What to Expect from Search Engine Optimization
There are many misunderstandings of what Search Engine Optimization can accomplish for a website. Here is what you can and can NOT expect:
What Can Be Expected
- Organic Optimization allows the search engines to examine your site, nothing more.
- The search engines will analyze the content and determine what the subject of each page is about and the site as a whole.
- When a search is made your site pages will be compared with billions of other pages and the pages that the search engine believes to best represent the search will be shown first.
- The search engines are stupid automated programs, nothing more.
- What ranks high today may not rank well tomorrow. Be prepared for site positioning to change regularly and radically.
- Sites that have been around for years will be more likely to rank higher.
- If your site pages are about a competitive subject, you may be competing with millions of other pages. Many of which are probably also optimized. Many of which are using spamming techniques that for now are going to give them unwarranted positioning.
- If you do NOT perform Search Engine Optimization, your site will never be found.
- Every search engine ranks with a different set of ever changing rules. Good results in one search engine does NOT mean good results in other engines.
- If the search engines as yet do not even know your site exists, you can expect up to 3 or 4 months before they will show any results.
- If successfully used, you can expect traffic.
- If your site is eye catching and informative, you can expect new clients and perspective sales.
- As with all advertising approaches, being in the right place at the right time applies.
What Search Engine Optimization Will NOT Do
- SEO will NOT give you guaranteed results.
- Visitors will probably not start flocking to your site in great numbers for at least several months, if ever.
- You can NOT market hundreds of phrases. Plan on less than a dozen phrases, or maybe one competitive keyword phrase.
- This is not a one time processes. Your site will need continued updating, analysis and even severe re-writing. Markets change and you will need to change with them.
- Search Engine Optimization is not an easy answer. It requires hard and continued work.
- Real SEO will NOT come cheaply. The $49 a month guarantees are nothing. Expect to pay about $2000 down and $400 a month there after; on the conservative side.
In Conclusion
Search Engine Optimization is important. Depending on your needs and revenue, you may not be able to have this professionally done. There are no magical or mysterious techniques. You can do this yourself, but plan on a lot of work ahead of you.