Effective search engine optimization requires clear strategy
If the last place you want your money to go is down the drain, then make sure your efforts to secure prominent rankings in search engine results are strategically sound.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a technique to improve the volume and quality of traffic directed to a Web site. With Nielson/NetRatings reporting nearly 8 billion Internet searches performed each month, making sure your Web site appears in the rankings has become crucial. When you consider that 83 percent of today’s buyers use search engines like Google and Yahoo as a source for researching new products and services, SEO becomes mission critical.
Such statistics drove businesses to spend $7.75 billion on search engine marketing in 2007. Sadly, only 13 percent of that, or $1.05 billion, was spent on organic search engine optimization. Organic search results refer to the unpaid results that are triggered when search engines match key words.
Despite what some may attempt to sell, the reality is paid SEO programs — like pay-per-click campaigns — are less effective and cost more than organic SEO techniques. And organic search rankings are what count. More than 70 percent of search engine users report visiting organic listings daily, while four out of five users report never clicking on paid or sponsored results.
