Ingredients for Good Ranking in Search Engines
There are two types of searches internet users can do. The first type is called a paid search, and these are the online ads that businesses buy. The internet user only has to click on the ad and is taken directly to the website. The second type of search is called an organic search.
The term organic is a bit bewildering when used in reference to search engine rankings. In this case the word doesn’t have anything to do with living organisms. It does imply something that can grow and expand like a living organism though, and that describes the internet quite well. The majority of people use organic results to get to the information they want.
Algo..What?
Organic search represents the results that are created by algorithms when people enter search terms or keywords. Have you ever wondered how Google, for example, decides which websites to list on the first page of results versus the tenth page of results? In other words, what gets a website a good ranking when browsers request information?
Glad you asked! The algorithms are designed to identify which websites are the most relevant in relation to the query made. If someone types in ‘photographers’ you want your business to show up on the first page of results if possible because it gives your website the most visibility. Getting your business good ranking in search engines is one of the top priorities of a web developer.
Keeping Web Developers Busy Tracking Bots
It’s not a secret as to how you can get good search engine rankings or improve your ranking. It does take technical know-how though which is what keeps web developers employed. They understand the principles of searchability, how to build online infrastructure that supports searchability, and how to make your site appear to be a quality relevant site when the bots crawl over it looking for websites to index.
Following are some of the techniques web developers use to increase web visibility.
- Developing a content architecture that includes the main keywords from the website pages
- Developing fresh content that is unique
- Ensuring the website text includes typical words used by searchers (i.e. wedding photographers, professional photographers, photography studio etc.) and they are included in the HTML components like the page title, headings and text
- Developing an effective link program that makes sense and attracts the right kind of searchers(i.e. photographers don’t want to link to heating and air conditioning businesses)
- Consolidating multiple URLs into one for bot crawls so the search engine can get to unique pages
- Increasing page load times so the search engine bots can crawl over more pages in the time the program allots
- Insuring Flash pages are accessible to search engines so you get the best of both worlds – state of the art technology with great search results
- Building a quality networked online program that includes things like social media and article posting and the best placement possible on the web for high visibility
Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time, the ingredients for good ranking simply meant getting your business name placed on the internet as many times as possible. In today’s world, it is a much more complicated process that takes considerable specialized knowledge to get the best results.
Of course, photographers 25 years ago never dreamed they would one day be able to digitize photos and email them with a few clicks of the mouse. It’s still true that the only things in life that are certain are death and taxes. The internet, on the other hand, is always evolving.
