How to Choose the SEO Company That Is Right for You

SEO is the acronym for search engine optimization. It is the most widely used technique for promoting Internet marketing and has been around for more than a decade.

How does SEO work?

Basically, SEO works by modifying a website using certain methods and techniques for the purpose of increasing the traffic to the site. The volume of traffic is essentially dependent on the ranking given to the web site by the search engines. Each search engine employs its own formulae or algorithms to determine the rating of a particular site. These algorithms are kept as closely guarded secrets and are not made known to the outside public.

Some of the factors which the search engines take into consideration are:

1. Relevancy -- the nearest match to the search items

2. Popularity -- the number of visits or hits to the site

3. Site age -- the older the site the higher the value

4. Contents -- the usefulness of the information

5. Keywords -- number and frequency of appearance

These are the important items; there are other factors like Meta tags, etc. which are also used for determining the rating of the website.

The weightage given to each of these factors is not the same but varies from item to item and is again kept as a trade secret.

The search engines do not directly search the sites in the World Wide Web. The actual searching is done by robot programs which are called "spiders". The spiders "crawl" the sites and prepare a data base for the search engines for working out the rankings and for indexing the sites.

Search engines help to generate traffic to the website and to maintain it at a sustainable level. A well organized and relatively more informative site will naturally have greater attraction for the targeted audience and result in increased turnover and profitability of the online business.

Choosing the right SEO Company:

Even if a company has the requisite expertise, it is will be burdensome for it to deal with SEO by its own in-house staff, as it involves a lot of detailed work and will consume too much of their time. It will be wiser to outsource the work to a competent SEO company which specializes in such matters. The immediate problem will therefore be to select a suitable SEO company for this purpose. You may consider the following points when starting the selection process.

• Make a short list of potential candidates and collect full details of the companies. Verify the data given by them by direct inquiries and through the Internet.

• Get information from the companies regarding their other clients and refer to them for their impressions regarding the capabilities and past performance of the SEO companies which worked for them.

• Avoid SEO companies which tend to use black hat tactics for getting better ratings, because it will ultimately lead to being penalized by search engines.

• Hire only a company that is willing to enter into a long term contract with you because SEO is not a one-off job and needs continuous follow up.

• Don't decide only on the basis of the quotations submitted by the candidates. As neither the cheapest nor the dearest quote may be the best choice, consider all other relevant factors and make an informed selection.

• When you have found a suitable SEO company that gets the desired results, it is wise to stick with it.



Larson Frederick is the Vice President of Operations for Surefire Online Marketing, LLC. He has vast experience in the field of SEO. Find out more about this and other articles at www.surefireonlinemarketing.com




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White Hat SEO - The Right Way to Improve Your Search Marketing Efforts

White Hat SEO methods are meant to improve the performance of your organic search engine marketing campaign, while adhering to the terms of service laid out by Google.

What Does the Term 'White Hat SEO' Mean?

White Hat SEO is the opposite of Black Hat SEO. Generally, search marketers who practice White Hat SEO (or ethical organic search marketing) techniques try to improve their organic rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), while maintaining the integrity of their website and following Google's steadfast set of rules.

Some examples of White Hat practices include:


Offering quality content, products and services

Using relevant keyword-rich meta tags

Making your website easy to navigate

Why are Ethical SEO Techniques Important for Good SEO?

In short, engaging in suspicious behavior can get your site banned from Google and other search engines, which should be a big deterrent for any search marketer or Web master. As the undisputed king of the search engines, Google is used by millions of people every day, and each user presents an opportunity for your website to be discovered. That said, Google has the power to drive tons of traffic to your website, so being banned from Google would result in a dramatic drop off in traffic and sales for business websites.

Considering all the work that goes into your website, think about how devastating it would be to get banned from the Internet's most popular search engine. Adding insult to injury, once you're banned from Google, it can be impossible to get re-listed again. A lifetime ban from Google would have tremendous consequences for your website, which for many companies could very well put them out of business.

Should You Use White Hat SEO Techniques for Your Website?

Implementing White Hat SEO practices is the most effective means of establishing a principled and successful website and business. In addition, practicing ethical search marketing ensures that your website will have longevity, authority and credibility with the search engines.

Let's look back at each of the above examples of ethical organic search techniques and go deeper to see how to implement each one.

Offer Quality Content, Products and Services

The key to getting traction in the search engines is to author great content around your quality products and/or services. People like good content and so do search engines because good content makes for a good experience for the user. The better your content the more likely people are to visit and explore your website and buy your products.

Using Relevant, Keyword-Rich Meta Tags

A big part of ethical SEO is the inclusion of meta tags in your "off page" site content. Meta tags include meta descriptions, title tags and to a lesser degree meta keywords. Treat your title tags and meta descriptions like ad copy and include target keywords and a strong call to action. For the record, meta descriptions and title tags are the "ad copy" that displays for your website in the SERPs when users run a search query and can be the difference in whether or not a user chooses to click on your site.

Making Your Website Easy to Navigate

Organizing your website to be user-friendly and search engine-friendly is another important part of ethical SEO. To do this, you should map out your pages ahead of time and create a logical hierarchy, grouping pages in a tree with home page first, followed by top level category pages, then leading down to more specific tertiary product pages as drop downs in the sub navigation. This logical formatting makes is easy for both users and search engine spiders to navigate your site and discover information.

When in Doubt, Play it Safe

White Hat SEO practices produce effective, ongoing and principled enhancements to your website and are always good business practice. Unethical SEO practices may deliver quick results, but the results are short-lived. Plus, getting on Google's bad side is the equivalent of a death sentence for most websites. By following ethical search marketing practices, you'll stay in Google's good graces.



Ken Lyons is a Marketing Manager for WordStream, Inc. WordStream offers a suite of dynamic keyword research tools and AdWords Tools for keyword grouping and keyword suggestion for paid and organic search engine marketing.




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