Google makes a large quantity of money through advertisements, and why not? They have the most market share in the world and are in pole position and at the top of nearly everyone's list when it comes to looking for anything online. Companies are eager to pay a premium to get more eyes on their product.
It will be a lot more difficult for businesses to get into the top 10 percent in this environment; there are simply that many quality websites. What's even better is that Google appears to be becoming more impartial and honest in how it distributes "rankings" to the greatest sites. Spamming and keyword stuffing no longer work on today's internet.
Google has recently released a study showing that 97% of all clicks go to the top 10 results.
The search engine's CEO, Eric Schmidt, announced in January 2010 that Google typically takes into account more than 200 different signals when it calculates its rankings.
While it is beneficial for certain organizations to pay directly to Google (PPC), for the best leads, we've discovered that 'organic' (natural) SEO is the finest long-term strategy.
Organic search engine optimization is a natural system that if executed properly, will raise the online presence of your website. This service has nothing to do with actually altering or falsifying data on your webpage, but instead focuses on increasing the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to it.
A few examples of great SEO practices:
1. Creating awesome, original content and acquiring links from websites that are relevant to your services or products
2. Ensuring the keywords you want to be associated with your website appear in titles, tags, link-text, and descriptions of pages and backlinks pointing to it
3. Writing well-written copy that is clear, concise, easy for users to "scan" and understand, and uses keywords in the right context
4. Optimizing images with titles and alt tags (keywords) to help search engines index them properly
5. Promoting your site on other relevant websites or via social media (sharing links)
These are just a handful of the many things you can do to optimize your site; there are so many out there!
Your website should be the center of all your online marketing efforts. Without it, everything else is useless. Your website needs to be an extension of who you are and what you do for the sake of branding. The more people that can find this connection, the better chance you have at increasing traffic and sales.
A strong foundation on your site means a strong foundation in the search engines. For example, if you are a small business owner and want to get more clients by promoting your massage therapy services in New Jersey, you would be best off taking advantage of organic SEO techniques than paying for advertisements with Google.
1. Credibility: This is the number one reason why organic SEO is important: you want visitors coming to your site because they are interested in what you have to offer (or who you are), not just for the sake of seeing it.
2. Growing Exposure: The more eyes that see your website, the more clicks and conversions you will have.
3. Long Term Return: Once you gain a high ranking on the search engines, your site will continue to grow in traffic and organic rankings over time, all without you having to do anything! No advertising fees or updating content constantly like with other forms of marketing.
4. Authenticity: Organic SEO is by nature transparent and open. You are not paying to be on top, you are earning it. It is the organic process of humans finding your site through other means and coming back to it.
5. Scalability: Organic SEO can be taken to a "viral level" if done correctly. Once one client tells another, and they tell their friends, etc. your site will continue to grow in authority by word of mouth, all without you having to pay for it!
If you rank yourself #1 for the keywords you are targeting, people will have a good idea that your business is legitimate and trustworthy. SEO is an integral part of digital marketing strategy so it's best to work with a digital marketing agency for professional help.
All of these elements combined work for one common goal: becoming the most relevant website in your market space.
