SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your web site ‘Search Engine Friendly’ with the goal of having your web site appear early in searches for keywords or phrases related to your business in NH on search engines such as Google and Bing.  SEO is not as simple as peppering keywords and phrases throughout your website web pages – nor is it some arcane art that only a seasoned and often over paid ‘professional’ can engage in.  Of course you do want your keywords to appear in your website content but you also want the physical code structure of your website to follow best practices and search engine standards.

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White Hat SEO versus Black Hat SEO in NH

As in the movies when it comes to SEO there are good guys and bad guys – White Hats and Black Hats.  Black Hat SEO is when a website developer uses less than desirable techniques to drive traffic to your website.  A singular example of this is what is known as ‘Click Farms’.  These farms are groups of web servers that are designed to mask their location so as to appear as different servers from different parts of the world sending traffic to your website.  100% of this traffic is completely bogus with the goal of increasing the number of hits to a website in order to improve your placement, otherwise known as ‘ranking’, in search engines for terms related to your business.  Eventually these services are caught by the search engines and rather than your website coming up on page one listing one you find yourself completely removed from search engines or your listing remains but is buried on page 100 of the search.

Quality SEO drives qualified customers to your site not just visitors

Another technique used by many SEO service providers is to take a shot-gun approach to your website submitting your website information to 100’s of directories and listing services – which we will call Gray Hat SEO.  What ends up happening is that your website starts to get traffic but most of the traffic is from customers you cannot offer your services to.  If you are a home builder in Bedford New Hampshire are you really interested in traffic coming from California, Nevada or Denmark?  More so are these customers interested in you? Most likely they are not.

At 2DiFore Marketing Solutions our SEO programs are focused on driving qualified traffic and qualified leads to your website.  We wear our White Hats proudly and do not engage in techniques that in the long wrong only damage your search engine reputation and ours in the long run.

Targeted SEO for NH Businesses and Bounce Rate

So how can driving lots of unqualified traffic really hurt your website ranking?  Two words – Bounce Rate.  Bounce rate is the percentage of people that visit only a single page on your website before either returning to the search engine listings or closing their web browser completely.  The thinking is that if you keep getting traffic to your site but most of your visitors leave immediately (i.e. bounce) then for the search terms they have entered your site is no longer viewed as a reliable source for the information people are searching for and your listing will slowly but surely be pushed farther and farther down in future searches for those keywords and phrases.  Using the above example if someone is in California looking for a kitchen remodeling contractor then odds are once they realize that your business is located in and operates in NH they will most like find another service provider – simply due to geographical location.

Your SEO data is your SEO data

When it comes time to review the effectiveness of any SEO program many providers like to offer their customers sleek custom interfaces offering what appears to be highly detailed reports offering detailed insight into what is happening with your website.  Normally this sounds like a good thing – but the question to ask is that if such data is freely shared and made available for free by search engines such as Google why do you need a custom interface from the website developer which you know in some manner you are paying for?  The answer is you do not and this is another Grey Hat technique attempting to appear to add value to your overall SEO program.

At 2DiFore we take the exact opposite approach.  We leverage as many free services and listing directories as we can and never conceal the data we review.  An example would be Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools.  Both are free services form Google that provide very detailed reports on how your website is performing in all searches and specifically in Google which still account for close to 70% of all searches on the internet.  These exact same services often provide the data used by the sleek custom interfaces.

2DiFore always suggest that all of our web clients have these services up and running as part of any SEO or Website Development program.  The accounts are your property not ours.  In the event we part ways these accounts remain in your control offering you or your next developer accurate data about past and future performance.

SEO Free Tip – Look before you leap!

In the event you find yourself moving from one web developer to another and you already have a Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools setup never allow the new developer to convince you to abandon these services and or create new accounts.  As long as these accounts are tied to your email there is no need.  Often these developers do not want you to have access to past data as they do not wish to have their SEO results to be compared your past data.  If a web developer ever tires to convince you otherwise this is a clear sign that they may not have your best interest and long-term success in mind.

With SEO an educated customer is a 2DiFore customer

Being a White Hat SEO provider 2DiFore never tires to mystify what we are doing as part of our SEO programs.  From start to finish we are more than happy to explain the hows and whys of our approach.  We may if anything bore or overwhelm you with reasoning and support data, but in the end you will know that everything we do related to SEO has a method backed up by real data and most importantly is focused on driving qualified leads to your website – not just traffic.

Schedule a free Website SEO consultation today!

Have question about Search Engine Optimization? Schedule a free, no obligation SEO consultation and we’ll be more than happy to answer your questions in an honest and open dialogue – Contact us today!

Web Site Development & Design in NH

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