Search Engine Optimization ( SEO)

Whenever we got a search engine and enter a search string – places of tourist interest in France, good hotels in Los Angeles – a series of results get thrown up. As a surfer, I would tend to click on the first result that appears on my screen. Then the second, the third and so on.

SEO is about improving the volume/quality of traffic to a website by methods - paid or unpaid. The raison d’etre for SEO is on the basis that the earlier or higher a site appears on the search list, the more visitors it will attract.

SEO considers how search engines work and what a visitor would look for. Websites are accordingly optimized. Optimization is achieved by modifying the content on the website, HTML and the website coding to increase its relevance to keywords.

Commonly used methods of SEO are –

Indexing

The better know search engines like google, yahoo etc use ‘crawlers’ to get search results. Crawlers are computer programs that search the world wide web in an orderly manner. Crawling is considered a very effective means of providing up-to-date data.

Cross-linking

Linking is a process where two websites are linked with each other. There could be different types of links –

Reciprocal linking is a link between two websites to ensure mutual traffic.

Relevant linking is a form of reciprocal linking, in which a site the sites that are linked have compatible content.

Three way linking is a special form of reciprocal linking where three websites are linked together.

By giving more links to a website increases PageRank used by search engines. The higher the page rank of a website, the higher it appears when in the list of your search results.

URL normalization

URL normalization standardizes URLs in a consistent manner. Search Engines employ URL normalization to find out if a link has been visited.

Back-links

Back-links are links to a website of a web page. Search Engines use number of back-links to a website of web-page as a key factor to determine a website’s search engine ranking.

SEO is not necessarily appropriate for every website. Marketing strategies need to be worked out based on site owner’s objectives. SEO may generate ROI. Results from an unpaid SEO initiative may go through peaks and troughs because ways in which search engines work ( algorithms) can change.

Online Marketing turn-offs

An effective sales and marketing tool, an online marketing needs to be thought thru’ keeping in mind the user psyche. Any online campaign that gets on the wrong side of the browser is a non-starter.

Examples of commonly observed online marketing put-offs –

The all pervasive ad

This is the ad which completely masks the text of the website. This is best explained with an example. The calling card company True Roots often advertises on www.timesofindia.com. The moment you get onto the home page, you get this huge ad of true roots which completely masks all the text. You do have the option of ‘closing’ the ad. But the close key is in one corner of the ad. And unless you get the click on the close button spot on, you’ll end up opening the true roots home page willy-nilly. Nothing more irritating to a user than being forced to see what he doesn’t want to.

The pre-roll ad

Being forced to see an ad before seeing the video you wish to see is infuriating – completely puts off the user. I recall numerous occasions when I visited a website to see some live action and was forced to see a video ad. If you have to use a video ad then a companion ad would be ideal. Pre-roll is often considered as coming in the way of you and the video you wish to see.

Seeking personal details

Asking a user to give his details – name, email id etc at the very outset are creating barriers. Good online manners requires that you allow the user to browse around before asking him/her to register.

Does the website allow a search?

Many websites, believe it or not, don’t have a search option. I know of a few online movie websites I frequent that don’t have a search option. I know which movie I am looking for – how nice it would be for me to be able to enter the movie name in a search box!

Confirmation codes you can’t decipher

Ok – I have visited the website, liked what I saw and decide to register. Having entered all the mundane details like name, email id etc, I am asked to enter a confirmation code. Confirmation codes are quite often impossible to decipher. More often than not, I get the confirmation code right on the 2^nd or 3^rd attempt!

These are some of the turn-offs I could think of. I would invite readers of this blog to email us other such put-offs they have encountered.