Everyone talks about SEO, search engine optimization, but what does that really mean and how can you identify whether or not a web developer really understands how to optimized a site for the search engines?

SEO essentially means the process of making a site user-friendly for the search engines.The search engines “read” a site differently than your customers read it - looking for indicators and clues as to where the site best fits into the massive world wide web of sites on the Internet. There are three fundamental steps in SEO:

1. Write standards compliant code. The search engines understand standards compliant code, but have a hard time with sloppy code or slang much in the same way a foreigner that has studied a language struggles with local dialect and slang.
2. Include proper indicators for the search engines in the code. Embedded in the code are tags that can be used by developers to highlight certain content in the site as more relevant and important. These tags guide the search engines as they navigate through a site.
3. Write relevant content.

Point in Case: About seven years ago a client approached us about their lack of exposure in the search engines. At that point we were only doing small updates on their existing website. The site was poorly coded, had no indicators in the code for the search engines, but worse than that, the site didn’t even include the primary keywords that their target audience would be searching for. The CEO asked why the site wasn’t pulling up under the primary keywords. My response was simple - let us rewrite the copy and then it will. I’m not talking about duplicating the keywords over and over. I’m talking about writing solid, legible content that engages both customers and the search engines. We rewrote the copy, and low and behold the site quickly started moving up in ranking under the designated keywords. Once we had proved our methodology, our client then asked what more we could do. We ended up redesigning and recoding the entire site. Now the site consistently shows up in the top 1-2 positions for every major keyword, beating out corporations with much larger marketing budgets that spend lots of money buying their position within the search engines.

Every site has two target audiences: search engines and people. As such we develop our sites to target both audiences simultaneaously. We integrate SEO into our entire web development process. That’s what makes us so successful at positioning our sites.

Now how can you check to see if a web developer really understands how to optimize a site for the search engines? Very simply… look at their track record. For example open up Google and look up the following keywords. You’ll see our clients consistently come up in the top positions within the search results for their targeted keywords.

• automotive forecasting - csmauto.com shows up in the top 1-2 positions.
• snow tools - planetsnowtools.com consistently ranks in the top 1-2 spots.
• sports and entertainment - generalsports.com is in the top 2.
• east coast halfpipe - eastcoast22.com is ranked number 1.
• sports executive conference - generalsports.com maintains the top spot.
• sports sponsorship negotiations - generalsportsalliances.com is in the top 4.

The proof is in the pudding.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 am and is filed under Search Engine Optimization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.