What is SEO? SEO Nedir?

You're the CMO of a company that makes blue widgets. But when you enter the phrase "blue widget" in a major search engine, your Web site pops up in the 4,500th spot on the results list. Talk about a visibility problem: A study conducted by The Pennsylvania State University, published in 2003, found that 54 percent of users review only the first page of search results, and 19 percent stop after the second page. Clearly, poor search engine ranking is costing the company business. The remedy? You can't write to Google or Yahoo and ask them to please, pleeeeease rank your site higher for "blue widget" searches. Search engines use complex, secret and ever-changing mathematical algorithms to rank sites. To improve a Web site's search rank, marketers can turn to search engine optimization, or SEO.

How does SEO work?

"SEO is the attempt to modify something about your Web site to improve the quality of your organic or algorithmic rankings at the big search engines," says Eric Peterson, a JupiterResearch senior analyst. That sounds straightforward enough, but the devil is in the details. SEO expert Shari Thurow says the first step is to build a user-focused site. This may sound obvious, but many companies fail the test, says Thurow, author of Search Engine Visibility. "There is a complete overemphasis on positioning. Just because you have a number-one position doesn't mean you'll get qualified leads, and it doesn't mean you'll close the sale," says Thurow, webmaster and marketing director of search engine marketer GrantasticDesigns.

Simply put: You gain nothing from a site that ranks high on search engines but turns off visitors.

What are some basic SEO principles?

A Web site built with users in mind is likely to fare well with the software "spiders" that search engines use to index content and rank sites, Thurow says. The three building blocks of such a site are:

-- Text: Use content that includes words and phrases your company's target audience is likely to type into search queries. If you're selling mountain bikes, that term should be everywhere -- in page headings, navigation buttons, photo captions and the like.

-- Links: A site's navigation scheme should be accessible, coherent and consistent so that spiders and humans can easily traverse it.

-- Popularity: A good site will prompt others to link to it. External links from reputable sites will enhance your Web site's ranking in search engines.

Why should a company bother to use SEO if it can buy pay-per-click ads?

A company can always buy pay-per-click (PPC) ads on search engines. These ads appear whenever users query specific keywords. However, JupiterResearch has found that the average company gets about 80 percent of its commercial search engine referrals from organic results and the rest from PPC ads. So while PPC ads can complement organic search results, particularly when doing seasonal promotions, they are no substitute.

How much should a company expect to spend on SEO consulting work?

It depends on the size of the Web site and the condition it's in, says Chris Winfield, president and cofounder of search engine marketer 10e20. Most of his company's clients sign up for a year's service, paying between US$5,000 and $15,000 per month, plus sometimes an initial, one-time fee, he says.

What should CMOs look for when evaluating SEO consultants?

In addition to checking the obvious -- references, expertise and resources -- it's critical to hire a consultant who abides by a search engine's SEO guidelines. Avoid search engine marketing firms that offer to elevate rankings for a low, one-time fee, since the only way to legitimately guarantee top positioning is with a PPC ad. Unscrupulous firms typically try to trick search engine spiders by employing so-called black hat techniques, such as stuffing a Web site with hidden keywords. When a search engine detects such a trick, it will ban the site from its index. Then no amount of SEO will make it appear.

OR

SEO is the active practice of optimizing a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines. Firms that practice SEO can vary; some have a highly specialized focus, while others take a more broad and general approach. Optimizing a web site for search engines can require looking at so many unique elements that many practitioners of SEO (SEOs) consider themselves to be in the broad field of website optimization (since so many of those elements intertwine).

This guide 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 links and marketing the unique value of the site/organization's offerings.

Why does my company/organization/website need SEO?

The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines - Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves (although AOL gets nearly 10% of searches, their engine is powered by Google's results). If your site cannot be found by search engines or your content cannot be put into their databases, you miss out on the incredible opportunities available to websites provided via search - people who want what you have visiting your site. Whether your site provides content, services, products, or information, search engines are a primary method of navigation for almost all Internet users.

Search queries, the words that users type into the search box which contain terms and phrases best suited to your site, carry extraordinary value. Experience has shown that search engine traffic can make (or break) an organization's success. Targeted visitors to a website can provide publicity, revenue, and exposure like no other. Investing in SEO, whether through time or finances, can have an exceptional rate of return.

Why can't the search engines figure out my site without SEO help?

Search engines are always working towards improving their technology to crawl the web more deeply and return increasingly relevant results to users. However, there is and will always be a limit to how 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 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 who perform SEO will have a decided advantage in visitors and customers.

How much of this article do I need to read?

If you are serious about improving search traffic and are unfamiliar with SEO, I recommend reading this guide front-to-back. There's a printable MS Word version for those who'd prefer, and dozens of linked-to resources on other sites and pages that are worthy of your attention. Although this guide is long, I've attempted to remain faithful to Mr. Strunk's famous quote:

"A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."

Every section and topic in this report is critical to understanding the best known and most effective practices of search engine optimization.