Arkadios Web Services LLC

What is SEO? The definition of SEO from Wikipedia is as follows: “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it “ranks,” the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.”

So as an example, if your company sells blue widgets, you naturally want people who are looking for “blue widgets” to find your website. If a searcher goes to Google and types in “blue widgets”, a list of websites that are related to blue widgets appears. SEO is the process that tells Google (and other search engines, like Yahoo, MSN, etc…) that your website is all about blue widgets, and gets your website onto that list of sites in as high a position as possible.

It is estimated that the first website in any particular listing on Google receives a total of 40% of the ENTIRE volume of traffic for that particular search query. This means that 40 out of every 100 searchers automatically click on the very first listing on the results page, without even looking at the rest. The rest of the results (which can sometimes number in the millions) share the other 60% of clicks, with the second and third place listings taking the vast majority of those clicks. Results near the bottom of the first page and results on subsequent pages receive minimal traffic, if any at all.

Hopefully this illustrates the importance of good SEO on your website. Having your site rank in the top of the listings for your particular area of business is critical to your success. After all, what’s the point of having a website that no one sees? It’s akin to placing a huge, flashy, expensive billboard on a dusty old country back-road where the only traffic is a farmer on his tractor with a load of hay, and a little old lady on her way to town to get milk and eggs.