Wednesday, November 12, 2008

SEO Tools and Changing Search Engine Expectations



SEO tools, or search engine optimization tools, are invaluable in optimizing your web site and ranking well in search engines. Using SEO tools correctly can make a vital difference in your site's success. The key word is "correctly." Using SEO tools incorrectly can also make a difference to your site's success... by flushing it down the toilet. Before you use any SEO tools, make sure you know exactly what you are doing.

For instance, keyword tools are indispensable, perhaps the most powerful SEO tools in any webmaster's toolbox. A well chosen and well programmed set of keyword tools can make it possible for you to list the keywords your web pages target, track their ranking in search engines by keyword, measure your pages' keyword density, and compare your site with your competitors' sites, allowing you to improve your targeting and fix false targeting. It is also possible to supplement your new page creation process by generating lists of associated keywords that you did not previously target, home in on high traffic keywords, and create lists of common misspellings to fine tune your targeting.

You can also accidentally oversaturate your keywords by choosing the wrong keyword density, pick keywords that search engines have flagged as undesirable, or make any of a legion of SEO errors that can put your site on spam lists. Because real spam merchants are excellent at showing search engines what they want to see, search engines constantly revise their algorithms, changing their "opinion" of overused SEO tricks. Google is particularly frustrating to target; site features that Google loved three years ago might now be verboten. If you use outdated information or an outdated SEO tool, whoomp, there goes everything you have worked for.

Therefore, although online SEO tools may make it appear easy to do your own optimization yourself, you may discover that this is a false economy. A better alternative to doing your optimization yourself, then running an ad campaign to fix the damage you might do, is to invest in a professional SEO services firm. Their SEO knowledge will be fresh, and their SEO tools will be cutting edge. In the end, your web page will be highly targeted, fiercely competitive, and well designed to adapt to changing search engine expectations, an excellent tool that will represent your company well.



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