Organic Chemistry

PREV 1 | 2

Despite the rise of blogging and online video, some of the old methods for getting to the top of Google remain important. Website headings should clearly state the theme of the page. Links should describe what they connect to instead of saying, "Click here." And every website should include a clear, accurate site map. Bear in mind, however, that overdoing it with these Web 1.0 tactics could actually hurt your ranking. If your website is flooded with hidden meta-tags or irrelevant content, it could be relegated to Google's "Supplemental Index," a listing of sites that Google trusts less and ranks low. That's a backwater you'd rather avoid.

Other old-school tactics have lost effectiveness as well. Swapping links with other sites can be useless because search engines now weigh the relevancy and quality of the links. "You can hurt your site by linking to bad neighborhoods, like a site that's just content stolen from other sites," says Todd Malicoat, head of Stuntdubl, a search engine consultancy in Troy, New York. The key is to develop content that users want to read. A clever Top 10 list might get you noticed on Digg. The surge of interest in watching online video has made video tutorials popular, especially when they are labeled with good captions, says Jeffrey Pruitt, president of SEMPO and executive vice president of the digital ad agency iCrossing. Spangler added a tool that allows his customers to share their experiments on his site.

If organic search sounds like a lot of work, it is. And it may take time before it pays off. Mark Levit, managing partner of VisAcuity.com, which sells reading glasses, says he spends five to six hours a week studying his results to see how changes have helped, or hurt, his organic results. Levit uses Google Analytics, a service that shows how customers get to a website and which pages they visit. He also uses HitTail, another online analytics tool, to see which search queries generate organic traffic. So far, his site, launched in June 2006, remains well down the list of searches for items like reading glasses. He says he'll be patient, since paid ads cost him between 25 and 30 percent of the gross sale price of a pair of glasses. "A sale from an organic click is much more profitable than a pay per click or a discount coupon," says Levit.

PREV 1 | 2

Try a RISK-FREE Issue of Inc. Today!

Renew | Contact Us | Current Issue

Select Services