Electron SEO Blog - Search Engine Optimization News, Articles, and Tips

Alright, so I’m always spouting off things like “you always have to under-assume” or “‘the user should’ should never come out of your mouth again”… and then with this blog, I failed to take my own advice. How can you understand what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is, if I have never clearly defined it? Sure you may have some idea… heck, you may even know more than I do about it. But the first thing we must do is make sure we are all on the same page.

Let’s start where I always do… Wikipedia:

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.

So, with that in mind, I want you to take a little journey to a magical land I call: LONG AND DRAWN OUT ANALOGY LAND (not the best name for a magical land I know).

Imagine that you need to buy a television. You know your budget, you know that Johnny McTechnology just got a new one down the street, and you know that watching CSI is no fun on a 7″ Black and White RCA… but that’s where your knowledge stops. Now, since the internet doesn’t exist (this land is already losing it’s appeal) you are forced to head to the newly remodeled TV Land Strip Mall, where everyone who sells TVs competes for your business, every brand of TV is available, professionals are on site to help you, past customers are just lingering around to give you their opinions, and when you go in, you are the only customer.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. So you get in your Honda Civic, drive down to TV Land Strip Mall, open the doors… and… and… and????? Where do you go? What do you do? You do what any person would do… you go into the first shop you see. Keep in mind, you have no knowledge of what’s good and bad at this point. All you know is that you are leaving this mall with a TV and that whatever you get is going to be better than what you have. You start walking around, looking at all the new TVs, reading reviews, looking at comments, checking prices and comparing brands. Then you actually find one that fits your budget… “Wow,” you exclaim, “this is great!” You whip out the credit card, have them box it up, and then they offer to ship it off to your house, so you don’t even have to worry about taking it to your car.

Seems like a great story huh? You get a great TV, you don’t go over budget, and you still get back home time to watch that rerun of Seinfeld that always makes you laugh… only now it’s on a 32″ Vizio LCD TV that’s capable of 720p! And since you budgeted a $1000 on the TV and only spend $950… you treat yourself to some chocolate cake… when just then, Johnny McTechnology walks in… and what happens? Proudly you boast of your conquer… how it was you versus the world, and you came out on top. Your prize? This amazing TV. One look and Johnny says, “This old thing? Yeah they are selling those down at the Strip Mall for like $300 now. I was thinking about getting one for my kid sister” Kid sister? Suzie McTechnology??? NO! $300??? Where did you go wrong? Grasping for air you ask, “Wh… where?” “Oh,” he replys, “you have to go down the hall, up the stairs, and to the right. That’s where all the really good deals are. You didn’t know that?” You quickly think to yourself… “There was a hall? There were stairs?? Johnny has a sister???” Where did you go wrong?

You just did what everyone does every day on the search engines… you went into the first place that you saw. Now what you didn’t know was that Joe Bob’s Television Shack was once so big and popular that TV Land’s Strip Mall directory service put them as the first store that you can see… just to make it that much easier for you (Search Engine Optimization). On top of that, Joe Bob even went as far as to use all that extra money that they make from marking up the TVs to purchase ANOTHER store right next to their store that just takes you a different way into the main area (Search Engine Marketing). It’s all about convenience.

As crazy as this sounds, this is how many people purchase things online. They do a couple searches and then perhaps check out the first two or three posts and then make a decision to buy, or sign up, or call, or whatever action you are looking for. If you aren’t in those top spaces… you have already lost. So how do you get there? Keep reading my friend… it’s going to be a bumpy ride.