SEO is a Business Process

While many would like to compartmentalize SEO as another Information Technology function that can be outsources or purchased as a one time expense, the reality is SEO is a marketing function that requires a STRATEGY, a business process and ongoing resources in order to be effective.

In fact, the SEO and overall website strategy ties in directly to both branding and advertising and as such must be controlled, monitored and updated by the people responsible for these items. Search Engine Optimization is not a thing that can be purchased as an outside force to improve search engine results. Although some outside resources can be used during the optimization process, SEO is a methodology and a process that must be continually adapted, monitored and worked on in order to gain results. It really is a marketing function that requires a strategy like branding and advertising, where it is possible to outsource specific functions, but the overall ownership, control and accountability must reside within the organization. While there are new rules and knowledge requirements not previously associated with marketing, many of the techniques required to manage SEO as an ongoing business process are very easy to learn by anyone with basic knowledge of using the internet.

What scares most people are the “Search Engine Robots”. These “Bots”, “Crawlers” or “Spiders” are continually checking and analyzing websites, web pages and links. The information gathered by these machines is processed by constantly changing algorithms, developed by Search Engine Companies, used to decide which sites are most relevant for given search terms. While it is important for a Search Engine Optimization expert to understand a bit about how all of this works, it is only important to understand just a few basic principals on what is considered important by the algorithms in order to be able to optimize effectively.

The business process of Search Engine Optimization begins with a strategic look at what the target website audience will be looking for when using a search engine. This is more then just an exercise of picking keywords, it is an understanding of the content others will be looking for. People use a search engine to locate information. What information will they be looking for that can be provided on your website? While this sounds simple enough, it is often misunderstood by website authors. Most website authors begin so internally focused they spend most of the time displaying product and service information. While this may be what is being sold and where visitors need to be directed once they get to the site, the primary focus must first be to get visitors to the site. So, a website must be developed in a manner that puts the top priority on gaining website visitors. This can only be accomplished by taking a detailed look at what people could be looking for that would be relevant to the product, service, company or industry. This could be general information not specifically associated with a product or service to be sold.

Once it is clearly understood what information is desired and will be actively searched by the target audience, then a plan can be developed around the website content and optimizing that content for search engine robots. This is not just the most critical step, it is a step that must be continuously revisited and analyzed. Failure to properly execute this step will limit the other Search Engine Optimization activities. The text based content of a website is what the search engines index into their database. The more unique, relevant text based content contained within a site, the more that can be indexed and monitored by the spiders. The crawlers will monitor changes in the site, so if the text based content changes frequently, the robots will monitor and index the site more frequently. A site that is indexed more frequently will generally considered a more relevant source of up to date information then a static site that never changes and will therefore rank higher on many search term results. A plan is therefore needed to develop the relevant content and to update the content on a regular basis, with that content considering what visitors and crawlers will be looking for.

After a website is optimized properly for visitors, both human and the search engine robots, the next step is to make sure the site can be found from other sites, using links. There are many strategies for generating links, not all of which are recommended for search engine optimization. In fact, it is possible for links to actually hurt your website, instead of help it. Certain sites that have been classified by the search engines as ones that are used to artificially increase search engine ranking can become black listed and take down all the sites that have links coming from it. The general rule is that a link from a high ranking site will establish more credibility then a link from a lower ranking site. Generating quality links is a process that takes time, but it is also a process that can be handled by most capable of general data entry. Generating a links can be about as easy as writing an email, so developing a culture that includes some time generating links each day is the key to long term success. While it is certainly possible to outsource at least a portion of this link development, it is important to be make sure the links being generated are not on link farms and do not have a negative impact on the branding of the company.

A Search Engine Optimization expert is certainly useful to facilitate all the steps above, it is not necessary to have that expert do all of the work. In fact, outsourcing everything is likely to be very inefficient from a time and cost perspective. In the long run, it will also not be effective in getting the desired results and when the needs of the organization change, it will likely require starting from scratch. A more efficient alternative would be to use a consultant that will do more then optimize your website and links. An effective consultant will also train employees and introduce a process that can be followed to allow the organization to take a part in the Search Engine Optimization process. A true SEO consultant will be more then a technology geek. The consultant will be a market savvy professional that understands marketing fundamentals AND the technology requirements to generate effective search engine results. This consultant will help establish metrics to track and monitor performance of the website, search engine rankings, optimization activities and impact to other business metrics.

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