Secrets of Organic Search

Showing up as the number one position for a search term is a potential gold mine for micro businesses. More than likely the user that performed that search is going to click on the number one listing. Why? Because it’s the first listing they see and they know the search engine believes it to be the most relevant site for their search. Based on leaked AOL data a few years ago the first listing is likely to have 3.5 times more clicks that the No. 2 position, and being No. 2 isn’t bad!

So what’s the secret to ranking number one? You can’t just pay to have your site show up, even in the paid listings search engines need to deem your site relevant and worthy before they will serve it. We know “content is king” and that optimizing your title and URL are important parts of organic search, but everyone can create a URL that’s at least somewhat relevant and optimize their title tags for searches. You want to know the trick, the secret, the special combination that will boost your site to the top?

Make your site for the user and the rest will follow, it’s that simple. It’s a broad answer you’ve probably heard before from Google’s head of Webspam Matt Cutts. We tend to think of this answer as a copout, expecting insight to the Google algorithm or specific details on how we can alter our code to improve rankings, but one should really heed Matt Cutts’ advice. Google and other search engines will always try and do what’s best for the user. So if your site is optimized for the user, chances are that your site will eventually rank well for your targeted keywords.

Yes there are certain structural improvements you can perform allowing spiders to crawl your site with more ease, but when it comes down to it there is still no better form of marketing than word of “web”. If people enjoy your site they will share it with others and so on and so forth. A webmaster shouldn’t be too concerned about building their site around spiders. By building a site around the user you’re also building the site around the spider.

Yes, I understand that in the end it might not be the answer you’re looking for, but in the end, it’s the most effective one.

What do yo think about organic search? Looking forward to recieving your comments.

8 Comments to Secrets of Organic Search:

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Ozzie on Thursday, December 02, 2010 5:55 PM

What do I think about Organic Search? Honestly I wish it wasn't so darn difficult to get ranked higher (or that it takes so long). My company has been online for about 6 months now, and we haven't even begun to move up on our page ranking. What we do instead though is use a PPC campaign for our local area. And even that is hard because it is so expensive. See the issue is that we are in a very competitive market (PC Support and Repair). That being the case, I personally know that there are companies doing the exact same thing we do but spending over $100,000 on advertising! Now tell me that you cannot buy a number one spot on Google!

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	Samuel on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 6:59 PM Hi Ozzie, Getting found on the top of Google in a competitive market can be difficult. When searching do you include your location as well? If your business is local, this will be important to try and rank for those keywords in your specific area. One thing that I have seen work in recent times is registering for a Google Places page which will help with your local listing. Paying for advertising on Google does get very expensive and you want to ensure that the traffic is converting into real customers once they click on the page. To your example about competitors paying $100,000 on advertising, this helps with there SEO as the page will obviously be getting more traffic which Google uses as part of the algorithm to rank pages. My suggestion would be, if you are local and want to be found locally, bring a lazer focus to your keywords strategy for your area specifically. Thanks for stopping by be sure to stop back in with any questions or insights for your quest to be found online.

charlotte on Sunday, December 12, 2010 7:29 AM

I am just starting my website and seem to not be able to find it when I type in the full name (fitzroyantiques.com) - it just will not come up. Is this to do with where you are placed or is there something I am not doing to make it accessible? A little advice would be much appreciated. Thankyou.


	Samuel on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 6:37 PM Hi Charlotte, After taking a look at your question it seems to be working now, let me know if you are still not able to find it. Nice work on getting started with your site, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Charles Wambolt on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 12:59 PM

Make the site for the user, and make structural improvements. That's it! Well, what structural improvements? Who would be best to hire who already knows the ropes?

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Carol Dickinson on Friday, January 07, 2011 9:31 PM

Hello. I have always thought that too. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. That is where I have gotten most of my work. I just opened my site www.your-photo-into-art.com and was thinking to link "somehow" to fellow creative folks like myself... or at least those who have the same interest... but not in a competative way... but more for reaching out to individuals who want their photos turned into art. Do I get onto blogs? Is there a more organic or non-organic way to do this? How can I find these people. Are there websites I can list on? It is ALL new and exciting to me. Though I have been doing this for 10 years... I really need widen my customer base.


	Samuel on Thursday, January 13, 2011 10:34 AM Hello Carol, I think your thoughts shared below are great and it seems like you are in the right mind set for collaborating with others online. I would suggest setting up a blog yourself and start sharing interesting content/stories. Secondly as you mentioned, reaching out to other people in your industry is a great thing to do, find blogs and industry websites and reach out to their owners and start talking with them either through blogs or directly through email. In terms of sites to list on I would suggest finding site you think are relevant for your target audience and see if you can get links built up on those pages. Feel free to reach out to us here or on the our Vistaprint Internet Marketing Page. Best of luck with the new initiative.

T Croker on Sunday, February 19, 2012 3:51 AM

www.ajtours.co.uk would like to know if vistaprint dose backlinks.

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