In recent weeks, we’ve been looking at The Belford Group’s six service areas and sharing more about what each service includes—and what it means for our clients. This blog is the final entry in that series. Join us as we talk spiders and humans … the two key audiences in SEO.

We’ve all seen the Bing ads that claim to be a cure for “Search Overload Syndrome.” The characters will hear a word and start spouting random, seemingly unrelated words that then spawn more seemingly unrelated lists of topics.

Ever feel like that when you search for something online? Like you can’t find what you want? Do you want your potential customers feeling that way when searching for your products or services?

Search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO, can help solve that problem…if done correctly.

Let’s be clear on one point. Having an optimized website will not keep you from finding mismatched or too many results when you “Google” something. But if your website is optimized, it will help your website rise above all the random junk that others will find when they search for your products or services. Good SEO will point searchers right to your website and in turn, to your front door.

Spiders and Humans and Websites…OH MY!

Websites are made with two audiences in mind: spiders and humans. You’re probably thinking “OK, we get the humans part. That’s our customers. But spiders?”

Yes, spiders. Web spiders, otherwise known as the search engine crawlers that creep over the web as people search trying to find all the potential right fit for what the person is seeking. If your site is optimized for search engines, people will be able to find it in a basic search, even if they don’t know the name of your business.

The spiders are what bring the human eyes…your customer’s eyes…to your website. That’s where good web development comes in. Excellent graphics and writing will give your customers the information they need and draw them to your business.

Pieces of the SEO puzzle

There are several pieces of the SEO puzzle that must be in place for your website to be at the top of the search pile. Our staff is trained to leverage each component of the SEO puzzle as they build your site.

• Link Building. Establishing links to your website using link building services and social media; link sharing with other sites and linking to additional pages from within your own site.
• Keywords. Using words that will most likely be used in a search throughout your website so that the search engine will deem your site “relevant” to the search.
• Descriptions and Tags. Writing page descriptions and using tags in the website’s “back door” features that tell the search engines what the page is about and why it might be relevant to the search.
• Design Elements. Utilizing font sizes and other design elements that help grab the attention of search engines.

SEO Consulting

When you seek SEO consulting at The Belford Group, we are able to analyze how well your site is doing now, and develop specific strategies to increase the site’s performance. We optimize all sites that we create for search engines, but we also help improve sites that already exist.

Another component of our SEO consulting service is tracking how much increased business you receive based on our optimization. We have several clients who have drastically improved their sales and grown their customer base directly because of SEO improvements we made to their website.

The Belford Group is an experienced image-building marketing and website development agency, with more than a decade spent providing creative marketing and advertising solutions to fit any budget …and any medium.

We’d love to learn more about what you do, and find ways to help you do more of it. Call us at 479-443-9945 to schedule a free consultation.