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Search engine marketing is a catch all concept. It’s also referred to as search engine positioning, ranking and promotion. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Advertising are two components within search engine marketing.

Search Engine Optimization is the process that a site goes through to make it visible and improve its “absorption” by search engines. A successful strategy will result in the site gaining targeted traffic from organic or natural search results.

The SEO process involves ongoing modifications to the existing site. These may include cleaner coding, development of additional site features, content development and where possible, development of a linking strategy. This is an ongoing cycle that includes statistic analysis, measurement and repeated adjustments.

Organic Search Results Sample – A search for “Multimedia Messaging system” in Google provided the following organic results. These are results based on the Google database.

Search Engine Advertising or Pay per Click (PPC) is the paid format of search engine marketing. In this case the search results are presented on the same page of results but are governed by a bidding (cost per click) and content matching system. In some cases these results are also displayed on network sites, for example the Overture (Yahoo) content network includes: CNN, MSN, AltaVista and Infospace.

Paid Search Results Sample – A search for “Application Performance Management” in Google provided the following paid results. Both the light Blue area at the top of the organic search results and the boxes on the Right hand side, are paid listings.

A good SEO strategy would take the overall presence of the website in search engines into account and would measure results by the number and quality of visitors coming from organic search results. The final ingrdient here is time, it’s a critical component and results should always be looked at in terms of the long run.

These are just a few basics that are considered the fundamentals for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Keyword Selection – A building block and should be treated as the foundation for the process. Selecting the most effective keywords is crucial as the rest of the marketing efforts will concentrate on these. Remember that it takes time to get results. Make sure the terms you were going for bring in the right kind of traffic.

Unique Content – Content needs to be relevant, specific to a topic and make good use of a small number of keywords and again, be unique. Keep in mind that duplicate content is frowned upon and penalized by search engines.

Keyword Density (or Keyword Saturation) is an important parameter that is constantly reviewed by the “spiders”. Search engines will have different weight placed on the percentage usage of a specific keyword and they can range anywhere from 3 to 8 percent. Keep in mind that you are writing the pages on the site for people though, so first of all make sure the material is well written and makes sense.

Linking Strategy – This is much debated but the idea is to have a site well worth linking to and choose your link “friends” very carefully. If you exchange links (Reciprocal Linking) or you use Three Way Links, make sure you keep good company. It’s quality not quantity that counts and the rules of the game are constantly changing.

Site Design and Navigation – A basic feature for a well optimized site. Whether it’s a clean navigation bar, an easily accessible site map or a strong content system. Clear navigation and design allows “spiders” to explore the site easily, to catalog, read through and increase visibility in search results.

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