Increase Web Site Traffic » SEO

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The primary focus of a Search Engine Optimization campaign is to increase web site traffic by having the highest position in the search engines. May it come as no surprise, that in a recent study taken by the C.S. Dept. at Cornell University, the first, second and third place ranking web sites receive the highest percentage of traffic with first place - first page position receiving more than forty percent of the traffic for the search keyword or phrase. [joachims et al {PDF Doc}] . The second position web site receives approximately 8% of the views, regardless of the relevance of the url for the title and query results in the S.E.R.P. snippet, and for the positions from three through ten, the percentages are reduced much farther. Do you want to Increase Web Site Traffic?

There are two different strategies that are used in approaching an optimization campaign to increase web site traffic: Organic Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click (PPC). When it comes to generating customers, both campaigns have their pros and cons. However, to increase web site traffic from targeted consumers, organic optimization is more effective. To make a sound business decision, we can compare the features and benefits of the two different programs.

Before we move on, there are some differences that need to be clarified. The user experience from PPC advertising is quite different from that of an organic SEO campaign. Since the user has effectively been "targeted" by the search query that they entered, they are naturally inclined to take a position that the search results were produced as part of a marketing strategy. Research shows that users are more than six times as likely to choose organic seach results over P.P.C. [{PDF Doc}] . So it seems that right from the start, the most beneficial way generate more visitors to your web site, is to increase web site traffic with SEO, not PPC.

You may ask, "what are the consumer's opinion regarding PPC advertising?" Again research shows that like any other form of advertising, consumers are much more likely to make purchases when they have confidence in the product or service. In a user survey given by the search marketing firm, Iprospect, 60.5% of the users that search through Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Aol, chose to respond to organic, algorithmic links. Additionally 39.5% of those surveyed, chose to follow the sponsored advertising campaigns. In another survey, ... the results showed that 60.8% of those that use Yahoo! and 72.3% that use Google, chose natural, organic search results as the results that were the most relevant to their search queries. ¹[iprospect behavioral study {PDF}]  ²[iprospect & Jupiter ]

There are two major elements you need to perform well for organic search engine optimization results:

A) Keyword Rich Content
B) Inbound Links (backlinks)

If you want to increase web site traffic with SEO, these two elements are the main factors that will determine the scope of your SEO efforts. From there, you can set a marketing plan to achieve your SEO goals.