SEO Won't Cut It
People tend to get really interested when I mention that I know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Their ears perk up and they start to poke at me with questions in an effort to learn how to get themselves ranked higher on Google. And that's great, because I'm thrilled to be surrounded by people and friends who are taking an interest in something that is not only terribly academic but might also help them accomplish something as well.
The short answer: it's complicated. The long short answer: it's the number of other sites on the Internet linking to your site and the text that those links contain. The long long answer: instead of me boring you to death, Google "search engine optimization" and you'll find lots of stuff. (Anyone who's ranking high for that probably knows what they're doing.)
The answer people don't want to hear: SEO alone probably isn't enough for your average person or business. If you're a lawyer in Miami, and you want to rank highly for "trial law Miami", then I encourage you to go for it, even if there are lots other law firms in Miami trying to rank for that, too. But if you're trying to build a business that's dependent on getting in the first page of results on Google, your plan is probably going to fail.
Better idea: brand a word or phrase that doesn't exist yet. Make it gobbledygook if you must, but carve out a block of the English language that's unclaimed and build something around that. And if it's worth finding, rest assured that with enough patience and perseverance, it will be found.
The short answer: it's complicated. The long short answer: it's the number of other sites on the Internet linking to your site and the text that those links contain. The long long answer: instead of me boring you to death, Google "search engine optimization" and you'll find lots of stuff. (Anyone who's ranking high for that probably knows what they're doing.)
The answer people don't want to hear: SEO alone probably isn't enough for your average person or business. If you're a lawyer in Miami, and you want to rank highly for "trial law Miami", then I encourage you to go for it, even if there are lots other law firms in Miami trying to rank for that, too. But if you're trying to build a business that's dependent on getting in the first page of results on Google, your plan is probably going to fail.
Better idea: brand a word or phrase that doesn't exist yet. Make it gobbledygook if you must, but carve out a block of the English language that's unclaimed and build something around that. And if it's worth finding, rest assured that with enough patience and perseverance, it will be found.