Search Engine Optimization: The Future Is Now

Many companies are still allocating their budgets to elephant-sized traditional advertising campaigns in print and television. But much of the advertising industry is trying to move away from commercials and are scrambling for new ways to get in view of the public eye. This presents a monumental challenge during a time when every dollar is being asked to work harder. Growing credibility and results from the search engine optimization industry is bringing hope to forward thinkers that are looking for real solutions to their marketing budgets.

There are traditional two ways to achieve visibility in the search engines: pay-per-click campaigns and organic search. PPC campaigns operate by having a company pay to have its site automatically pop up in the search results when certain keywords or terms are queried. Usually these are denoted by appearing in a different colored box at the top of the search results, or on the right side with standard short sales copy. With search engines, the advertisers (in this case the PPC campaign) bid on keyword phrases that are relevant to their website or pay a fixed price per click. These advertisements are usually referred to as ‘sponsored links’ or ‘sponsored ads’.  Cost per click varies depending on the search engine. Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search, and Microsoft adCenter are currently the three largest search engine networks you can advertise with, and they all operate under a bid-based model.

The second type is organic search, which is the more natural, unpaid way to get ranked. White hat SEO firms prefer this way because it rewards hard, clean work that is legally executed. Organic search results are ordered and displayed according to rankings based on a numbered of pre-determined factors of the specific search engine and its algorithm. One of the biggest implementations you can use to improve organic search ranking is through keyword recognition. Sites that are trying to improve their organic rank should optimize their keywords and terms throughout their website in the title tags, meta tags, on-page content and home page. Google currently claims that their search engine users click organic search results more than the paid search adverts. PEW Research Center also reports that Internet users avoid clicking on search results. Achieving high organic search listings is the primary strategy of all white hat search engine optimization firms.