In line with online reputation management is what we commonly call SEO or Search Engine Optimization. In this article, I will discuss the fundamentals of SEO and why it proves very useful when you’re trying to manage a specific website.
The most common behavior for web surfers is that we almost always click on the first results we see on the result list and tend to ignore other results that are positioned lower on the list once we deem the top results as sufficient enough to give us the information we need. That is why search engines make sure that the top results must always be relevant to the keywords searched by the user lest they risk getting a bad review and fewer users. All major search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo can show what we call as primary search results, this is where web pages and other contents are ranked based on what the search engine deems to be most beneficial to the users. The search results shown are based on a certain keyword provided by the user and the search engine looks for the most relevant content related to the topic. The higher the rank of a site on the search results page or the more frequently it appears from the search results, the greater the chances of receiving site visitors. To put websites on the top of the results list, SEO techniques are often used.
Search Engine Optimization is the process of manipulating the search engine results in order to increase the visibility of a specific website. In order to perform its purpose, SEO practitioners must understands and study how search engines work and consider other factors such as: what users usually search for, most common terms used when users are trying to search for something and of course, which search engines are most often used by the target audience of the site. One tactic that can be used to optimize a website involves editing its content in relation to common terms used when users search for something. This increases its chances of being deemed by the search engine as relevant to the topic thus, positioning your website on the higher ranks. However, webmasters must also be careful not to become unscrupulous and abuse this tactic by stuffing the sites content with irrelevant keywords just to get more matches. Since the usefulness of a search engine is determined by its capabilities to produce relevant search results to any given keywords, search engines developed more complex ranking algorithms, taking into consideration other factors that prove difficult for webmasters to manipulate. Another SEO technique that can be done is to pay search engines to ensure that your site is always included in the top results. This can be very helpful especially for electronic commerce websites in order provide more visibility to products and services for potential buyers.
In any case, the impact of good SEO tactics is palpable when it comes to bringing in more visitors for the site and increasing the site’s online presence.
