“Getting found” on the net is a fundamental component of Inbound Marketing. And Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a great way to ensure that people searching for your type of products or services will find you as they search on Google, Yahoo, or other more specialized search engines. But remember, if you cannot get your company listed on the first search engine results page (SERP), then you really aren’t there. That’s because 85% of searchers never go beyond the first page.
SEO Fundamentals
A couple of weeks ago Eric posted SEO Basics 101. At the very core, basic SEO is all about having great content focused around your website’s keyword identity (if you are not familiar with the term, stay tuned, I’ll cover this in an upcoming post), and simple optimization in website structure and architecture. It’s that simple. Oddly enough, despite all the talk about SEO and the thousands of SEO “consultants” peddling their wares, most sites are surprisingly unoptimized at the basic level. And so, for most websites, even such basic SEO practices will give you a considerable boost in your SERP ranking.
But what if SEO 101 is not enough to get you on that first page? What if you are in a highly competitive market, with lots of established, rich-content sites (aka “the big dogs”), lots of links, and sound SEO practices?
Well, then you have two options.
Rand Fishkin explains The Long Tail
Option 1 is to acknowledge that you cannot beat the big dogs on highly competitive keywords, and so you decide to “play puppy” and look for smaller market niches in the long-tail of search terms. Usually this means optimizing around multiword keyword phrases of 3, 4, or even 5 words. For example, if you cannot compete in “electronic controls”, you might be able to rank successfully with “multi-axis servo-based motion controllers”. Yes, search volumes for these specific keyword phrases are much smaller, but competition is also much less. So if you jump into the long tail of search terms, you can usually win with SEO 101 tactics. Keep in mind that multi-word keyword phrases also result in more focused searches, and better alignment with your product/service offering, less bounce, and more stick. In other words, higher quality visitors!
Option 2 is to refuse to concede to the big dogs and go for advanced SEO strategies. Now you’re committing to the 99.99% solution, both in technical and marketing SEO. And now you need a real SEO expert.
It would be nice to gift-wrap a quick top 10 list of advanced SEO tactics. But that would do Advanced SEO no justice. And chances are that your top 10 will be different from everyone else’s top 10: highly customized based on the specifics of your site, your competition, and your search objectives.
One group of SEO experts that consistently impresses me are the people at SEOmoz, especially their CEO Rand Fishkin. Not only because SEO is all they do, not only because of their stellar reputation in the industry, but because as engineer I value their science-based approach. You see, Search Engines are complex animals, their exact algorithms secret, so nobody really knows (if they tell you they do, move on). SEOMoz backs their opinions with tons of testing, correlation data, and ranking models.
If you want some insight into the world of Advanced SEO, check out their Advanced SEO presentation that Rand Fishkin gave at Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University. Beyond that, their website is loaded with content on every imaginable SEO minutiae, and Rand’s Whiteboard Fridays are entertaining video clips to keep you updated on all aspects of advanced SEO. I find that stuff fascinating. If you don’t, do yourself a big favor and hire someone that does.
Until next time – Axel
PS: Check out our whitepaper on how Gossamar uses SEO and other techniques to stimulate online demand for your products and services.
Tags: Keyword Phrases, Rand Fishkin, SEO, SEOmoz, The Long Tail
Eric 
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