How has your SEO ranking changed since the beginnig of the semester? What have you learned from this?

SEO is search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is a strategy used to increase the traffic to a website and increase where the web page of a site is, or ranks, in a search when searched using a search engine. Search engine results are natural and you cannot pay to increase where your website or webpage appears in a search engine. You are able to increase this, however, in a way that is natural or “organic.” Sites that rank higher when searched are sites that are more frequently visited when users search something, often related, to the website/page. In order to organically or naturally increase where your page appears in a search for users, you can place keywords in the back-end of your HTML webpages. Other things that increase where you appear in a search is the use of social media.

SEO brings value to an organization because it allows users to find what they are looking for. If your site is related to what they are looking for, then it will increase traffic to your company or organization’s website. With more traffic to you company or organization’s website comes more business. You can more effectively communicate with your target audience. You could even better define who your target audience is and what segment(s) of the market you are appealing to. All in all, it helps with marketing your business to people who are looking for your product or service. This is the major benefit to your organization/company.

Search engine optimization is a tool used for website analytics. Analytics is the analysis of data and statistics of your website. The two are compliments of one another. Similar to how SAP is used for ERP. SEO and analytics are two different things that work together in order to achieve a common goal. For example, if you are in a group doing a project and the team decides to divide the tasks of the project into parts amongst its team members. Your submission (the SEO) to the over all project (the over all Analytics) is a part that is necessary to achieve the projects common goal.

SEO and Analytics could be set up for Community of Caring by using many different sources available. One particularly popular amongst businesses is Google Analytics, although this is available to users at a cost which is not very optimal for a non-profit organization. One simple way of creating SEO and analytics is to place keywords in the back-end of your HTML webpages, which naturally increases where your page appears in a search for users. Another way is to be actively involved on social media websites, creating posts, relevant statuses, or blogging.