On this week's Bella Buzz podcast, hosts Joe Magennis and Desiree Scales discuss Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for business owners. Desiree walks us through her typical analysis of a client's current efforts and points out the critical steps that should be taken in order to improve a web site's organic rankings on search engine results pages or SERPs.
Bella Web Design focuses on the organic listings for clients since they are the most commonly clicked on link and are much more cost effective than the paid listings that are at the top and side of the SERP.
Desiree begins the process by working with clients to determine the most appropriate Keywords that they expect to generate search traffic from. Keyword analysis is an important early step in the development of a web site. Content needs to be crafted, navigational layout and site architecture built, and finally meta tags coded and optimized for the correct keywords.
Once the site is developed and launched, her team will then submit the site to various directories such as Kudzu, City Search, or other paid listings that might be appropriate for that particular client.
This is a process rather than a project. SEO is an ongoing service that requires maintenance to keep a listing at the top of the results. Changes to the Google algorithm or new competitors in the marketplace can have an negative impact on a site if it is left to wither on the vine. Being responsive and monitoring the rankings will ensure that the site continues to remain relevant.
We pursue a discussion regarding link building and the strategies that should be implemented in an attempt to get inbound "link juice" passed to your web site by high ranking sites. Desiree points out a particular web site called MRelevance.com that focuses on Atlanta Real Estate marketing services and notes that real estate agents have had success getting quality traffic and assistance in gaining high rankings with a link from this site.
Continuing in the real estate market, agents and brokers who have web sites hosted and templated from a franchising company will find it challenging to rank well simply because the content is database driven on the backend and gets credited to the main domain ie remax.com. Realtors should develop stand alone sites that are hard coded HTML, and optimize for keywords in their local area including counties, cities and towns so that they can rank well for these keywords.
Don't forget to post your business in the Google Local Business Directory, which has recently been updated to include content ranging from logos, images and even video. A listing here also signals to Google that this is a legitimate business and can improve the overall ranking of the site.
As a final point, SEO firms can make claims that they can have you ranked at the top of Google within a short time period and we just throw a word of caution out there. Rankings take anywhere from 2 to 6 months to see results, and if they are guaranteeing them sooner, they may be using "blackhat" techniques that might work in the short term, but will potentially harm your web site forever while they have moved on to another client. Check out the reputation and results of the agency that you are engaging with.
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