Why You Need SEO - Optimization and Beyond
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Search engine optimization these days is just one of many flavors of search engine marketing. A good SEO company will go over your options with you, taking your budget into account. Nowadays, search engine marketing can include SEO, pay-per-click, paid inclusion, search contextual ads, and pay-per-call.
SEO, as already mentioned, involves altering your website structure and content to make it easier for the search engine spiders to index. A well-optimized site will get you a higher rank in the search engines. A good SEO will make sure you are optimized for the right terms, and avoid practices that could get your site banned from the search engines. He or she will also make sure that your site is friendly to visitors – after all, the whole point of this exercise is to attract customers, so it doesn’t help if they don’t enjoy their visit!
Pay-per-click is a popular advertising model. You purchase search listing text ads that are ranked based on keyword bid price. These ads show up in the sponsored listing section of the search results. You pay the bid amount when users click on your ad. The click takes them to a landing page. Pay-per-click ads need to be closely monitored for how effective the keyword is; you might need to adjust your bid or change your keyword. Pay-per-click users need to watch their budget closely, and guard against click fraud.
Paid inclusion calls for the website owner to pay for guaranteed, fast inclusion and frequent visits from a search engine spider. Note that this approach only gets you into the database quickly; it does not guarantee that you will achieve a high ranking in the SERPs. A site owner might want to use this approach if the site is new or very dynamic.
Search contextual ads are ads that are placed on relevant publisher sites and distributed through the major search engines. For example, if you sell fishing poles, and you advertise with Google AdSense, your ad might show up on a page on a website devoted to fishing hobbyists. The ads rotate, so your ad might not be in the same place all the time. Google, Yahoo! and MSN have distribution networks of approved publishers that display these ads and split revenue with the search engines. For many, it can be a useful stream of income. As with pay-per-click ads, you are reaching an audience that is already interested in what you have to offer.
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