Search engines can help grow your business in a number of ways and help you promote your products and services online. However, I think it is important for people to understand how a search engine works and how you can make your site more search engine friendly.
What is a Search Engine?
When describing a search engine, most people will have different answers. Some people consider search engines a place where they can find information easily. Others might refer to search engines as a place that houses and indexes information about the web. If you are a more technical mind you might describe a search engine as a big massive database application. And finally, if you are more mathematically inclined, your answer might include a discussion on the algorithmic characteristics of search results. What ever your definition, all of the above are absolutely correct.
How Can a Search Engine Help Me Grow My Business?
Search engines can help you grow your business in a number of different ways. The biggest reason to use search engines to grow your business is for the increase in traffic you will get from people clicking on search results and being taken to your website or e-commerce store. This increase in traffic should lead to a number of positive things such as increases in telephone calls, more leads and ultimately more orders and revenue. Additionally, there is a subconscious factor that some people might agree with or not. I believe that by having your site consistently ranked for the main keywords and longer tail keywords, your customers and clients will begin to consider you a huge resource and since Google or Yahoo keep showing your site in their results, it acts like a vote that they think you are the very best at whatever is being searched for.
How Does a Search Engine Work?
The way that a search engine finds your site is through a small program which scours the internet for information. These programs are sometimes called "spiders". I also have heard them referred to as "robots" and "crawlers" as well. However, all of these names describe exactly the same program or process. These "spiders" work around the clock traversing the web for new content and websites, collecting information, and sending it back to the search engines for analysis.
How Do I Get My Website to Show Up in a Search Engine?
There are a number of ways to get your site to show up in a search engine. The most efficient way is to have other sites link to yours. Getting press about your business or website and having it submitted to national PR agencies is also very beneficial. You can also submit your website directly to the search engines to let them know about your site and what it is all about. Ideally, you want to use all avenues to help broadcast your website across the web and you want to do this constantly.
What is the Difference Between Paid Placement and Organic Placement?
The way that your site shows up when someone types in a specific keyword can be done in one of two ways. The first is by paying the search engines to have your site show up. This process is called pay-per-click (PPC) or cost-per-click (CPC). However, both mean and act in the same way. Paid search results show up usually on the top and righthand sides of a search engine results page (SERP). Every time your website appears and someone clicks on it, it costs you a certain amount of money. There is another way to drive traffic to your site and that is done through the organic results. Organic results are the list of sites that appear after someone has typed in the keyword. Organic results are different from paid results in that they don’t cost you anything when people click on the link to your website. And organic results (if implemented the right way), will also show up across multiple search engines whereas the paid results will only show up where you are paying for them.
In closing, search engines are powerful platforms to help grow your business and promote your products and services online. I encourage each of you to get out there and make sure that your site looks professional and clean and adheres to all of the search engine standards that are out there today!
