Trying to understand the language of internet marketing can be overwhelming. The following terms and statistics provides a basic, or entry-level orientation to this fascinating subject.
SEO—Stands for search engine optimization. It is the process or strategy implemented to increase the number of visits to a website by achieving a higher ranking following the results of an internet search. The ideal ranking achieved by SEO is on the first page where 92% of all clicks occur. Only eight percent of people searching go to the second page and beyond.
Natural or “Organic” listings—Websites ranked from an internet search that are not paid for are called organic listings. Generally, at the top of the page, the first four positions are paid listings with the word “Ad” next to it. The listings below the ads are the natural or organic listings. Internet data from multiple sources confirm that 80% of people conducting searches click on the organic listings rather than the ads.
Google Ad Words—An advertisement service provided by Google to obtain high placement on the search engines based on bids for keyword phrases. The cost is determined by competition for the phrases. These are the ads that show up either at the top or the bottom of the page, depending on the amount of a company’s budget. These are also called pay-per-click ads or PPC, because the website is charged an amount every time someone clicks on the ad, regardless if the person buys or contacts the company for service. The ads stay in place until the clicks have totaled the company’s budget for the month.
Bounce rate—This represents the percentage of visitors that visit a website and leave, or bounce, quickly without viewing other pages within the same site. A high bounce rate is an indication that a website is not effectively maintaining the interest of the website visitor. Generally, it’s because the page that was clicked failed to answer the question(s) raised in the search terms. A low bounce rate means visitors like what they see and visit other pages on the site. Websites that implement an effective SEO strategy and ranks on the first page organically, generally demonstrates a bounce rate three times lower than a website discovered by an ad.
Site Map—A file where every page of your website can be seen and provides a direct link to those pages. It is essential to have a site map if you want the search engines to find and index all your pages.
Robots.txt—This functions like a “traffic cop” and tells the search engines which pages they can index for you. Very important that it is “on” and allows your site to be indexed.
Title tag—This is like your storefront name that tells the search engines what you do and where you provide service.
Multiple index files—You only want one index file. Sites that are poorly indexed and consequently get poor placement often have multiple index files. This confuses the search engines and prevents pages from being properly indexed. If they are not properly indexed, they won’t show up in search results.
Website Optimization Analysis—There are many factors that impact how well a website is organized and designed for higher rankings on the search engines. To see how well your site is optimized, click here and enter your website’s address, or URL, to take advantage of the optimization test we developed. For a detailed explanation of the areas where your site was strong or weak, contact us via email at john@maketop10.com.
Useful internet statistics
This information, collected from multiple sources, indicates the importance of a company’s website in an overall marketing strategy.
- 75-92% of users never scroll beyond the first page of search results
- 86% of consumers rely on the internet to find a local business
- 29% of consumers search for local businesses at least once every 7 days
- 72% of consumers say search is their first choice to find information on local merchants
- Google has an 85.8% market share on search (94.5% on mobile!)
- 46% of all Google searches are local
- Business location is the primary information sought by local searches
- Local searches lead 50% of mobile users to visit a business within 24 hours
- 1 in 3 of these mobile user’s decisions are made right before a visit
- 18% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day(Source: Bright Local & Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal)
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