What is SEO?

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” which is the process of improving the visibility of a website in a search engine’s organic search results. In general, the higher the ranking, and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. Building a web site is pointless if no one can find it and three quarters...

Blogging Shown to Drive Substantial Traffic to Websites

Blogging has been proven to be an effective online marketing strategy in terms of generating traffic and increasing search engine rankings.  A study by HubSpot found that small businesses who maintained a blog reaped the benefits of 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages than their non-blogging counterparts. These statistics translate to a simple fact: businesses who...

The Rise of Local SEO

photo © 2009 Shaun Anderson | more info (via: Wylio)As search engines continue to modify their ranking algorithms in effort to keep the rankings legitimate, a listing’s location is becoming more and more significant to earning a high rank.  Just as social networking websites allow users to communicate and share among a small social group, search engines are keeping results close to home, allowing...

Avoiding Black Hat SEO

photo © 2011 Laura Blankenship | more info (via: Wylio) Enlisting outside help to improve your business’s search engine rankings can be tricky due to the many companies who use illegal practices, called Black Hat SEO, to up their client’s search engine scores.  Guarantees made by Black Hat companies may sound too good to be true, because they are too good to be true!  Search engines...

Conversion Rate as Measure of SEO Success

photo © 2009 Ben Newton | more info (via: Wylio) A key measure of online marketing and search engine optimization success is tracking the conversion rate.  The conversion rate of a website is a measure of how many people are purchasing the product or service after finding it online.  This is a great measure of SEO success because if there is a high number of people consuming the product or service...

The Smartphone Revolution

photo © 2010 Yutaka Tsutano | more info (via: Wylio) With the advent and increasing popularity of smartphones, namely the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry, many people can now access information on-the-go in the palm of their hand.  Now, if one wants to research or find the location of a business while out and about, it is as simple as doing a quick search with a mobile device. According to emarketer.com,...

Some Less Technical SEO to Help Your Business

photo © 2007 Danard Vincente | more info (via: Wylio) Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an essential online marketing tool to ensure your website is seen by consumers.  SEO is the refined art of upping one’s rankings on Google and other top search engines.  According to The Globe and Mail, Google wants only the best and highest quality links to appear in their rankings, so SEO of today is...