It would be cool if we humans had the ability to know the answer to any question in just a matter of seconds. So today we have the internet for that. With the internet came massive data-bases. With so much data came ways of sorting through all of it efficiently. These tools are called search engines and are like the librarians of the internet.
When you have a question or want to do some research you hop on the web, run a search on some keywords, and your favorite search engine (Google most likely) will find websites that can help you. It seems almost magical that the first five to ten websites listed on the search engine results were exactly what you were looking for! What actually happens is that a search engine has a specific algorithm that appropriately weighs different factors in websites to provide results that you will find useful. Factors weighted are site reputation, keywords, titles, links to the website, keywords or titles in these links, and so forth.
When a company develops a website that is focused on maximizing all of these factors, the company is thus practicing Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The purpose is to make the company website more favorable to the search engine algorithm that evaluates it.It would be like writing, designing and explicitly labeling a book to fill an exact vacancy in a specific library.
Search Engine Optimization is branch of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). SEM is a broad term, and can be used to describe "anything that is done to utilize the technology of search engines with the goal of
promoting a web site and increasing its traffic, its 'stickiness' and,
in the case of sites that promote a business (or are a business),
increase profits. SEM can encompass such strategies as SEO, paid inclusion (bribing the search engine company basically), traditional advertising on the search engine, and the more time consuming Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.
So the next time you search for a hotel and the first ten results on Google are Marriott, Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, Hotels.com, etc. remember that it isn't some magic technology. It is smart marketing and great management.
Watching the video should help you understand the process of generating attention for SEO and increasing your market via search engines. However the video should leave you wondering about how the smaller scale companies might fare against the giants like Marriott.
In your comments discuss how you might optimize your website for search engines if you were a small hotel company; or discuss how you as a large company might do things more efficiently to cut costs.
Or just comment with fun things to say! Thanks readers!
REFERENCES:
- http://www.computerweekly.com/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=113&tag=big%20data&limit=20
- http://www.raisemyrank.com/articles/seo-sem.htm
- http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo
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ReplyDeleteI took a PR Writing course at RIT and I remember my professor addressing SEO and how companies have been caught abusing the system and have been given what Google calls "the death penalty." If you have time- check out this NY Times article. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html
ReplyDeleteThe video that you put up explained very well with closed caption. I like it. I use SEO a lot more than Wiki because it simplifies looking for something quickly.
ReplyDeleteHow do you use SEO? I am not sure what you mean by "using" SEO unless you are a IT or Communication Manager.
DeleteI agree with Evan about abusing htier power. One of my friends told me this weekend that when you use websites like travelosity to delete your history because the the webiste will remeber that you have been there and are still looking at the prices, and in result they will raise the prices since they know that you are interested.
DeleteI agree with Maria. That's what happened to me. My friend who is involved in Travel & Tourism. She suggested to go back to the history list and link on it where I left a good deal. Or delete the history to start all over again.
DeleteIf you are creating your own website SEO is going to very important to you. Kyle's explanation of how we find what you are looking for in the first five suggested links is very true. When was the last time you googled something and went on to page 2 of the search? It is important to for companies and webpage designs to utilize the SEO in their favor to get to the top the searches they want to be known for without taking advantage of it. JCPenny has actually taken advantage of SEO, here's and article I've read when I first heard of SEO: http://searchengineland.com/new-york-times-exposes-j-c-penney-link-scheme-that-causes-plummeting-rankings-in-google-64529
ReplyDeleteIt is really important for companies to utilize SEO to receive more hits on their links and to be more well known, even if they are small. If someone googled "hotels in Rochester, NY" SEO could help small hotels like Bristol Harbour gain more traction to tourists in Rochester, NY and see all that they have to offer. Larger hotel chains could use SEO to cut costs. SEO can also help smaller companies who have Twitter or Facebook and can give viewers a digital insight on a more personal level.
ReplyDeleteSEO made our lives much easier. All we have to do is type in what we are searching for and they will give you the best choices that they think are. Also I learned something new about Travelocity and how it works. I should experiment and see if they actually raise the prices because they noticed that I've visited the website.
ReplyDelete