For a long-time, many companies have pushed Search Engine Optimization as the one tool to help what page and where on the page your website might show up.

While still a useful tool, by itself Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is no longer enough in a continually changing world that requires a new understanding of the technologies and constant homework to ensure your strategies are meeting expectations with your online goals.

With the advent of Google Caffeine (Google Caffeine Affects Every Business) on June 8, 2010, the search engine world changed forever. When changes like this occur, the result can be shocking, especially to those that just keep doing the same things they’ve been doing, as if nothing had changed.

One company I heard of regurlary received over 10,000 visitors a week from Google organic searches. On June 8th, that number dropped to 3,000 and stayed there for two weeks.

The company I know that worked with them recommended a few changes and boom, it went right back up. It took a few weeks, but it did come back up. Why? Because they did their homework and knew what was going on and why it was happening. They were able to help them resolve their problem because they knew the technology.

The changes are real, and eye opening. In early June, if you had done a Google search for Playstation 3, you would have found their website and perhaps a few reviews. Today, if you do a search you’ll find an array of sites from playstation3.com, to shopping result feeds, news feeds, reviews, trailers, and a suggestive list of searches at the bottom of the page.

I established previously that Google doesn’t care one bit about meta tag keyords (Google Does Not Use Keywords). But what they do care about is relevant content with keywords used in the body of your website. That’s why it is important to write content that includes the most prominent words people may be using to find you on searches.

Although understanding the search engines is important, so is understanding all of the other tools at our disposal.

No shift in search may be more important than Social Media. Millions of people a day use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Reaching these people ought to be a critical goal of your organization through interactive and engaging posts.

Social Media can have a profound impact on your search results, both in the organic listings and as a source of inbound links.

Another consideration is RSS feeds and Feedburner feeds.  These feeds communicate your most recent posts to search engines, blog engines, and big website aggregators such as Technorati.

Finally, local may be better, especially if you are a small business in a local market. I have repeatedly stated and believe that the more local you can make your online presence felt, the greater the chances of being discovered. For one, there may be less competition for your services on the search engines locally rather regionally, by state, or nationally. Localized search results have become increasingly expected by users as they look locally for products and services online.

Great tools for local online marketing include micro sites, which are one page websites that target a specific community with a specific product. All with the goal of linking to each other and the main home website. This increases linking, and pools the effectiveness of local searches.

Finally, don’t forget about the power of blogging. I’ll get into this at another time. But Blogging is a tremendous tool, that when set-up properly, can help you reach audiences, establish credibility, and help you generate new leads.

The bottom line is that SEO is still important, but you need more. Much more!!! You need a web design/development company that can listen to you and understand your business. Then take the relevant information and help you create a unique, strategic, online marketing program for you business.

At Texstar Web.com, we have the staff and experience to help you.

If you have any questions, or comments, I would love to hear them. You can contact me at don@texstarweb.com.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Don Purdum

Owner/Founder, www.texstarweb.com