The Art of Organic Search Engine Optimization

Too often, I see website owners who are unsure of or unwilling to accept the best practices for increasing their site’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). With that in mind, let me present my version of “Organic Listings 101.”

Every day, I’m called by multiple site owners desperate to rise to the first page of organic (free) search results. The organic results are to the left and below the “Sponsored Sites” or “Sponsored Results at Google, MSN, and Yahoo!” labels. Site owners compete for prime real estate in these “Sponsored” ad slots through pay-per-click advertising models.

We’ll be talking about the free listings you can get by optimizing your site for the specific set of variables (algorithm) used by each search engine. Which, to make matters more complicated, changes without warning.

In other words, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.”
In the words of Aldous Huxley:

First, let’s create the scene so everyone’s expectations are reasonable. Word quickly spread in the early 1990s when I first began my consulting career. There was nowhere near the number of locations or the intensity of rivalry today. In 2005, there were about 12 billion pages online, and another 10 million were added daily.

The question then becomes how to increase your rank on search engine results pages. You won’t go anywhere by just rearranging or adding keywords to your Meta tags. Similarly, optimizing your website for search engines isn’t everything. To improve your site’s organic search engine rankings, you need a well-rounded, intelligent long-term marketing strategy that includes some basics.

Things to think about for better organic rankings:

Consider your strategy for Internet promotion as an ongoing project. It will take time and effort to be deemed more relevant than the sites are already available in the free places you target while in Google’s sandbox for at least six months.

To get a sense of the competitiveness and the sheer number of sites currently effectively ranking for the terms you are targeting, you should search with your top keyword phrases on the various search engines as part of putting together your plan. This helps you realistically assess the quality of the opposition you’ll face.

=> Realize that search engine rankings have nothing to do with the quality of your work. It depends on how well-liked your website is by its visitors and search engines. It would be best if you had a long-term, practical marketing strategy to grow your site into the best, most thorough resource on your product or service for your site visitors. It doesn’t occur immediately or because you wish for it too.

Trying to rank for single-word keywords is highly challenging, if not impossible. More targeted traffic will result from focusing on and optimizing for 2-3 word phrases rather than single-word keywords. Several resources help you learn what search terms your ideal customers use. Put these resources to good use!

Ensure each page on your site is optimized for a single or, at most, two keyword phrases between two and three words long. For successful organic searches, focus on a narrow topic. When you spread yourself too thin, you become uninformed about everything. Relevance to the search terms entered by the user is just one of many criteria used to determine search results. Compared to a website with a page or pages that focus on just one or two phrases apiece, a page targeting 10, 20, or 30 terms is not very powerful about any specific issue. Remember that less is more when optimizing each page for a particular set of keywords.

=> If you want to “top” the other sites, you must create something better. One up them! What sets your site apart from the competition and makes it so beneficial to your visitors? You can’t displace the people now in power if you don’t give anything that they don’t already have.

You should intend to update your site with fresh content aggressively. Hourly, weekly, or at the very least monthly! Value-added content like resources, white papers, and “how to” guides perform exceptionally well as keyword-targeted pages. Provide content that will attract customers looking for your product or service and links from other sites. Don’t even think of utilizing software to generate content yourself…That strategy will get you nowhere. You need valuable content, not just a bunch of keywords thrown together.

Expect to need a great deal of patience. Great organic rankings don’t happen in a day, a month, or a year anymore, just like Rome wasn’t constructed in one. A sustainable and well-informed long-term strategy is essential for any firm. This is ten times more important for organic results.

All suggestions above will, without a doubt, necessitate your time, effort, and a sensible comprehension of how organic listings are produced. However, this is how top rankings are acquired over time. Make your site THE site for your goods, and your orders will naturally rise. It’s that simple.

There are no hacks or quick fixes that will guarantee the first page, let alone page one, results in organic search. Someone wanting to take advantage of your lack of knowledge and part with your money would never tell you otherwise. Your site’s organic rankings will improve if you commit to making it the best for visitors. After all, both websites and search engine rankings are in constant flux.

If you don’t do those things, there’s only one other way to get your product or service in front of people actively looking for it. You must allocate resources toward a strategic Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign to accomplish your objectives.

Judith Kallos has been performing at http://www.TheIStudio.com for over a decade, and in that time, she has established herself as an authoritative and humorous Technology Muse. Look at her well-liked Cheat Sheets for Software, Coding, and Web Design.

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