by Patt Bossert
Art Director, Webmistress
The Simon Group, Inc.
More than ever, those making business-to-business purchasing decisions rely on the Internet as the resource of choice for product and service research. Simply put, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help those decision makers find your products and services. A good SEO program can lead to higher rankings in popular search engines – such as Google and Yahoo. Higher rankings can lead more traffic to your site; traffic consisting of potential customers searching specifically for your products and services. Titles and keywords are a good place to start as you begin to implement your plan:
(This is where search engines begin
their search.)
Titles – Each page should have its own unique title. A good title describes the contents of your page. Try to use your keywords in the title and be specific. “Home Page” and “Our Products and Services” are not good titles. (No one searches for “Home Page”) A better choice would be something like “XYZ Corporation – Worldwide Source of Widgets, Gadgets and Doodads for Large and Small Businesses.” This way if someone searches for widgets, gadgets, worldwide doodads, etc., you’ve at least got a shot at popping up in their search results.
Keywords/Keyphrases – As with titles, keywords should describe the contents of your page. With keywords and keyphrases, go for quality over quantity. Make a list of words and short phrases that describe your products and services, and brainstorm with others in your company. In addition to descriptions of your products and services, describe your geographic location (state and city) and include alternate spellings of important words. (Some people are all thumbs, or may not be the best spellers.)
If you were a potential customer searching for the products and services that your company offers, how would you begin your search? What would you type into the search engine? Try it. If you find companies like yours amongst the results, you’re on the right track. Include those search words in your keywords/keyphrases and titles. If not, rethink your strategy.
There are many other facets to a successful SEO program, some of which we’ll cover in Part 2, including a few tricks you shouldn’t try! We’ll explore “white hat” vs. “black hat” methods in the next issue.
Your program should be unique to your company’s specific business goals. Search engines, their parameters and preferences are ever changing. As such, SEO is more of an ongoing process than a once-and-done solution. Over the long term, companies can benefit greatly from a deliberate and consistent SEO program.