Search Engines – Forget the Quick Fix!

By: Thomas Young

A common misconception in Internet marketing is that search engines are the most efficient way to drive traffic to your site. Though a solid search engine strategy can help facilitate your presence on the Internet, search engines are only part of a bigger picture. Here are a few things to take into account when considering search engines.

Key Words

Everything that is done in search engines is dependent on key words. Potential customers use them to find what they are looking for, and you can use them to your advantage to get better placement in the search engine results. The key words you choose to go after will determine your position in search engine rankings. Therefore, know what words your potential customers will likely use and go after those, if possible.

Search Engine Rules

Sixteen major search engines and directories dominate the market, and each one has its own requirements for ranking pages. For you to have your site listed on each search engine you have to meet the specifications for each individual one. What makes this more difficult is that many search engines or directories are man-made, or reviewed by people. The bottom line is you are competing against thousands of other sites for rankings, so you need to have a sound search engine strategy.

Have Clear Expectations

The best way to get results with any search engine is to have a professional review what you are trying to do, and determine what strategy is most appropriate. When possible, select key words that are not highly competitive. For example, if you are a real estate agent, going after the key words “real estate” for your site would be almost impossible due to the competition for those words, but going after “real estate Colorado Springs” is very attainable.

Search Engines Are Not The Only Option

There are many ways to drive traffic to your site. Most people think about search engines first, but in reality there are dozens of ways to drive traffic to your site. Your marketing strategy is not complete if you are looking solely at search engines as a means to generate traffic. This is especially true if you have a highly competitive marketplace and you need to generate traffic immediately – search engine registration processes take time.

It is important to note that search engines are still struggling to develop their business models and most are not profitable. Pay-for-position search engines seem to be the wave of the future, and GoTo.com is the leader in this area. These are search engines that guarantee placement because you pay for every click you receive, and they produce the most targeted results.

Give us a call and we’d be happy to talk with you more about whether or not search engines can impact your business.