Search Engine Optimization or optimizing for Google, Bing and Yahoo is the best way to increase organic traffic and your website’s position in SERPs. If you are looking for tips and advice, check out our blog!

pay per click advertising

If you’ve been looking into increasing your web presence as a company you’ve probably encountered the phrase “pay per click.” Well this very vague title is exactly what we are going to explore in this blog post. What exactly is this so-called “Pay Per Click Advertising” and how does it work? Lets find out.

 

What is it?

Pay per click advertising is a form of web based adverting that helps with search engine optimization. Search engines like Google and Bing have designated spots on their search result pages, usually along the side or in the first 1-3 search result lines. These prime locations are reserved for paying clients who have pay per click advertising with key words relative to the search. Every time someone uses the ad by clicking on it, the paying client is charged, because it has proven to be a successful advertisement placement and search result combination.

 

How does it work?  

First things first, you’ll have to choose a keyword or phrase that you’d like your page to be associated. The process of determining which keywords you should apply to your business page requires a thought out approach. You’ll need to consider how generic or specific you’d like your results to be. Keep in mind what phrases your competitors might be using and always remember your target audience. Lucky you for, Cloud9 has marketing gurus available that do exactly that. We can help you determine what keywords would benefit your business, reach your target audience and achieve web presence goals. Working with a budget in pay per click advertising can work multiple ways. Sometimes it is a bidding war on the price per a click for a desired spot and search combination. Whoever is willing to pay the most per a click gets the spot. You may want to top out at a certain budget each month or after achieving a certain result. Almost all web presence goals can easily be reached by utilizing per click advertising as it increases traffic to your page, or even a sub pages of your website. Each click will take the searcher exactly where you’d like to be on your website. It’s the most ideal way for getting a searcher to find your page rather than your competitors and increase over all SEO.

 

Is it right for me?  

Sounds pretty peachy so far doesn’t it? Well the truth is, pay per click advertising is phenomenal; it is an incredible tool for your webpage. There aren’t many drawbacks for pay per click advertising unless the keywords and target audience don’t match. As mentioned before, this is a crucial step and needs some serious brainstorming. It can also be expressive and competitive to land your page in the top results section. If you’re considering using pay per a click, give us a call at Cloud9 and we can weight out the pros and cons for your company specifically and decide on the right marketing combination for your business. Pay per click isn’t for everyone or every business, but when it is fully understood and used correctly it can take your SEO to a whole new level.

SEO website analytics on a tablet

“Here’s the mental model you need to understand why Google does what it does in the search results: we want to return really good search results to users so that they’re happy, so that they’ll keep coming back. That’s basically it: happy users are loyal users.”

These words of wisdom come from the mouth of Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team. They tell the ‘secret’ behind Google’s attitude towards search engine optimization, or SEO.

SEO: Dead or Alive?

SEO has been a hot topic over the past few years—and more recently, the conversation has turned towards the death of SEO. There are plenty of headlines predicting the death of SEO, but these posts don’t provide very convincing evidence that SEO is, in fact, on its way out.

Our opinion? SEO isn’t dead; it’s simply evolving.

Back to Basics

SEO is a multifaceted and often multi-channel support method intended to improve a website’s online presence. For example, SEO will help your website rank higher in Google searches that use keywords relevant to your website.

Coming back to our opening quote, Google wants to please its customers: when a customer types a few words into the search engine, Google wants to provide them with the best matches possible so that the customers find what they’re looking for.

SEO works with Google to make sure that it can deliver to its customers. SEO means building strong websites that offer a great user experience. So, if a customer Googles keywords that match up with your site’s content, they’ll be happy if Google coughs up your name first.

Google is our Friend

Note that we said working WITH Google. SEO isn’t about tricking Google—after all, if someone is searching a topic that has nothing to do with your website and you “trick” them into coming to your website, they’ll probably just leave. They’ll be annoyed at you, and they’ll be annoyed at Google for not giving them what they want.

SEO is about helping companies like Google do their job—while helping the website owners improve their web pages and the user experience. Happy users like to stick around.

The Evolution of SEO

Why do people think that SEO is a dying field? Probably because SEO algorithms and techniques are constantly changing. SEO strategies that worked a year ago might be stale now, meaning Google has changed the way it decides how a site will be ranked.

Since SEO involves lots of moving pieces — including traditional methods like improved meta data, keyword and key phrase research, and proper tag usage—there’s a lot going on at once. It might be accurate to say that some parts of SEO are dying, but in their place, newer, more effective SEO methods are popping up. SEO isn’t dying; it’s regenerating.

Smart SEO

There are thousands of factors that play into SEO, with dozens of changes happening every month. That’s a lot to keep up with, which is why it’s important to ensure that your SEO guru is up to snuff. SEO is serious business—ignoring it altogether can harm you. If your website unintentionally is poorly formatted for SEO, it can actually be penalized in search engine results. Yikes.

The key to good SEO is a good SEO person who adapts to changes as SEO evolves. Psst… we can help with that!

altitube whistler weekly show

Launching December 2, 2013

AltiTube is the answer to weekly video content on your Whistler business website. AltiTube dishes on local events, festivals, activities, weather, mountain conditions and anything else happening that week in Whistler. Each week we produce a 1-2 minute high definition video shot in Whistler. The videos can be embedded on any Whistler business website and are updated automatically each week – creating fresh, engaging content with no maintenance. Hosted by Liz Hammond and Adam Kaye.

Learn more about AltiTube and the subscription packages at www.altitube.ca or contact us directly for more information.

Watch our intro video below: