Search Engine Optimization

Explaining what search engines are, in this day and age, would probably be a waste of time since most of us not only use them on a daily basis, but a new word has even been coined to define this activity; "just google it"!

A perhaps more useful (and relevant) thing to ask would be, how do I get my website ranked as high as possible, so that people can find it quick and easy? Unless you're a national brand, whom people would be searching for by name, chances are you want your website to generate top listings based on keywords. In other words, if your company manufactures, sells, or has anything to do with let's say "wonder widgets", you'd want people searching the Internet on this topic to hopefully find your site listed near the top of the search results.

Enter Search Engine Optimization

SEO, as it is called for short, is the process by which a website is analyzed, optimized and ultimately resubmitted to the search engines for indexing.

Not convinced yet? Let's try this definition, quoted from About.com:

"Search engine optimization, in a nutshell, is the process of overseeing the development or re-development of a website, so that it will naturally attract traffic by securing top ranking on the major search engines/directories for selected search terms and phrases"

Still not sure? OK, let's try again. Search engines have their very own criteria by which they deem any given website's relevancy to a search that's being performed. Such criteria vary from search engine to search engine, and change over time. Thus, a true SEO project is ongoing; it cannot be said that an effective SEO is perfomed once, successful as it may be, and then stop. It is not enough to obtain a high ranking; it is equally important to maintain it.

So how exactly does SEO work?

To not hide behind words, SEO is a quest to beat the search engines at their own game. And, as the old adage goes, it is important to know one's enemy. Enemy, in an affectionate way, of course. We need the search engines to sort out the never-ending billions of websites on the Internet.

WebStream has spent an enormous amount of time studying the way search engines work, the way weight is given to certain aspects and taken away from others. We even use tools that allow us to view a website in the exact way a search engine would, and trust us, in most cases what you see is entirely different from what you'd normally see in mainstream browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or the likes.

We also work with you in identifying keywords that will leverage a better ranking when intelligently spread — or grouped — throughout your website. At the same time, if we feel that your website isn't particularily well laid out and thus your relevant content is buried deep inside pages, we will make constructive suggestions on how to gain on this front as well.

There are many other aspects that we take into consideration when we optimize websites for the search engines, and as we progress along the way of an SEO project, you can expect plenty of reporting, including before-and-after comparisons of rankings.

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