On this page, you’ll find links to some of our most popular and informative articles about search engine marketing from our Professional Services Marketing Blog. If you are looking for help creating your marketing strategy, check out our Strategic Marketing FAQ or download our Free Marketing Plan Guide.
For more tactical marketing advice, check out our free marketing podcasts or our blog marketing quick start guide.
Search Engine Optimization Basics
Search engine optimization (SEO) can initially seem complicated and overwhelming. These articles provide an overview of what SEO is and what it entails. Great web design is crucial to your search engine optimization success. If you don’t already have great content for your website, start there before trying to rank your site in search engines.
- Podcast: Introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Podcast: How Search Engines Work
- Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- What is Search Engine Marketing and Why Should You Care?
- Understanding Search Engine Optimization and Submission
1 – Planning Your SEO Campaign
The first step in any search engine optimization campaign is planning. These articles show you how to create your SEO strategy.
- 5 Steps to Creating Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Campaign
- 4 Steps to Getting a High Organic Search Engine Rank
2 – Keyword Research
Choosing the right keywords to optimize your website for is fundamental to your SEO strategy. If you choose the wrong keywords, you won’t drive targeted traffic to your site, or worse, you get a high rank for a keyword that no one searches for. Here’s how to research keywords searchers are actually searching for.
- 3 Steps To SEO Keyword Research
- Free Keyword Research Tools
- The Myth of Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings: Why Keywords Matter
3 – Website Optimization
Once you have researched your keywords, it’s time to start optimizing your website pages for those keywords. Here are the factors on your website that search engines look for when ranking your website in search results.
- How Do Meta Tags Affect Your Search Rank?
- Improve Your Rank in Search Engines With These Key Page Components
- Search Engine Ranking Factors
4 – Link Building
If you have built a website with great content and optimized your pages for your keywords, the next step is link building. Link building can be challenging if your site doesn’t have great content that people will willingly link to, so before you start asking people for links, ask yourself – “If I was another website owner, would my website content be valuable to their readers?” If not, start creating content that will get you links.
- Learn Who Is Linking To Your Site
- Check Your Inbound Links With These Tools
- Get Inbound Links Related to Your Topic
- Be Wary of Link Exchange Requests
- Gimmick Advertising – Should You Buy A Link From Another Website?
- How Web Directories Can Improve Your Search Engine Rank
5 – SEO Myths
Unfortunately, there is a lot of bad information about search engine optimization on the web. A lot of shady SEO companies will promise you guaranteed rankings or try “black hat” or spamming techniques to get you ranked. While spamming the search engines may work in the short term, you run the risk of getting your site banned by search engines. Here’s what you need to know.
- Are Companies That Promise a #1 Rank on Google Legitimate?
- Black Hat Search Engine Optimization: Stay Away From These Taboo Practices
- Get Listed With Google in 48 Hours
- How Do I Submit My Website To Search Engines?
6 – Pay Per Click
While search engine optimization is great for driving free targeted traffic to your website, it can take weeks or months to rank well, depending on how competitive your keywords are. If you want results quickly – as in the next hour or two – pay per click advertising is the way to go.
