What is SEO?
SEO is the practice of increasing search engine rankings for keywords that describe a company’s product or service as well as a company’s brand name(s). Compared to other online channels, the primary distinction is that SEO is focused on search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. As online marketing matures, the lines between search, social media, and other channels are blurring.
Keyword Research
All SEO campaigns start with keyword research. This tells us not only what keywords people search for, but also the total search volume numbers. Our keyword research includes the “long tail,” which enables us to target not only the high-traffic terms but also the niche terms that may have lower search volumes but typically result in a more targeted prospect. While keyword research used to focus primarily on quantity, we now take into account the new and changing ways that people search, such as Google-recommended searches, related search terms, and local search results. All of these have a definite impact on behavior in regard to how people search.
On-Page Optimization
Page titles, description tags, headers, keyword density…these all used to have a noticeable impact on a page’s rankings. Now, it’s less about getting the right number of keywords on a page, and more about making sure a website has well-organized content, a clear linking structure, and indexable content. We start every client with a full SEO review of their website, looking at on-page elements and code.
Campaign Strategy
Every campaign starts with defining the primary goal. This might be new leads, brand extensions, or capturing lost prospects and sales. We then evaluate how the online strategy integrates and/or supports our client’s overall marketing strategy. This process typically involves the coordination of multiple groups including marketing, sales, and operations. Given the increasingly important role of online marketing, we find it crucial to bring all interests together as soon as possible. Out of this process comes a strategy that drives the SEO, website, content and blog, online messaging, social media, and other online channels.