How Do I Get To The Top Of Those Search Engines? Key Word Integration

Chances are, your marketing plan includes a marketing objective about using the Internet for lead generation and a core strategy about increasing your search engine ranking. Without a marketing team, this can be overwhelming and you may not know where to start. The articles are written to help sales and marketing professionals gain a broad understanding of how search engine marketing works, knowing they will continue to rely on experts to manage the technical aspects of their Web strategies.

The first article provided some general guidelines about search engine optimization (SEO) and how to begin a keyword identification strategy. The next step is establishing a search engine marketing strategy (SEM) and keyword integration plan. The goal is to have a potential customer type these words into a Google search box and see your company's link at the top of the results page.

The whole idea is to get your words listed on as many external Websites as possible, and then have them link back to your Website. Search engines, such as Google, will recognize these words, associate them with your Website and give your Website higher rankings in relation to those words. 

Integrating these Words into your Website

This was discussed in the first article but just to recap; the keywords that you've identified for each of your key Web pages e.g., the home page, service pages, etc. need to be integrated into the respective Web pages. This includes the marketing text, the URL name, the meta tags, etc. This means that you will have your Web developer and your copywriter work together as a team.

In the early days, Web marketing experts would try to trick the search engines by loading their Web pages with their keywords in very creative ways. They would repeat the words several times in the meta tags (which don't show up on the Web page itself) and they would even put the words into the Web pages using transparent fonts, so again, they wouldn't show up on the Website but the words would still be part of the Website. This strategy worked for a little while but when the search engines realized what was happening, they put new algorithms in place. They started rejecting Websites that were using this tactic and started putting more and more emphasis on Websites that featured high-quality content and useful information.

For marketing professionals, this means that creating a high-quality Website with useful and unique content is just as important as keyword integration, and striking the right balance is critical. While the first article discussed Search Engine Optimization (SEO), this article introduces Search Engine Marketing (SEM). This step assumes you've created a Website that is search engine optimized and you are now ready to start the search engine marketing phase.

Strategic Key Word Integration

Below are some ideas about how you can get your keywords and company's URL out on the Internet. Some are paid Internet advertising ideas and some are non-paid and are virtually free; but in either case, it's very important to understand the importance of getting your keywords integrated into relevant Websites. All keyword links are good but the ones that appear on relevant Websites will be perceived by search engines as being more important (in relation to your keywords) and will be ranked higher.

Generic business directory sites, or even your friend's Website for that matter, will not be as effective as a Website that features the same type of content and the same keywords as your Website. In addition, the higher ranked that their Website is, the more effective it will be. Here's the key. If you know of a Website that features the keywords you are focusing on, and they are a highly ranked Website, then you will want to have your keywords and company links appear on that Website. The search engines will recognize that your company's URL is featured on a site(s) with a very high ranking and therefore, they will increase the ranking of your Website; which means you will show up higher on the search engine results the ultimate goal!

Non-Paid Key Word Integration

Non-paid refers to keyword integration that you can achieve without having to buy a Web banner or sponsorship and there are many ways you can do this. One of the most common ways is by writing articles, which of course need to include your keywords, and getting them posted somewhere on the Internet. The easiest way is to post them on free article Websites such as freearticles.com, EzineArticles, Articles Base.com. I say this is easy because all you have to do is designate an author from your organization e.g, a sales or marketing staff member and have them write and submit the articles to these Websites.

Other than the time it takes to write the articles, it's free. The articles do have to be approved by the various Websites but as long as they are quality articles, they will be accepted--you wouldn't want to associate your organization with poorly written articles anyway. The articles will need to feature your keywords and then have links pointing to the respective pages on your Website.

To take this a step further, you can submit your articles to industry associations. Most Websites are constantly searching for new and fresh content. If you can submit an article and position the author as an industry expert, they may be willing to post your article and your associated links. This is a win-win as you can get your keywords integrated into relevant, high-ranking industry Websites as well as promote your company's services.

Another relatively easy way of getting your keywords on the Internet is by using Press Releases. Today's Press Releases must include your keywords. The main purpose of your Press Releases, as it has always been, is to share the news with your company's stakeholders and clients; but in today's world, they have a second objective, which is to help you with your search engine optimization strategy.

Since your Press Releases will be posted (hopefully!) on various Websites, you'll want to take advantage of that and use it as a way to get your keywords out on the Internet. Another thing you can do is post your Press Releases on free press releases distribution Websites such as free-press-release.com and freePRnow.com. While these sites may or may not help you too much in sharing your actual news to your key audience, they will help you promote your keywords online.

Socializing Key Word Integration

Social media is another strategy you can use to get your keywords out on the Internet. When many of us think about social media or social networking, we think about developing new contacts, positioning the company as a thought leader and maybe gaining customer insights. Equally important, however, is to use these sites in your SEM efforts. Corporate profiles on Facebook, employee profiles on LinkedIn and key word tagging on videos posted on YouTube are all very effective SEM strategies.

Other creative ways to get your keywords out there without spending hard dollars include joining regional and industry-related business directory Websites (many of these are free), setting up a blog, joining discussion groups, participating in interviews, submitting White Papers to media and industry Websites, etc. As long as you integrate your keywords and your Website's URL into these executions, you will be supporting your SEM strategies.

Paid Key Word Integration

Once you've exhausted your free opportunities, you can start to look at ways that you can invest in paid web advertising tactics to get your keywords out on the Internet. The first and most obvious is the online Yellow Pages. You probably already have your business listed here and usually, online listings are available as part of a package that includes both printed and online ads. The key here is that when you write your ad, which is likely just a few short sentences, that you include your keywords in the ad, along of course, with your company Website URL.

A very popular Internet advertising tool is Google's AdWords. These are the paid sponsorship ads that appear beside the organic listings when you do a search on Google. The text in these ads should also feature your keywords. These ads are short so you have to really hone in on your top one or two keywords that are the most important in your search engine marketing strategy. This can also be a good place to feature your geo-key words. You should also register your business with Google maps.

Other ideas include a link on the Better Business Bureau Website, which will require a fee to join, or the chamber of commerce. Web banners on industry websites, online trade, and industry Websites, etc. are all opportunities for you to get your keywords and company's URL out on the Internet. The advantage of paid advertising is that you will have more control over the quality of the Website and can, for example, get your keywords featured on the most popular Websites in your own industry.

These are some general guidelines about how to begin a keyword integration strategy and will help you get on your way to developing your SEM strategy. The next step is developing what's known as a link exchange, reciprocal link exchange or inbound link strategy. These strategies are focused more on getting your Website's URL link posted on other Websites. This is an important criterion that search engines such as Google use to determine the value of your Website: the more inbound links you have, especially from relevant Websites with similar content, the higher Google will rate your Website. The next article in the series will go into that in more detail.