users. However, there is, and always will be, a limit to how effectively search engines can operate. Whereas the right moves can net you thousands of visitors and attention, the wrong moves can hide or bury your site deep in the search results, where visibility is minimal. In addition to making content available to search engines, SEO can also help boost rankings, so that the content that has been found will be placed where searchers will more readily see it. The online environment is becoming increasingly competitive, and those companies that perform SEO will have a decided advantage in visitors and customers.

How Search Engines Operate
Search engines have a short list of critical operations that allows them to provide relevant web results when searchers use their system to find information.

1. Crawling the Web
   Search engines run automated programs, called "bots" or "spiders," which use the hyperlink structure of the web to "crawl" the pages and documents that make up the World Wide Web. Estimates are that, of the approximately 20 billion existing pages, search engines have crawled between 8 and 10 billion.
2. Indexing Documents
   Once a page has been crawled, its contents can be "indexed"—stored in a giant database of documents that makes up a search engine's index, which needs to be tightly managed, so that the requests that must search and sort billions of documents can be completed in fractions of a second.
3. Processing Queries
   When a request for information comes into the search engine (hundreds of millions do each day), the engine retrieves from its index all the documents that match the query. A match is determined if the terms or phrase is found on the page in the manner specified by the user. For example, a search for car and driver magazine at Google returns 5.42 million results, but a search for the same phrase in quotes ("car and driver magazine") returns only 524,000 results. In the first system, commonly called "Findall" mode, Google returned all documents which had the terms "car" "driver" and "magazine" (they ignore the term "and" because it's not useful to narrowing the results); while in the second search, only those pages with the exact phrase "car and driver magazine" were returned. Other advanced operators (Google has a list of 11) can change which results a search engine will consider a match for a given query.
4. Ranking Results
   Once the search engine has determined which results are a match for the query, the engine's algorithm (a mathematical equation commonly used for sorting) runs calculations on each of the results to determine which is most relevant to the given query. They sort these on the results pages in order, from most to least relevant, so that users can make a choice about which to select.

Canonical Issues & Duplicate Content
One of the most common and problematic issues for website builders, particularly those with larger, dynamic sites powered by databases, is the issue of duplicate content. Search engines are primarily interested in unique documents and text, and when they find multiple instances of the same content, they are likely to select a single one as "canonical" and display that page in their results.

If your site has multiple pages with the same content, either through a content management system (CMS) that creates duplicates through separate navigation, or because copies exist from multiple versions, you may be hurting those pages' chances of ranking in the search engine result pages (SERPs). In addition, the value that comes from anchor text and link weight, through both internal and external links to the page, will be diluted by multiple versions.

Content Quality
Content quality, however, like professional design, is not always dictated by strict rules and guidelines. What passes for "best of class" in one sector may be below average in another market. The competitiveness and interests of your peers and competitors in a space often determine what kind of content is necessary to rank. Despite these variances, however, several guidelines can be almost universally applied to produce content that is worthy of attention:

• Research Your Field
  Get out into the forums, blogs, and communities where folks in your industry spend their online discussion time. Note the most frequently asked questions (FAQs), the most up-to-date topics, and the posts or headlines that generate the most interest. Apply this knowledge when you create high-quality content and directly address your market's needs. For example, if 10,000 people in the botany field are seeking articles that contain more illustrated diagrams instead of just photos, delivering that piece can set your content (and your site) apart from the competition.

• Consult and Publish in Partnership with Industry Experts
  In any industry, there will be high-level, publicly prominent experts, as well as a second tier of "well-known in web circles" folks. Targeting either of these groups for collaborative efforts in publishing articles, reviewing your work, or contributing (even via a few small quotes) can be immensely valuable. In this manner, you can be assured that your content is both link- and visitor-worthy. In addition, when partnering with "experts," exposure methods are built-in, creating natural promotion angles.

• Create Documents That Can Serve as One-Stop Resources
  If you can provide a single article or resource that provides every aspect of what a potential visitor or searcher might be seeking, your chances for success in SEO go up. An "all-in-one" resource can provide more opportunities than a single-subject resource in many cases. Don't be too broad as you attempt to execute this kind of content creation—it's still important to keep a narrow focus when you create your piece. The best balance can be found by putting yourself in the potential users' shoes; in other words, if your piece fits their needs and covers every side of their possible interests, while remaining "on-message," you're ready to proceed.

• Provide Unique Information
  Make sure that when you design your content outline, you include data and information that can be found nowhere else. Although collecting and amalgamating information across the web can create good content, it is the unique elements in your work that will be noticed and recommended.

• Serve Important Content in a Non-Commercial Format
  Creating a document format that is non-commercial is of exceptional importance for attracting links and attention. The communities of web and content builders are particularly attuned to the commercialization of the web, and will consciously and subconsciously link to and recommend resources that don't serve prominent or interfering advertising. If you must post ads, do so as subtly and unobtrusively as possible.

• One Great Page Is Worth a Thousand Good Pages
  While hundreds or dozens of on-topic pages that cover sections of an industry are valuable to a website's growth, it is actually far better to invest a significant amount of time and energy producing a few articles/resources of truly exceptional quality. To create documents that become "industry standard" on the web—and that are pointed to time after time as the "source" for further investigations, claims, documents, etc.—is to truly succeed in the rankings battle. The value of "owning" this traffic and link source far outweighs a myriad of articles that are rarely read or linked to.

Press Releases & Public Relations (PR)
Influencing mainstream or niche press outlets to cover your company or its actions can be a highly effective way to drive attention to your site, which, if link-worthy, can earn a fantastic number of links in short order. Press release sites like PRNewsWire and PRWeb are good starting places for driving traffic and links, and as both feed the major online news search engines (Yahoo! & Google News) they can provide high visibility as well. Optimizing press releases is a unique practice in and of itself (placement of text in the title and in visible headlines, compelling story writing, and proper content structure are all important elements).

Link Building Based on Competitive Analysis
Looking at the links obtained by your top competitors and pursuing methods of your own to get listed on those sites/pages is an excellent way to stay competitive in the link-building race. It's also a good way to get natural traffic, as these are the links and sites that send your competitors their traffic, and so they will also bring visitors to your site. The methodology for investigating a competitor's links is fairly straightforward, although more complex methods can be used by the advanced researcher.

Highly Competitive Terms & Phrases
For some terms and phrases, even the best websites with the most diligent promotional efforts will have a very difficult time penetrating the top 10 to 20 results. In these instances, it can be tempting to rely on efforts outside of the search engines' guidelines. However strong this temptation may be, be advised that search engines do not tolerate spam or manipulation via automated links, nor do they allow such results to flourish for long. Although these methods, commonly referred to as "black hat SEO," may have some effectiveness in the short-term, they have little chance of long-term success in the SERPs, and they may become permanently banned from search results.
For highly competitive results (from "mortgage" to "car insurance" to "university degree"), targeting the above described "long tail" (the more niche-related search terms for which a smaller degree of heavy competition exists) can be the best method. Search engines are also careful to consider the age of a site and its links, and give heavy weight to those sites with long-held, highly trusted links. Thus, while rankings may be sparse at first, over time, an enterprising site owner can achieve some measure of notice, even in the most competitive of searches.

Conclusion: Implementing an SEO Strategy
The process of SEO is not easy to tackle, largely because so many pieces of a site factor into the final results. Promoting a site that writers on the web are unlikely to link to is as deadly as creating a fantastic website no one will see. SEO is also a long-term process, both in application and results—those who expect quick rankings after completing a few suggestions in this guide will be deeply disappointed. Search engines can often be frustratingly slow to respond to improvements that will eventually garner significant boosts in traffic. Patience is not the only virtue that should be used for successful SEO. The strategy itself must have a strong foundation in order to succeed. The best sites adhere strictly to the guidelines that follow.

Working with a Pro vs. Do-It-Yourself SEO
As in many other areas of web development, a long-standing argument exists between those who feel that learning and practicing SEO should be done in-house, versus those who feel it is best left to the professionals. There are advantages to either side, and it's best to weigh these against each other when making a final decision.
 

Advantages of Working with a Professional SEO

• Diverse Experience: Professionals with several years of SEO experience under their belts can tell you what to expect from the search engines as you conduct the optimization process. They can also interpret and understand rankings data and "hiccups" in the results that may indicate certain trends or strategies that should be implemented or avoided.
• Link-Building Knowledge: Professionals will have the ability to quickly identify topical communities and the most popular and relevant sites in them, saving time when link building. SEOs also have considerable experience with link acquisition, and will recognize the requirements of certain sites for paid links, link requests, etc.
• Identifying Linkable Content: SEOs are often masters of crafting and launching content. Not only can they identify the content most likely to get links from the specific web community, they're also experienced in how to package and promote it.
• Fixing Possible Problems: Professionals are competent at identifying and managing issues that can cause a lack of indexing, low rankings, or penalties from the search engines. This is a skill that can be very hard to develop without years of practice and experience. If you have a ranking issue, an SEO can be of great value.
• Time Savings: SEO can be an exceptionally time-consuming endeavor. An experienced SEO has the processes and systems of optimization down to a science, and can use that efficiency to provide better service in less time.

Advantages of Do-It-Yourself SEO

• Complete Control: With personal responsibility comes complete control for each element of your site's progress. There can be no question as to who or what created a link or modified a document.
• Learn from Your Actions: The ebb and flow of the SERPs will quickly teach an amateur SEO what works and what doesn't. Certain links, timing and on-page changes will be fully visible and recordable, making it a learning process.
• Personal Responsibility: Your success or failure will depend entirely on your own efforts, narrowing responsibility and preventing overlaps in work or issues of blame.
• Cost Savings: Doing SEO yourself means you don't have to pay someone else. If you find that your time is less expensive than hiring an outsourced provider, do-it-yourself SEO can be a great way to save money.