Search Explained (brief)

What is all the hype about SEO, Search Engine Optimization and why is it so important for your website? Every week I get phone calls from SEO companies stating that they can get my company’s website on the top of the natural search listings if I give them large sums of money every week. It’s hard to consider when I am at the top of Google, Yahoo and MSN (not to mention a dozen others of my understanding) from my own techniques.

To answer the question above, you first have to understand what the internet is. Unlike our Universe, there are answers. Optimizing techniques and practices may be all in theory, but if your website is in the top three natural search listings, then you’re doing something right. If it’s not, you need to consider a full redesign and reimplementation of your html structure.

Now for some metaphor to put search engines (i.e. Google) into perspective;

Think of a mass of some sort with thousands of millions of tentacles. These tentacles go to the edges of time always stretching and dipping into crevices and spaces hunting for data. It is this data that is content or information. Your website is one of these areas that the tentacles want to explore and feel around picking up the information you are providing assuming it has some value to the growth of the mass that the tentacles are going after. However, your channels must be clutter free and open.

A poorly optimized website is similar to a stuffy nose. Difficult to breath, but the mouth cannot smell. Therefore, you miss the fragrance of the rose garden as you walk through. A properly designed and constructed website has these channels free for the tentacles (or bots) to reach your content.