Break from sweet reverie: To explain SEO

This morning it occurred to me that upon late I have had an abundance of conversations with friends (and not-so-friends) about what it is that I do for a living. Rather, what I claim as a skill that I wouldn’t mind continuing to do for financial (to some degree) profit for the rest of my days. In order to explain the complexities of the industry I have chosen to include myself in, I will need to use a practical example.  Not so much as to simplify the intricacy of the term, but to help me to stay on topic…LOL! Please keep in mind that the title is misleading in that I am only explaining the very basic, first step of SEO.

Most of you know that as I jump up on a soapbox of almost any topic, I tend to spew ramblings of sense and nonsense making conversation with me a bit tricky to understand.  This is simply because my left and right brain are working overtime…at the same time. The creative and the logical combining in a very confusing and often irrationally-rational manner. However, most of you will also contest that at the end of said conversation, I do try to tie it all together in some coherent way.

So, SEO.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. I view SEO as the process by which some technical and creative things done to the front end and back end of a website can allow search engines to not only find said site in the black hole of the internet, but can give value and ranks and placement in search results. Search results are those links with text that come up when you search for things on Google, or Yahoo, or MSN, or Bing, and the like. Google, Yahoo, MSN,  Bing … these are search engines.

SEO is a set of tasks, features and rules that make a website “Optimized” for search.

SEO is not to be confused with SEM or Search Engine Marketing, which has to do with paid ‘stuff’ and other marketing related tools.  SEO is essentially working with organic search…”organic search” … look it up, no time for explanation of that one just now… sorry! 

Proper SEO techniques can help level the playing field for small and medium sized businesses and allow them to compete in the marketplace against the largest global businesses. Good SEO can also help the global giants to tap in to the smaller, more localized markets they may be missing out on by being soooo friggin big.

So, in one case, good SEO can make you larger, and in the other, it can make you smaller and more attainable. Smaller is not a bad thing, let me remind all you who think that there is somewhere else to go after you’ve reached global status. What, you wanna go UNIVERSAL!?  Well, eventually, your SEO will be able to help you do that too! 

Now for my example:
I have a friend who lives in a very small town of 3500. He owns a small candle shop left to him by his grandmother. Very sweet…gushing with family traditions and recipes and the like. One day he decided he could benefit from having a website built so that he could reach people outside of the small community and begin to expand his business.  Now, being a small shop in a small town meant having a very small budget to work with. Not uncommon in the least. So, he searched the internet and found a company who could build him a site and get his business “out there,” for a monthly fee. A small and manageable fee, mind you. Very simple, very attainable and very common that small business start out on the web in this particular manner.

He signed up online, made his payment online and started using the online site builder, which is included in his website package for the small fee. (in order to keep your monthly fee low, you are left to your own devices to build your own site) About a month later, he had completed his new business website! Eureeka!  The orders should start pouring in any day now!  However, to his chagrin, no orders. None at all from his website. But, business was ok with referrals from current customers and he was actually getting phone orders from relatives or relatives of friends and such, so the website just sat there.  Out in the black hole of lost websites, like so many do, his site was not working, it was not “found” by anyone looking for his particular product.

Now, it is easy to think that “of course his site isn’t being found, he’s competing with other much larger websites…monster sites that sell candles and fragrances and family heirlooms.”  Tsk, Tsk.

When I met this man I asked about his website and to my surprise, he said he had one, but it didn’t do anything so he was considering not renewing his contract with the website company. I felt my stomach churn and dizzy a little, as I let that statement set in to my small, and colorful, left/right brain thinking. Please refer to the statement in bold above about my beliefs of what proper SEO can do for EVERYONE. As nails on a chalkboard, his words made me cringe.

I begged him to reconsider and set out to try to explain to him what SEO is and what it can do for his non-existent, small, quaint website. I believe, I believe…<clicking heels and returning to the solid ground with the rest of the non-believers – or unenlightened>

He gave me a business card with the web address on it and I left his shop on a mission. He had given me permission to look through the site and give feedback, which I was all too happy to do, as many of us are. (if for no other reason, than to shine the light on the idea that all websites can be found)

Well, when I looked at the site I found large images of his late and oh so sweet grandmother, who started making candles many, many years ago.  I found again, large images of the shop and its contents. I found text…some of which was a little confusing and incoherent. I found no links, broken links and even an image of a PayPal order button that didn’t do anything. I found no meta stuff. I found garbled and foreign HTML coding. I found a strange URL structure. I found many, many things that almost made me cry for him. So, I began a very long laundry list of simple tasks that could improve, nay BEGIN his actual web business/presence experience.

I made the call. I explained in my best and most non-technical of vocabulary what I wanted to do to his site and what the possible results might be. After a long pause, he said: “ok,… what?”

Eventually, I began work on his site. I will not go in to detail as to what specifically was done, as this musing is meant as an explanation of what SEO is and a little of what it does.

SEO is complex and fraught with crazy terms and algorithms and acronyms and yes, myths and untruths and slights of hand and evil stories of ‘black hats’ and ‘gray hats’ and all sorts of hats and other confusing stuff.

SEO, when done properly is also…see bold explanation above.

Breaking it down:
S – earch, search: when someone or something searches a ‘search engine’ to find a thing or topic.

E – ngine, engine: the search engine is the mechanism online which people or things use to ‘search’ in to find a thing or topic. (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing, etc.)

O – ptimization, optimization: the means by which a specialist makes a website ‘search-able’ and ‘findable’ to said engines of search.

See, you can have a website, but if the search engines don’t know you are online, you will never come up in a search. See, it’s like this: I go on my computer to find ‘country made candles’ (in reference to my friends products above). I go to my Yahoo homepage, which is my search engine of preference, and is defaulted on my own computer. I then, in the search box I type in “country made candles.” I expect that the results of that search will give me a list of websites and business that I can go to, to purchase said items. My computer does its thing and viola!, I get a list of 10 or so results on one page and somewhere on that page I will get a number representing how many websites were actually found using the term “Country made candles” and that number will be large…like millions large. I’m sure we’ve all seen this number on a search result page (and think…damn, how can there be millions of sites that sell ‘country made candles?’). Now, I can choose to click on one of the first returned links on the first page, or I can chose to go to the next page of results. What do you think I do? What would you do? My guess is, you either click on a familiar link (like Amazon or Ebay or some familiar site that is recognizable to you, because those are the most popular in search results) or you click one of the links in that first page of results and don’t ever bother going to the next page of results. Like most, you want quick, easy and simple.

There are other links on search results pages which run across the top and down the right-hand side of the page. These are paid links and deal with SEM.  We will not discuss those links here, only the organic or middle of the page link results.

Now, my friends website, being so outta whack, will be like number 5 milllion of the results that are returned to me, if he is in the results at all. So, I set out to revamp the most critical elements of his site so that he could get indexed by the search engines. Being indexed is step one to being ‘findable’ on the internet. Being indexed means that you  essentially ‘exist’ online and are among the gazillion or so other sites out in cyberspce. It is a work in progress and good SEO does NOT happen overnight.

Ok, so how can his site be recognized or indexed by the search engines? Well, that’s really complicated but I will do my best to simplify:

All search engines need to be able to ‘see’ a website before it can acknowledge it. In order for this to happen, the creators of the World Wide Web and search engines came up with an ingenious way to do this: they created little “bots” or “spiders” or what I visualize as something out of a sci-fi movie, that crawl around all over the black hole of the internet  – cyberspace – if you will, and ‘find’ websites. In order for a website to be found by these bots, there must be certain elements present in the coding of the website, along with a few other key things.

SIDE STORY: An SEO Fairytale
One day a search engine spider was crawling around cyberspace looking for new and wondrous websites to index. We’ll call him Charlie. Charlie stumbled upon a new site that had never been indexed and knocked on the door to be let in.  “Let me in so I can crawl you and index you amongst the many other websites.”  “Oh, you will love it when you are indexed and can live among the indexed and ranked sites.” Charlie go no response. Charlie moved on to find other sites that would let him in. You see, it is Charlie’s job to locate, index, rank and other such things. He is programmed to do this several times each and every day…all over the black hole of lost sites along with re-evaluating found sites…looking for new data, new ‘input’ and new content to index, catalog and rank.

Now, think of Charlie as a health inspector for websites. He has a key that will unlock almost any site in order to enter it, evaluate it, collect data from it, and then report back to the search engine he works for. (each search engine has many of these “Charlie’s running around cyberspace)

The reason Charlie was not let in to the site he came upon, is simply because the code at the door was incorrect or non-existent. The door was essentially locked. It also could be that instead of code that Charlie recognized as an open door, he found something quite foreign such as an un-coded list of images or flashy things or dividers and boxy things that confused him and made his eyes hurt and scared him off. Despite the fact that there was a wealth of content and new and fun or weird stuff beyond the door, Charlie would never get to see it. Nor would a person searching for it.

It could also be that Charlie’s key did not fit the lock of the site he was trying to enter…essentially the door was built wrong. Or, the door opened just a little and Charlie couldn’t enter the site all the way due to junk piled up just inside the door, blocking his entrance.

If my friends country candle website had a clear, well-built door with a sign on the door saying “Country Made Candles, Please Come In” Charlie would have surely entered, which is the first step in being a for real website, and much like Pinocchio becoming a for-real boy…a little SEO magic is needed for that to happen.

Now, when Charlie finally finds a door to enter, he comes in with his clipboard and starts evaluating whats inside the website. If he finds well organized, clearly identifiable and relevant “stuff” he will index the site as a newcomer to the web and report this back to his engine. And let me tell you, Charlie is quite a hard-ass when it comes to evaluating sites. He has the power to index, give points for good things and take away points for bad things…he also has the power to report back to his engine if a site is doing illegal or gangsta-like stuff inside their site…and the engine will basically turn off your lights and kick you out of your neighborhood.

One instance of this is, say you’ve had a site indexed and you decide to grow pot in the garage…the very next time Charlie visits…POOOF! You are kicked out, gone forever, never to be seen again on the internet.

The upside to having Charlie visit your site on a regular basis is that you should be adding new and relevant information to your site to make it better. You should be taking notes from your bigger and better neighbors to see how to improve your own site and every time Charlie visits, he notes all changes and either adds points or takes them away, based on how well you are complying with the rules of the neighborhood.

Now, keep in mind, your site is going to be visited by several “Charlie’s” from all the search engines, and that all engines have a different set of rules or criteria that must be met in order to be an index-able and ranked site with that particular engine. That’s where a good, ethical and professional SEO can help you. From the smallest of sites to the largest of sites…they all need SEO.

THE END

The end? Are you serious…could it be that simple? Is it really that friggin complicated? Yes. And no. If your website is not properly coded, properly designed, heavily flooded with images and flashy things or contains elements that break the rules, you will not get the results that others get. Period.

When I began to know about websites, SEO didn’t yet exist. There were thousands of websites out there, yet they were not organized in any particular way, so you had to know the exact URL -or- website address in order to find the site you were looking for. Well, over time, and several millions of more websites, there needed to be a way to organize, index and and rank websites in order to give the searcher (that’s you) coherent and relevant results when you search for a thing or topic. Hence, SEO was born (I will not give even a hint of when this actually happened, so as to not give a clue as to how old I am…LOL! But for those who already know…go easy). And this has been my simple initial explanation of how that begins to work.

Keep in mind that this is just the minimal information I think one needs to begin to understand how this process begins to work. And it DOES work.

I do not know if I have the guts to do a part-two, but we’ll see.

Please feel free to ask questions send comments and the like. I’d love to know if this actually helped any of you have a better understanding of what I do.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Gwen

P.S. MY OPINION: No one can promise page 1 results in Google…EVER!  Using good SEO techniques can however, ensure that your audience gets the very best of your information in a fast and organized manner, above your competition. Good SEO techniques should be used to communicate clearly with your human market, not as an end-all, be-all set of rules for your website. It’s terrific to design a search engine friendly website, but your first and foremost priorities should be to provide a great web experience for your human audience. A proper balance of human and non-human techniques, based on your particular business and a little target market research, makes for a professional and successful website.

Fool’s Paradise

Lately it seems there is so much suffering, depression and devastating events in the lives of many. This got me to thinking about how to help and perhaps help solve some of the issues with those close to me. I can be so nosey and quite the little butt-insky! That doesn’t stop me from wanting desperately to help my dear ones out of whatever misery they suffer.

The fool is a card of complete innocence and non-knowledge in any particular issue and therefore, can be the best source for new and exciting ideas to conquer major hurdles. The fool has no external influences, ulterior motives or ‘in-the-box thinking.’ I’m sure we all know someone we consider a fool in this regard. Not necessarily a complete moron or idiot, although this type of person is ripe with alternative thinking, that can be quite astoundingly profound, if you just listen.

Not everything in life will make complete sense or even relate to ‘you’ at any given time…or so it may seem.

Listening to a fool, moron or idiot might seem like a bad idea, but it’s the listening part that is key. You see, I have a tendency to not listen as much as I should. Or, listen to the wrong people with the same, conventional and typical ideas that come from living life in a box. It’s time for breaking out of the box and really listening to ideas that may at first seem uncomfortable, but can yield the greatest, most fantastic results.

Never underestimate the golden (and simple) ideas that come from the fool. And, know that there is a fool out there with the best idea or advice you need right now.  Listen with an open mind and heart and you’ll ‘get it.’

Remember, not everything that happens in your own realm of existence, is for your benefit or for your sorrow. Sometimes the things we go through in life are for the benefit and learning of someone else. When you question “why” don’t just question “why me.” you should be including in your questioning, “who else is involved and why.”

This little tidbit should help clear up a few nagging issues for you, for the time being.

Gwentuition – signing out to seek my fool, for now…

Good vs.

You have the opportunity to choose to be good. To be a good person, deep down with all the bitterness of past hurts and the pains of living life and learning lessons…you still have the opportunity to not let those things creep in to your heart and fester there. You can choose good and choose not to have bad. You can choose to only live in a positive and rightly way and change your karmic outlook forever, by letting go of the false security of bitterness. Evil, bad, wrong…these are all choices. You can even choose not to acknowledge evil, bad and wrong by turning away from them. Making a conscious effort to do the right thing, help someone else, make a good choice, be unselfish, do random acts of kindness, improve the well being of another, give selflessly, and take good care instead of being uncaring are all things we have access to each and every day. Take advantage of these things and make up your own ‘good’ things and you will reap great rewards for it. Doing the right thing is a choice and living a good life is a choice. Your past does not dictate who you are and cannot force you to be a mean, spiteful, hurtful or vengeful person. You were not born with a mean streak, you didn’t turn bitter because of your past, your childhood did not mold you in to a miserable person. You can make a different choice at any time.

You know exactly why you are getting this little message today and it really is your choice.

2 Messages – Both for you!

Message #1

There’s a betrayal trend in the past few days that should be brought to your attention:

I just loved this image when I came across it. It made me think of all the times that I denied myself and what I wanted or knew to be right, for the sake of ‘saving’ someone else. Even if I was doing it for ‘right’ reasons, didn’t make it right. Why? Because denial of oneself is the highest betrayal there is. There are not enough rationalizations in the Universe to justify denying oneself for the sake of another. If you choose another persons priorities over your own, you are not being generous or giving and you are not making a generous sacrifice for which you will be rewarded later. You are betraying yourself. Your truth is the only truth there is. The ‘other’ will certainly not betray themselves for you, again that would still be a betrayal. When you are faced with the dilemma of putting someone else’s needs, wants or desires before your own…the best plan of action is to stick with what you know…yourself. DO NOT CHOOSE TO BETRAY YOURSELF! And as a side note to confuse you even further: don’t mistake self betrayal for selfishness!

Message #2:

You must stop looking to the past to solve the issues of the future. Right now there are frustrations and obstacles in your life that make you angry or upset or frustrated. There are things that don’t go as planned and people who confuse you. If you use the same tactics and actions that you’ve always used to try to ‘fix’ things or make them better, you are going against the flow of your life. Don’t swim against the currents, let them take you where you’re supposed to be.

You are walking along on a clear and easy path and all of a sudden you come across a gate with a sign that reads: “Do not enter,” and you enter it anyway…then the path becomes treacherous and rocky and dangerous…yet you still keep going…this is where you are now. In the big middle of a dangerous path that you were told not to go down. You missed the sign is all. And you missed it because in the past when you had come to the same fork in the road or gate that said “keep out,” you did the same thing (walked right through it or went the wrong direction by misreading the signs) and got the same results.

The good news is that you can fix it all. When you really open your eyes to the truth, your truth, you will see that you must take a different action. You must make a different choice. You must embrace your true nature and that may take a little backtracking (not to be mistaken for doing the same things you’ve done in the past).

Go back to the source of each unhappiness or issue and look at it as if you are seeing it for the first time. Now make a different choice in order to restore balance. Make the choice to be happy and take that path this time. It may not be the easiest or prettiest path but you must undo what you’ve done this time. Honor yourself and the life you have by choosing a better happiness. Make the MOST of what you have to work with, don’t try to force something new that you don’t have. This is balance.

You know exactly why you are reading this and you do know at least where to start so what are you waiting for?

 

All a part of the plan

Today things will look random and scattered, but don’t let appearances fool you. There’s a master plan at work as always. Everything happens in the exact order and manner they are supposed to. Open your eyes, including your third eye…you may not see the Wizard behind the curtain but you will certainly see His intentions.  Making strategic moves on the chess board of life is not your directive in this. Yours is to look, listen and see the design. When you do this you will see where and how you fit in and curiously enough…that you are the star of a very important event. The trouble comes when you begin to think you are overly important in this design. Remember, each piece, each person, each mundane task, they are all just as important to this particular day as you are. In a  Master Plan, each element has it’s own perspective, directive, role and construct. If you try to take away the importance of any one element, you will lose the Magic and the Wizard will surely turn the tables on you!

In the land of the lost-with dial-up

Good morning all – or the none who read this blog. I have escaped the armpit of the Nation and landed in BFE Gladewater, TX. This would not be a problem but I find that there are actually places on this planet that don’t have access to high-speed internet in every household on every street. (I had attempted to hijack someone else’s connection temporarily, but alas, no one has a fucking connection out here)  Just my luck. However, I am determined to make the best of the situation.

And oh, I must mention the best news of all - the husband I have mocked, ridiculed and scorned for 3 years, decided I was too much for him to handle so he left me here in nowhere’sville!  What a slap of karma that is. LOL!  But I deserve it.  I admit I’m bitter about so many things related to that man, and this just takes the prize.  I put up with a narcissist, learn to curtail my own desires and needs, follow him around the Country on his whims and I’m the one that ends up being left in the black hole of the state of Texas. Again, trying to make the best of it.  LMMFAO!

I’m in the process of making some changes to this blog and to the MySpace blog. I gotta get some perspective before I get my bearings and change my mind.

No pictures until the high-speed connection is installed some time next week, though. So you’ll just have to suffer with my lowly words.

Comments are always welcome, the more bitter, egomaniacal, threatening and angry, the better…for now. I love a good challenge and so desperately need one at the moment.

Have a crap filled day and see ya when I see ya!

Gwintuition’s former self loathing persona,

Gwen

You, as creator

Gwintuition 10/2/09:

Whatever you create, whatever you manifest from an aspect of your intelligence and maturity will enrich your life and the lives of those around you. You have a unique message and it is time for you to express it in the best way possible. If you’ve been spending lots of time trying become someone special or trying to force a skill or talent you’d like to have; let that go for now. Step out of that ‘wanting’ and use the real that’s inside of you right now. Strip away what you think you are and let the real you happen. This is where your creation lies. Your unique and grand genius that the Universe has been waiting for.

On a side note: Your dreams are telling you something. Right now is a good time to get a recurring dream or an especially haunting dream, interpretted. There are several resources online where you can have signs, symbols and dream themes interpretted. Know this: the tool you end up using to interpret your dreams is the right one. Go with the message and try not second guess, too much. Rely on the fact that there are messages waiting for you, all you have to do is accept them and connect the meanings to your life.

There's more than one right answer

Gwintuition 10/01/09:

Your energies are not about pushing forward or climbing a steep hill, they are about using what’s available to your advantage in a passive way right now. Go where you are led. Go with the flow. And in order to do this you must know where the flow begins, jump in with abandonment, then let it take you.

The flow begins with the right answer. But, the right answer is not the only right answer there is. You could be missing out on several right answers. Just like “thinking outside the right box,” there could be many “right” boxes. Try to identify as many right answers as you can today. Having knowledge gives you options. Having options gives you power; the power to create your own (fill in the blank here). Your ‘blank’ could be destiny, job, love life, work of art, report, business transaction, etc. You decide what it is you want to create, but it should be something that has the potential to be magnificent. After you fill in the blank, explore all your ‘right’ solutions or pathways to reach your ‘blank.’ The success is in the number of options you give yourself. I say “give yourself” because there are litterally hundreds, if not thousands of right ways to do things, based on your openness to use what the Universe has available for you.

The best way to begin to identify your options is to think from a different perspective. Think to yourself: “What would someone else do?” Do you have a mentor, a hero or idol that you admire and respect? Do you have several? Make lists of ideas that outline your potential ‘right answers’ based on each of the people you most respect. Dig deep, go crazy with your research and avoid letting your own ideas get in the way of seeking these new answers.

As you complete your lists, you will know why this task is so important for today. What you’ve been missing is there and you’ll recognize it right away. So the message for today:

• Identify your goal/issue
• Dig deep and list right answers based on different perspectives
• List them all – without judgement
• Flow with your results - take care to flow, not swim

There's more than one right answer

Gwintuition 10/01/09:

Your energies are not about pushing forward or climbing a steep hill, they are about using what’s available to your advantage in a passive way right now. Go where you are led. Go with the flow. And in order to do this you must know where the flow begins, jump in with abandonment, then let it take you.

The flow begins with the right answer. But, the right answer is not the only right answer there is. You could be missing out on several right answers. Just like “thinking outside the right box,” there could be many “right” boxes. Try to identify as many right answers as you can today. Having knowledge gives you options. Having options gives you power; the power to create your own (fill in the blank here). Your ‘blank’ could be destiny, job, love life, work of art, report, business transaction, etc. You decide what it is you want to create, but it should be something that has the potential to be magnificent. After you fill in the blank, explore all your ‘right’ solutions or pathways to reach your ‘blank.’ The success is in the number of options you give yourself. I say “give yourself” because there are litterally hundreds, if not thousands of right ways to do things, based on your openness to use what the Universe has available for you.

The best way to begin to identify your options is to think from a different perspective. Think to yourself: “What would someone else do?” Do you have a mentor, a hero or idol that you admire and respect? Do you have several? Make lists of ideas that outline your potential ‘right answers’ based on each of the people you most respect. Dig deep, go crazy with your research and avoid letting your own ideas get in the way of seeking these new answers.

As you complete your lists, you will know why this task is so important for today. What you’ve been missing is there and you’ll recognize it right away. So the message for today:

• Identify your goal/issue
• Dig deep and list right answers based on different perspectives
• List them all – without judgement
• Flow with your results - take care to flow, not swim

Ego and Arrogance – not today!

Gwintuition 9/30/09:  Ego and arrogance are in your way right now. Today, in order to be open to opportunities that come your way, you need to drop the ego and avoid arrogance in relating with others. You may only be able to see your preferences, attachments and point of view if you’re caught up in the “you” in your world. You see, there is this whole other world out there, and guess what? Sometimes it’s not about you. Shocking and sad, but true. Humility will serve you best, along with living in the moment, completely. Go with a less judgemental version of you. Be open to all possibilities, and keep in mind that this will be a difficult task. Try it for 5 minutes. Just sit back and think of your world in terms of making any changes that come your way, no matter what. No matter the consequences, no matter the reactions of others, no matter future ramifications. See, not so easy, but still make your best effort today. You have a blind spot that is filled with “you.” Remove it and you will really “see” things in a much better light. And just maybe, you’ll be able to see the opportunity tht will change your course for the better.