Search Engine Marketing

The total scope of search engine marketing includes four different factors:
Search engine optimization
Link building
Directory submission
Paid advertising (pay-per-click, etc.)

Search Engine Optiization:
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the part of search engine marketing that includes researching, writing and incorporating keywords into a site’s pages in order to achieve higher search engine results. Researching keywords means finding out which words and phrases Internet users are employing to find web sites. For instance, if you administer a travel web site, you will need to know which travel-related keywords and phrases people are entering in search engines. Once keywords are found, they must be incorporated into each page on a site. This can be accomplished by writing HTML code called META tags that search engines use to determine what the site’s content is about. These tags include the title, description and a list of keywords. Another way to incorporate keywords is to include them in the content of a site. Content can include articles, tools, testimonials, etc. Any text on a web site is “seen” and catalogued by search engines. The search engines use this data to determine where a site will rank.

Link Building:
This aspect of search engine market involves getting other web sites to link to your site. Many search engines use linking as a way to determine where a site will rank in their listings. This means the search engine can determine how many sites provide a link to your site. In general, the more sites that link to you the better it will be for your search engine rankings. However, many search engines also use the quality of the sites that link to you as a factor in determining rank. This means a site should be discriminating in which sites they allow to link to them.

Directory Submissions:
A large part of search engine marketing is submitting a site for inclusion in a directory. Getting a site listed in a directory (such as Yahoo! or The Open Directory) is important to achieving good search engines rankings. Search engines can determine whether a site is listed in a directory, and use that listing to determine where to rank that site. Many directories charge a fee to be included.

Pay-per-Click Programs:
Many search engines and directories offer options to have advertising for a fee every time a user clicks on your ad. The keyword research that is used for Search Engine Optimization can also be used to determine which keywords you would like to advertise you site with in search engines. Once you begin a pay-per-click advertising campaign, users will see your ad when they search for the keywords you have determined are best for your site.