Online Marketing: Search Engine Optimization Parallels Home Buying

Most people have a really good grasp of the fundamentals of the Real Estate industry. Many Americans will own a house at some time in their lives. Even if one never owns a home, they are likely to have considered buying a real estate at one time or another. There are very few milestone purchases like home buying and real estate is often the most scrutinized.

As such, most people are aware of the key variables that determine value in the Real Estate market: 1. Foundation 2. Structure 3. LOCATION

Foundation: Most consumers are aware of the fact that homes are built from the ground up. If a home’s foundation is flawed, the entire structure could be at risk. The same is true in search engine optimization. A solid foundation is require for long term, sustainable success. In SEO, see: Austin SEO, keyword phrase analysis and research is the foundation of your company’s online marketing plan. All SEO effort should be centered on the company’s targeted phrases. With an analysis of consumer search behavior, the SEO program will have the fundamental structure to support long term online marketing efforts.

Structure: While a foundation consists of building blocks of a solid residential structure, its only a fraction of the entire house. How many residents will eventually come to live upon this foundation? The fundamental value of a home’s foundation is that it provides a permanent base for the structure that will eventually rest upon it . In the end, the quality of the construction is just as important as the foundation when assessing property value. As in the fairy tale story of the three little pigs, a house made of straw holds no real value.

As you might have imagined, in this analogy your company website is your online house. Google is the both the appraiser and inspector, and as such assesses a wide range of tests on your website to determine the value and quality of the construction. Just like in real estate, architecture is critical component in the calculation of property value, and the same goes for grade of materials used in construction. From an SEO perspective, construction materials include such components as:

1. Website coding: Best practices coding, including W3C validation, is essential to enable the search engines to properly index every line of code on your online property. While city inspectors can’t evaluate every detail, the search engines can see EVERY line of code on your site.

2. Site Content: Although the Internet is continually changing and evolving, the one thing that has never changed is that content is king, and is now more important than ever. With keyword research and strategy comparable to a home’s structural foundation, your content should be created in a way that delivers the best possible SEO. This is achieved using optimized body content and other coding elements such as website’s page and meta titles, text headings, keyword anchor text, keyword ratios, etc. For example, if you have a page on your site related to Austin web design“, the content and wording on the page should be related to this phrase.

Location, Location, Location: The most talked about element of property value the subject’s physical address. External factors will always influence the value of a property. Even luxury properties fail to realize optimal value if they are located in low value neighborhoods. Other factors such as proximity to prime retail, demographics and crime activity can contribute significantly to real estate valuation.

Similarly, circles of association play a critical role in Google’s ranking for a web property. From an SEO standpoint, links from high quality websites will improve your value in the ranking algorithm. Search engines constantly gather and analyze the links to each website and use this to determine relevance to a users search. If your site is associated with the Internet’s version of bad neighborhoods, you can’t expect search engines like Google to take their users there.

Top Google rankings do not happen by accident. If you want to prove to the search engines that your company should show up at the top of search results, make sure your website, its content and your link building efforts are focused quality over quantity.

Aaron Kaiser is the Business Development Director for Web Design Austin SEO, an www.WebDesignAustinSEO.com firm that provides search engine optimization, web development and design services in the Austin metro area and throughout Texas.

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