Tech Corner Post: SEO

Written by Morgan Andrews

            Search engine optimization is defined as the way to improve visibility of a website in a search engine’s ‘natural’ search results. When searching for anything through a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, the software pulls key information from a website’s HTML code. HTML code is what a website is made of and the information in the code helps categorize the pages in the indexes of the search engines. Search engine optimization has many parts to it such as hosting issues, content and structure of the site, and keyword search, which is most important. The main goal is ultimately to increase traffic and visibility to the specified website. The ability to manipulate and design ‘metadata’, which is how a website describes the content, organizes the information for search engines. The focus is primarily on how and what people are searching for using keywords. Not bringing a website to its full potential using search engine optimization will ultimately cause the website to be lost in a sea of information. An example would be if someone were searching for a motorcycle shop in Atlanta because they needed his or her bike repaired but did not know of a specific shop. By typing in ‘motorcycle’, ‘repair’ or ‘Atlanta’ the search engine the individual was using sorted through and picked the website with the most relevant information to the keywords. You want to optimize your site so that your website appears first in the search results. Anyone in the PR industry can utilize these search engine optimization tactics to increase recognition for the clients they are working with. Also, companies or organizations should update their sites frequently in order to keep the audience’s attention. However, search engine optimization can be used for your own personal digital presences. College graduates should be very involved in what they put on the Internet and through which sites they project content. In today’s digital world and with the numerous social media sites, an individual can promote themselves outside of their resume.

External Links:

http://searchengineland.com/seotable

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk