“How does SEO work?” We’re approaching the end of 2011, and webmasters and content providers have been optimizing websites in some way, shape or form for nearly a decade and a half. But we at SEM Zen still hear that question quite frequently, because there really isn’t a set, stock answer to what’s involved in successful search engine optimization.
If we had to explain, say, scooter advertising, we’d have it a lot easier – as we were recently reminded when a member of one of our LinkedIn marketing groups introduced himself and one of his flagship products to the network:
“Scooter advertising is exactly what it sounds like. You pay a company to carry your advertisement around on a mobile billboard that is attached to a scooter. This advertisement can be parked anywhere around town or driven around during the day to generate interest in your products and services, no matter what you need. It doesn't really matter what business you are in, either, because this is a marketing tool that can help any business to become more successful. Best of all, this type of advertising is much more affordable and gives a better return on investment than many marketing campaigns currently available today.”
Our new LinkedIn Groups connection didn’t provide an image, but a quick Google search was all it took to complete the picture.
Search Engine Algorithms On The Move
Many business owners and the majority of the general public have a generally fuzzy-minded view of what goes into SEO, i.e., improving a website’s visibility and rankings with the search engines. That’s not just because SEO is more complicated to describe than some other, more analog promotional tools. It’s also because the tactics, components and rules are constantly evolving.
In the past year alone, for example, Google started giving greater weight to some factors that you might not realize contribute to SEO success:
- Images have become more prominent at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPS). This includes organic search results, news results and paid results.
- Video is also creeping up in the results. YouTube videos led the way, but more and more sites (particularly news organizations) are posting unique videos that do well in the search rankings.
- Newsy/new content benefits thanks to higher rankings being given to “fresher, more recent results”
- Blog content now has a faster and deeper indexing system. Translation: your blog posts are now even more valuable to your business.
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